Who We Are

Hillary Frey is Slate’s editor in chief. Previously, she was executive editor of HuffPost, editorial director of news at NBC News, media and culture editor at the New York Observer, and way back in the past, an editor at the Nation and Lingua Franca magazines (with a few other gigs in between). She is a graduate of the Executive Program in News Innovation and Leadership at the Newmark School of Journalism at CUNY and lives in Brooklyn with her daughter.

Alicia Montgomery is Slate’s vice president of audio. Previously, she served as a member of the leadership team at NPR’s Morning Edition, and helped launch the Code Switch podcast. She graduated from the University of Maryland.

Dan Check is chief executive officer of Slate. He previously served as director of technology. Before joining Slate, he managed the data warehouse at Catalist, a political data vendor. He is a graduate of Pomona College and currently lives in Washington.

Charlie Kammerer is president of Slate, where he focuses on developing ways for brands to tap into Slate’s audience through editorial content, podcasting, video, and custom programs. Kammerer joined Slate in 2017 after spending 20 years at Time Inc., where he was a brand builder and revenue generator across a diverse portfolio of brands, including Real Simple, Fortune, Food and Wine, Cooking Light, Golf, and This Old House. He’s based out of Slate’s Brooklyn office.

Staff and Contributor Biographies

Sam Adams is a Slate senior editor. He was previously the editor of Criticwire, Indiewire’s film and TV criticism blog, and has written for the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone, and the Philadelphia Inquirer. He lives in Philadelphia.

Shirin Ali is an associate writer of news and politics at Slate. She was previously a staff writer at the Hill and before that worked at CNN as a news associate. A graduate of Northwestern University, she currently lives in Chicago.

Holly Allen is a Slate designer. A graduate of the University of Georgia, Allen lives in Colorado with her husband, Tripper, and their twin boys, Alex and Max.

Joel Anderson is a Slate staff writer and host of the third and sixth seasons of the Slow Burn podcast. Before coming to Slate, he was a reporter for ESPN.com and BuzzFeed News, among several other news outlets. A native of Houston and graduate of TCU, he currently lives in the Bay Area.

Rosemary Belson is an associate podcast producer at Slate, working on Mom and Dad Are Fighting, How To!, and Spoiler Specials. She graduated from the Missouri School of Journalism and lives in D.C.

Jeffrey Bloomer is Slate’s features director. Before Slate, he worked at Nerve, Paste, and Film at Lincoln Center. He is a graduate of the University of Michigan.

Evan Campbell is the producer on What Next: TBD. When he’s not working, he’s spending time with his cat, making music, or in despair over the Dallas Mavericks. He previously worked at the Ringer and CQ Roll Call.

Bill Carey is Slate’s editorial director for strategy. Before joining Slate, he ran Sports Illustrated’s news and social media teams. A Northwestern University graduate, he lives in Chicago.

Christina Cauterucci is a Slate senior writer. She is the former arts editor of Washington City Paper and has worked on NPR’s arts desk. A two-time Georgetown University graduate, Cauterucci lives in Washington.

Evan Chung is a senior podcast producer at Slate. Previously, he was a producer for CNN, PRI’s Studio 360, and WBEZ’s Sound Opinions. He is a graduate of the University of Chicago. Originally from Chicago, he now lives in Brooklyn.

Jenée Desmond-Harris is a Slate staff writer and editor. She writes the Dear Prudence advice column and previously worked at the New York Times, Vox.com and the Root.

Paola de Varona is a Slate senior editor, focusing on advice. Before joining Slate, she edited news at Verywell Health. Her work has appeared in places like the Outline, the Cut, and Bustle.

Cameron Drews is a podcast producer at Slate. Previously, he worked on a variety of podcasts for Panoply, and before that, he produced daily news segments at WNYC in New York and KUOW in Seattle.

Madeline Ducharme is a producer for What Next. She also worked on Slow Burn: David Duke and One Year. When she needs a break from staring at Pro Tools, she writes about science, culture, and LGBTQ life. A proud graduate of Barnard College, she now lives in Washington.

Jonathan L. Fischer is Slate’s business and technology editor. He previously worked as the arts editor and managing editor of Washington City Paper.

Nadira Goffe is an associate writer of culture at Slate. Before Slate, she graduated from Temple University and the University of Leeds. When she’s not making podcasts, lying to herself about the serving size of doughnuts, or rewatching something for the 15^th time, she’s writing in her closet-sized Brooklyn apartment.

Braden Goyette is a news editor at Slate. She previously worked at the Appeal, CNN, and the Los Angeles Times, among other outlets.

Henry Grabar is a staff writer at Slate. He likes buildings, trains, and maps.

Rob Gunther is a senior producer for What Next. Previously, he worked as an audio journalist and podcast producer for WNYC New York Public Radio, Insider, and Apple News. Before journalism, he served as a public health volunteer in Ecuador with the Peace Corps.

Rachelle Hampton is a staff writer at Slate and the co-host of the podcast ICYMI. Her writing has appeared in the New Republic, Pacific Standard, In These Times, the Chicago Defender, and Smithsonian magazine.

Mary Harris is the host and managing editor of What Next, Slate’s new daily news podcast. For the past decade, she has reported throughout the public radio system, for NPR, Marketplace, and WNYC. Her curiosity has taken her to needle exchanges and influenza laboratories; she’s even reported on her own treatments for breast cancer. Before working in public radio, she was a producer at ABC News.

Aymann Ismail is a Slate staff writer. Previously, he was the host of the Slate podcast Man Up and created the award-winning Slate video series Who’s Afraid of Aymann Ismail? Before joining Slate, he worked for Animal New York.

Derek L. John is executive producer of narrative podcasts. A veteran of public radio stations WNYC and WBEZ, he’s contributed to NPR, PRX, Marketplace, Radiolab, Invisibilia, Freakonomics Radio, The New Yorker Radio Hour, Studio 360, Death, Sex & Money, ESPN’s 30 for 30, and Audible Originals among others. He holds a master’s in journalism from NYU, where he later taught a graduate course. Derek is the recipient of numerous honors including a Peabody, Gracie and Murrow Award. His proudest career moment is getting Tom Hanks to hum the entire theme to 2001: A Space Odyssey on tape.

Derreck Johnson is a Slate web designer. He is a graduate of LIU Post and a born-and-bred New Yorker (currently residing in Los Angeles). Prior to Slate, he held a position as a web production designer at Time Inc. for Essence.com and Essence Festival.

Fred Kaplan writes the War Stories column for Slate as well as occasional pieces on culture and consumer electronics. He is the author of The Bomb: Presidents, Generals, and the Secret History of Nuclear War, Dark Territory: The Secret History of Cyber War, The Insurgents: David Petraeus and the Plot to Change the American Way of War (which was a Pulitzer Prize finalist), 1959: The Year Everything Changed (2009), Daydream Believers: How a Few Grand Ideas Wrecked American Power (2008), and The Wizards of Armageddon (1983), as well as a former staff reporter for the Boston Globe, having been its military correspondent, Moscow bureau chief, and New York bureau chief. A regular writer on jazz and hi-fi for Stereophile, he has also written on a variety of subjects for the New York Times, New York Magazine, Atlantic Monthly, the New Yorker, Scientific American, and others. A long time ago, he was the foreign and defense policy adviser to Rep. Les Aspin. He graduated from Oberlin College and has a Ph.D. in political science from MIT. He lives in Brooklyn.

Isabelle Kohn is a senior editor for Slate’s Life and Human Interest sections. Once a staff writer and senior editor at Mel, her work has also appeared in Vice, Playboy, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, and more. She graduated from the University of Colorado at Denver with a degree in public health, which she’s used exactly zero times. Her work focuses on all the little things that make you feel good.

Dan Kois is a writer at Slate. He’s the author of a novel, Vintage Contemporaries, and three nonfiction books: How to Be a Family, The World Only Spins Forward (with Isaac Butler), and Facing Future.

Danny M. Lavery is the host of the Big Mood, Little Mood podcast and previously wrote Slate’s Dear Prudence column. He is the co-founder of the Toast and the author of Something That May Shock and Discredit You, The Merry Spinster, and Texts From Jane Eyre.

Josh Levin is Slate’s national editor. He is the host of One Year and Season 4 of Slow Burn, and co-hosts the sports podcast Hang Up and Listen. He is the author of The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth. Before coming to Slate, he wrote for the Washington City Paper. Levin, a native of New Orleans, graduated from Brown University.

Dahlia Lithwick is a senior editor at Slate and the host of the podcast Amicus. She writes Supreme Court Dispatches and has covered the Microsoft trial and other legal issues for Slate. Before joining Slate as a freelancer in 1999, she worked for a family law firm in Reno, Nevada. Her work has appeared in the New Republic, Elle, the Ottawa Citizen, and the Washington Post. She is co-author of Me v. Everybody: Absurd Contracts for an Absurd World, a legal humor book. She is a graduate of Yale University and Stanford Law School.

J. Bryan Lowder is a Slate associate editor. He writes and edits for Outward, Slate’s LGBTQ section, and for the culture section.

Ben Mathis-Lilley is a Slate senior writer. His prior employers include New York magazine, BuzzFeed, and Taco Bell.

Susan Matthews is Slate’s executive editor. She has edited the science and jurisprudence sections of the magazine, and she hosted the seventh season of Slow Burn, on Roe v. Wade. Before joining Slate, she launched and edited Audubon.org. She is a graduate of Dartmouth College, and lives in Brooklyn.

Natalie Matthews-Ramo is a web and interactive designer for Slate. She is a graduate of Rhode Island School of Design.

Seth Maxon is a Slate senior editor. Previously, he was a producer for WNYC’s The Takeaway and has written for the Atlantic, NPR’s Planet Money, the Columbia Journalism Review, In These Times, and others. He is a graduate of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and the University of Chicago.

Abby McIntyre is Slate’s managing editor. Before Slate, she was an editor at Politico and is a graduate of Smith College. She lives in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Laura Miller is a books and culture columnist for Slate. She was a co-founder of Salon.com, where she was the New York editorial director and a staff writer. Her work has appeared in the New Yorker, Harper’s, the Guardian and the New York Times Magazine, as well as the New York Times Book Review, where she wrote the “Last Word” column for two years. She is the author of The Magician’s Book: A Skeptic’s Adventures in Narnia.

Heather Tal Murphy writes about tech and business for Slate. She came to Slate from the New York Times, where she reported on DNA tech, along with many other topics. Previously, she also worked for NPR, Swindle magazine, and washingtonpost.com. This is her second time at Slate. The first time around she was a photo editor.

Jim Newell is Slate’s senior politics writer. He previously served on the staffs of Salon, Gawker, and Wonkette, and his freelance work has been featured in numerous publications including Bookforum, the Guardian, the New Republic, the Baffler, the American Prospect, and the Daily Beast. A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Newell lives in Washington.

Lizzie O’Leary is the host of What Next: TBD, Slate’s podcast about tech, power, and the future. Previously, she created and hosted Marketplace Weekend and, before that, was a correspondent for CNN and Bloomberg News. She is also a columnist for Wealthsimple Magazine.

Molly Olmstead is a Slate staff writer. She is a graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism and lives in Washington.

Rebecca Onion is a Slate senior editor and the author of Innocent Experiments. Her writing has also appeared in Aeon Magazine, the Virginia Quarterly Review, the Atlantic online, and the Boston Globe’s Ideas section. A graduate of Yale University, she holds a Ph.D. in American studies from the University of Texas at Austin, and lives in Athens, Ohio.

Nitish Pahwa is a Slate associate writer. He graduated from Michigan State University and lives in New York.

Shannon Palus is a senior editor for Slate, covering health, wellness, and beyond. Her work has appeared many other places including Popular Science, Scientific American, the Atlantic, and Wirecutter.

Willa Paskin is the host of the Decoder Ring podcast. She previously worked at Salon and Vulture, among other places. She is a graduate of the University of Chicago.

Narda Pérez is Slate’s senior audience engagement editor. In her past lives, she worked on the audience teams at Wirecutter and the Dallas Morning News. She’s a graduate of the University of Texas at Arlington and lives in Dallas, where she was born and raised.

Ben Richmond is Slate’s senior director of operations for podcasts. He has written children’s nonfiction books, articles for Vice magazine’s Motherboard, and produced programs on tap-dancing, the history of banjos, and the giants of West African Afro-Cuban music, among others, for the PRX’s Afropop Worldwide.

Daisy Rosario is a senior supervising producer of audio. Previously, she produced podcasts and reported stories for Stitcher, WNYC, WAMU, Latino USA, and more. Rosario was also a frequent contributor to NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour. You may have heard her on The Moth.

Cheyna Roth was a prosecuting attorney at the age of 24, but became a journalist in 2016. She was a political reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Network and has been a guest on popular shows such as 1A, Here and Now, and All Things Considered. Her work has also been featured in Broadly, Bustle, and on NPR. Roth did a brief stint as an environmental reporter for MLive before joining Slate as a podcast producer. She’s an adjunct professor of journalism and law at Aquinas College, and the author of the true crime book Cold Cases: A True Crime Collection. She also co-hosts the weekly podcast and public radio segment, MichMash.

Sarah Rutledge is Slate’s copy chief. Previously, she was an editor at Texas Monthly. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Alexander Sammon is a politics writer at Slate. He previously worked at the American Prospect, the New Republic, and Mother Jones magazine, and has written for n+1, Wired, the Intercept, and elsewhere.

Caitlin Schneider is Slate’s senior audience development manager for podcasts. She previously worked on audience and social teams at Vice and G/O Media, and as an editor at Mental Floss. A graduate of the University of Michigan and former Brooklynite, she now lives in Los Angeles.

Elena Schwartz is a producer for What Next. Before joining Slate, she worked on NPR’s All Things Considered and Weekend Edition, and Pineapple Street Studio’s On the Ground in Iowa series. She graduated from Harvard University and is running out of time to plausibly use her student ID for discounts.

Heather Schwedel is a Slate staff writer. Previously, she worked in the editorial department at Workman Publishing.

Katie Shepherd is the producer of Decoder Ring. Previously, she produced podcasts for Slate Studios, Gimlet Creative, and Part2Pictures. Her writing has been in the New York Times and the Believer.

Natalie Shutler is Slate’s politics director. Previously, she was an editor at the New York Times, in the Styles and Opinion sections.

Ivylise Simones is Slate’s creative director, overseeing editorial design and running the art department for the newsroom. Before joining Slate, she was the creative director at HuffPost. Formerly, she’s applied her design finesse and overseen art departments at Wired, Mother Jones, New York Observer, and Village Voice. Originally from Miami, she currently lives in New York with her husband, daughter, and two cats.

Jeremy Stahl is Slate’s jurisprudence editor. Before joining Slate, he worked as a sports editor at Yahoo U.K. in London and as a contributor for the Riviera Times in Nice, France.

Mark Joseph Stern is a Slate senior writer​. He covers science, the law, and LGBTQ issues.

Dana Stevens is Slate’s movie critic. Previously, she wrote the Slate television and pop-culture column Surfergirl for two years. She has also written for the New York Times, the Washington Post Book World, Bookforum, and the Atlantic. She has a Ph.D. in comparative literature from UC–Berkeley and lives in Brooklyn.

Sophie Summergrad is an assistant producer for the podcast Slow Burn. Before Slate, she worked as a freelance television producer and has an MFA in film and television studies from Boston University.

Sol Werthan is an audience engagement editor at Slate. She is a graduate of Wellesley College.

Forrest Wickman is Slate’s culture editor. He lives in Brooklyn.

Ellin Youse is Slate’s Plus editor. In her last lives she worked as an engagement strategist for the New York Times and helped launch New York magazine’s digital subscription model. Youse is an Ohio transplant living in Manhattan. Pop, not soda.

Jenny G. Zhang is a senior editor for Slate’s Culture section.