Where are you based?
I grew up in the California Bay Area and went to college and lived in Los Angeles before moving to the New York City area, where I live in Hoboken, New Jersey. Even though I'm about to tip the scale on having spent more years on the east coast, I still sometimes slip up and say I'm from California.
What topics and places do you cover?
Anything and everything that sparks curiosity about travel, be it an underrated destination, a fascinating news development, my favorite travel products, or an untold story, especially those about minority communities.
I'm also holding myself responsible to cover more Asian American travel topics. Two stories I'm especially proud of are highlighting the Chinese immigrants who built Yosemite for BBC and the community preserving the legacy of the Japanese Americans incarcerated at Colorado's Camp Amache for Condé Nast Traveler. I also edited the Lunar New Year package for Tripavisor and have spotlighted Chinatowns for Travel + Leisure and AFAR.
Additionally, I love building upon my more than 20 years of experience in entertainment with celebrity travel stories, including recent interviews with Dolly Parton, Martha Stewart, Kevin Costner, and Saturday Night Live's Weekend Update co-hosts Colin Jost and Michael Che.
In terms of destinations, I have an affinity for all things European, as well as the areas I frequent the most, including New York City, Washington, D.C., San Jose, Los Angeles, as well as my parents' home country of Taiwan. But the world is my beat!
Except for news stories, I generally stay away from cruise and beach stories — blame the seasickness!
What outlets do you usually pitch (and write for)?
I'm a regular contributor to Condé Nast Traveler and Travel + Leisure, and also write for Lonely Planet, AFAR, Tripadvisor, New York Times for Kids, Wall Street Journal's Buy Side, Insider, BBC, History, Food & Wine, and PS (formerly Popsugar), among others. I'm also currently in the midst of a travel-related project that I can't wait to share!
Are you in-house or freelance (or both)?
Proudly freelance by choice.
What is your approach to press trips?
My first questions to myself are always: Why now and why with this particular opportunity? If I can push it off until later, then it makes this trip less unique…and perhaps not worth covering at all. Cases of trips I jumped on right away: Queen Elizabeth II's Platinum Jubilee in London, a Morgan Freeman interview at the Monte-Carlo Television Festival in Monaco, the Virgin Galactic spaceflight, and running the Boston Marathon with Westin Hotels & Resorts after my doctors told me not to run again.
In general, I tend to steer away from hotel-based press trips because of the coverage requirements and go for those hosted by tourism boards with the understanding of the chicken-and-egg of securing an assignment before setting foot in a destination.
What are your professional pet peeves?
Admittedly, my inbox is my biggest struggle. Since I'm a lifestyle generalist, I receive between 300 and 500 messages daily. While email is the bread-and-butter of communication in our business, I also have to remind myself that I'm not paid for the time I spend on email…only the time I write stories.
I recently heard an editor say that they didn't ask for those emails, so they don't feel a need to reply. That was so eye-opening. But that's also helped me draw boundaries and focus on the right ones to respond to.
With that volume of messages to sift through daily, I most appreciate those who get to the pitch quickly. So many messages try to do my job by giving me a headline and/or packaging the story for me. Those come from the approach of serving the client's needs and not the readers — and it's a red flag that this may not be a collaborative editorial opportunity. As journalists, we're always in service of the readers.
Also: Please no DMs on any platform — and please don't pitch me via text on Christmas Day, as one publicist did a couple of years ago.
In your past professional life, you were …
A teen entertainment magazine editor for a decade (J-14 editor in chief, CosmoGIRL! entertainment editor, Popstar! associate editor) from the heydays of High School Musical through One Direction, followed by four years at Us Weekly as a senior editor. Before that, I started my career in entertainment photo publicity at The WB Television Network during its pop culture reign, working on shows like Gilmore Girls, Dawson's Creek, Felicity, and Supernatural.
Where would you like to return to?
Estonia and Slovenia — there's a simplicity and ease about both countries I jived with. I'm also constantly craving stinky tofu, so more trips to Taiwan are a must. And I'm such an Anglophile, I'm always looking for excuses to go back to London.
What's on your bucket list?
Greenland. So excited about United's new flight!
Where do you travel for fun?
My friends scold me about this the most! Sadly, I haven't traveled for fun in years… I'm so grateful my job is in travel, but this has been my goal every year. Maybe 2025?
Your funniest (or most harrowing) travel story is …
A Thanksgiving solo hiking adventure in Patagonia — read about it here.
What advice would you give your younger professional self?
You may think you've been lucky enough to land your dream job now…but wait until you realize every job you've ever had (except one) has been the only job in the world you wanted at that moment in time, all adding up to a dream career. It only grows more exciting — embrace every bit of it!
What nugget would you like to add that we haven't touched on?
This industry is all about relationships, and as exciting as the destinations are, I'm most grateful for the people I've met along the way.
How best should people contact you?
Please reach out via email or my TravMedia profile here. My email address is not hard to find online, and I think it says a lot about the fine details of a working relationship if someone can't find it.
