Selected Clips

"Live commerce surges as shoppers fork out cash online in real time"

Published November 13, 2024 in The Washington Post

Live commerce is already a major online shopping force in China, and it's rapidly taking over U.S. e-commerce through platforms like TikTok Shop. Interactive online shopping experiences represent a unique way to target men, who advertisers typically treat as harder to market to. I talked to experts about how Twitch and a burgeoning "insecurity economy," might change the way that men shop and how companies sell.

Photo: TikTok

"The Black Hair Care Industry Is at a Crossroads"

Published June 24, 2024 in Slate

For Slate's business section, I wrote this story about how the Black hair care industry, long a profitable niche, has exploded in popularity recently among non-Black consumers thanks to TikTok. I chatted with marketing experts, retail analysts, and Black-owned hair care brands about whether or not all this popularity will mean changing marketing — and formulas — to secure white dollars at the expense of Black consumers.

Photo: Slate

"A laid-off Meta worker says she's struggling after not getting the 16 weeks of severance her fellow employees received: 'I'm going through my kids' closet and selling their old clothes'"

Published Feb. 3, 2023 in Business Insider

A wave of layoffs swept the tech industry in 2022 and 2023, correcting after an early-pandemic hiring boom that came back to haunt major companies like Microsoft, Meta, and Amazon, previously considered to be "recession-proof," as one economist described. Workers who were laid off from Meta's Sourcer Development Program in 2022 signed NDAs in exchange for severance, but Britt Levy didn't — and she told me about how she felt Meta's diversity hiring efforts were "just for show."

Photo: Alisha Jucevic

"Low-income renters are frustrated by Biden's new plan to make housing more affordable because they don't think it does enough to combat surging rents"

Published Feb. 4, 2023 in Business Insider

In February 2023, housing activists waited with bated breath to see what the Biden administration was going to announce regarding tenant protections after years of advocating for executive orders related to rent control and housing vouchers. The White House announced a "Renters' Bill of Rights" instead which isn't legally-binding, and which advocates say does little to address the problems that have affected renters during the pandemic. I spoke with several organizations across the country for this story, as well as tenants in precarious housing situations.

Photo: Andrew Harnik

"Russian 'brain drain' of academic, finance, and tech workers 'might be the most important problem' for its economy, experts say"

Published March 6, 2022 in Business Insider

It's a problem that's plagued Russia for years: The country's "brain drain" is its mass emigration of highly trained and highly educated citizens to new regions, particularly Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, and the US. As of 2019, as many as 2 million people had left Russia since Vladimir Putin became president. Economists told me that Russia's military action against Ukraine — and subsequent Western sanctions — was going to make this problem worse in the long term. And brain drain, along with general isolation, is likely to dramatically reverse the country's advancements from recent years, they said.

Photo: Kirill Kukhmar

“Gas, food, and a hotel: Americans seeking an abortion out of state already shell out up to $10,000 for the procedure. Experts warn that cost could rise.”

Published June 4, 2022 in Business Insider

After the Supreme Court reversed the Roe v. Wade decision in 2022, I spoke to abortion funds around the country, approximating what the practical cost of abortions would look like in the U.S. going forward based on travel costs, hotels, childcare, and the procedures themselves.

Photo: Leigh Vogel

“Popular Medicare Advantage plans have 'clear cases of overpayments and improper billing of US taxpayers,' advocates and analysts say”

Published December 5, 2022 in Business Insider

My beat was financial precarity at Business Insider's economy desk, which included coverage of Medicare/Social Security deliberations in Congress. This is a story that came out of my conversations with Medicare experts for other stories, with policy analysts and healthcare professionals coming out strongly against the plans favored by Republicans.

Photo: J. Scott Applewhite

"The Legal Minefield of Non-Shitty Band Merch"

Published March 13, 2024 in SPY

I talked to legal experts about why (and how) so many regular people are getting sued by their favorite musicians after selling merch on platforms like TikTok, and without the artists in question even knowing. I also profiled Softside, a new startup based in Brooklyn, New York, whose goal it is to solve that legal conundrum by connecting artists and fans on Linkedin-meets-Etsy type platform.

Photo: Montana Knudsen

“The Fall of the House of Etsy”

Published January 4, 2024 in SPY

I chatted with private equity consultants, Etsy sellers, and marketing professors about why Etsy has fallen off after a 2020 peak.

Photo: Andrew Burmon

“Sometimes, the Packaging is the Product”

Published March 25, 2024 in SPY

Tomorrow Lab works with companies that want to offer something their competition cannot. Sometimes that’s a VR astronaut helmet. Sometimes that’s a wireless plumbing monitor that senses leaks. And sometimes that’s packaging. Actually, a lot of times its packaging, which has become – more and more in the age of TikTok – a way for brands to differentiate.

Photo: Montana Knudsen

Newsletters

3/12/24 Newsletter: "The Last American Flannel”

Published March 12, 2024 in SPY

Newsletter send from March 2024, featuring business analyses about Nike, Costco, and Dunkin' Donuts; the feature for this send was "The Last American Flannel," a story I did on reporter Steven Kurutz and the flannel industry, which Kurutz writes about in his recent book (American Flannel). Art by Montana Knudsen.

4/1/24 Newsletter: "What's in a Box?”

Published April 1, 2024 in SPY

Newsletter send from April 2024, featuring business analyses about Levi's, Skims, and the podcast industry; the feature for this send was "The Packaging is the Message," a feature on Tomorrow Lab, a group of product designers based in Brooklyn who create innovative packaging for cosmetics, agriculture technology, pharmaceutical companies, and more. For this story, I used Tomorrow Lab as a way into talking about how packaging may be the next big investment for companies in competitive industries (such as cosmetics). Art by Montana Knudsen.

3/8/24 Newsletter: "Ferdi Porsche's Slippery Slope”

Published March 8, 2024 in SPY

Newsletter send from March, featuring business analyses about Whole Foods, Guinness, and DTC companies; the feature for this send was "A Porsche Heir Serves Racing on the Rocks" a profile on F.A.T international racing. For this story, written by freelancer Nick McClelland, I sought to tell a broader story about racing design and aesthetics. Art by Montana Knudsen.

4/10/24 Newsletter: "The Gildan Age”

Published April 1, 2024 in SPY

Newsletter send from April 2024, featuring the first installment of a franchise I launched, which explored how ubiquitous brands came to dominate their respective markets. Business analyses included the marketing rush of the 2024 Olympics, the success of recent Nike collaborations, and the evolving board game market. Art by Montana Knudsen.