I spent 19 years at The New York Times, first writing about the NBA, the Olympics, and tennis. Then I covered the stories of New York City, from politics to immigration.
I am driven to write about the people behind the numbers, the humanity behind the policies, from the local to the universal.
With this mission, I wrote my first book — on the New York City marathon. In A Race Like No Other: 26.2 Miles Through the Streets of New York (Harper, 2008) I profiled professional and amateur runners, organizers, and volunteers, weaving the history of the city’s neighborhoods along the way. A Race Like No Other was a New York Times Editor’s pick, and it was named Top 10 Sports Books of the Year from USA Today.
My next book is out in August 2026! I am thrilled to announce that I have collaborated with the one and only Billie Jean King on a book for young adults. See It to Be It: Eleven Champions Leading Women’s Sports Today (Calkins Creek). We tell the stories of the champions you know, and those you should know better: Caitlin Clark, McKenzie Coan, Kendall Coyne-Schofield, Amit Elor, Diana Flores, Chelsea Gray, Nikki Hiltz, Asjia O’Neal, Naomi Osaka, Midge Purce, and Kelsie Whitmore. This is the book I wish I read as a high school athlete.
I know how formative high school can be for athletes as well as writers. I still lean on the lessons I learned at the beginning of my career as a high school sportswriter in St. Petersburg, Florida, and then later as a feature reporter in Cleveland. Care about every story. Show up. Bring a pencil. I reported on the rise of women's sports in the 1990s, covering the Connecticut-Tennessee college basketball rivalry in five Final Fours, the founding of the WNBA, and the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team's 1999 World Cup dramatic victory at the Rose Bowl.
I am not surprised that the industry of women’s sports has exploded in popularity. The market was always there; all it needed was investment. And role models. Having spent the early part of my year battling misogyny in locker rooms (“Hey lady, you don’t belong in here,” I heard multiple times), I am inspired by the superstars who fought for gender equity on and off the field.
For the last eight summers, I have been teaching these lessons to teenage students at The School of The New York Times. By the end of my intensive two-week class, students learned how to write clearly, think critically, take risks, and how to work together. I told them that sportswriters can do anything.
In my 34-year career, I have covered beats as diverse as the Olympics, high school wrestling, arena football, Cleveland Browns football, the New Jersey Nets, the New York Knicks, and the borough of Brooklyn. After taking a buyout from The Times, I worked as the Director of Journalism Partnerships at Define American. There I developed resources and conducted research for immigration journalists. I have helped clients write and publish op-eds. Currently, I work as a senior writer at a business immigration law firm.
Here in New York, I sit on two advisory boards: Documented, a nonprofit news organization covering immigration in New York, and The Earl Monroe New Renaissance Basketball School, a charter high school in the Bronx.
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