Hi, I'm Isa.

I'm a journalist and media exec who's lived on four continents. I'm now in London. An immigrant, a returnee, an immigrant again, a reporter, an editor, a product director, a founder, a podcaster, a team leader... I've worn all the hats. I nerd out on nuanced conversations, understanding systemic issues and connecting worlds that don't understand one another. People struggle to identify where I come from, and I like it that way. (France, technically.) Below are a few places I've worked and a few things I can do.

I work at the intersection of tech and media, editorial and product, entrepreneurialism and management. I am driven to transform our industry for the future, develop and mentor our people, build compassionate and innovative organisational cultures, and put readers and communities at the centre of it all. I love strategy and leadership, and I also still love to get my hands dirty, write, edit and create podcasts.

My career has been about building bridges between countries and industries. I nerd out on deconstructing systems and translating between worlds that don’t understand one another, which is really just an extension of my first love as a foreign reporter. I believe that borders are gateways, not walls. I believe that truth is the most precious gift you can give and the foundation of liberty and equity. I believe in public interest journalism that fosters healthy societies, and I believe that can't happen without first building healthy newsrooms where people love to work and aren't scared of the future. That's what I strive to do.

How I work

• I tend to do jobs that didn't exist a few years ago. I look for people who can adapt, thrive on change and aren't wedded to a job description. You don't need to know everything, but be ready to learn anything.
• I thrive in small teams where I get the chance to build something from the ground up. That can be in startups or on project teams within larger organisations.
• I'll never have enough of the experts. I'm a generalist with wide range, an interest in everything and nothing but awe for deep specialists. As a leader, you should know enough of everyone's job to understand what they can contribute – and enough to know the task is better left in others' hands.
• Good journalism is a team sport, even if we tend to only byline the reporter. I want to build collaborative newsrooms that truly listen to the public, value all contributions and reward those who are generous with their knowledge. We have too many stories of toxic culture in our industry. No brilliant jerks tolerated here.

I've been and done a bunch of things. You might remember me most recently as director and senior managing editor at LinkedIn, from where I led the global expansion of our editorial products and team in a dozen countries and as many languages, and as founder of podcast and niche media Borderline. I've also worked as a foreign desk editor at Le Figaro, a project editor for it and The New York Times and a reporter for The Cambodia Daily.

Here are a few things I've done and can do...

Leadership

• Hired and led a multi-level team of 30+ journalists in hypergrowth mode to support the development of LinkedIn News across four continents
• Built a high-performing and collaborative team culture and consistently received high marks in anonymous employee feedback surveys. My team's trust and friendship is my proudest achievement. (Read their feedback)
• Excellent track record in hiring and managing diverse, cross-cultural newsrooms with personal experience working in the US, UK, Australia, Cambodia and France, and remote management experience with India, China, Brazil, Germany, Japan...

Product & strategy

• Devised and executed the strategy expanding LinkedIn News in 16 countries and 10 languages, establishing a global brand while accounting for local specificities
• Piloted, co-wrote and edited for years LinkedIn's Daily Rundown, a business newsletter now reaching tens of millions of readers
• Partnered with product managers, software engineers, designers, user researchers and fellow editors to conceive and ship many of LinkedIn's iconic content products, including LinkedIn Influencer, Daily Rundown, LinkedIn Lists, the publishing platform open to 700M+ members, editorial curation ("storylines"), mobile app and more...

Entrepreneurship

• Founded Borderline, an independent podcast and niche media company backed by membership, where was both content creator and small business owner. I handled everything from sound design to audience development to coding the website – on purpose, for the chance to learn by doing
• Track record of taking on new ideas and piloting intrapreneurial projects within larger organisations, such as establishing The New York Times in translation at Le Figaro, spearheading LinkedIn's first non-English content product, or co-creating the first major influencer program on any social platform
• Trained in the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism's entrepreneurial programme, including opportunity exploration, community surveying, stakeholder mapping, audience funnels, business models

Podcasting

• Freelance executive producer with The Guardian on shows such as Science Weekly, Weekend, Politics Weekly America and Audio Long Reads.
• Created and executive produce a weekly podcast, now with 50+ in-depth interviews about immigration, geopolitics and lives lived across borders
• Hosted and produced the show from A to Z: booking, research, audio editing, sound design, distribution, visual identity, social media...
• Built a community of devoted listeners who supported the show through membership

Newsletters

• Invented LinkedIn's business newsletter Daily Rundown and expanded it into a dedicated product, now reaching 100M+ people in a dozen languages and many more countries, across web, mobile app, email, video and voice-activated devices
• Produced the daily newsletter 5 days a week under tight deadlines, including research and writing on business, finance, management and tech, in time for US morning readers and in coordination with colleagues across Asia, Europe and North America
• Iterated with R&D teams to expand reach and engagement, particularly on mobile and email. The Daily Rundown was the cornerstone of a content strategy that gave rise to a $3bn advertising business

Public interest journalism

• Fifteen years' journalism experience in print, digital media and podcasting, specialising in global affairs, immigration, tech and business
• Agile breaking news editor, adept at coordinating journalists across timezones to keep up with rapid news cycles and produce high-quality daily newsletters, podcast and websites
• Keen editor with a strong eye for story structure, deconstructing how systems work and asking the questions the reader will. Experience editing with both professional and non-professional writers.
• Serve on the board of the Public Interest News Foundation, a charity supporting independent news outlets serving the public good and the first to establish journalism as a charitable goal recognised by the UK government

Curious about anything else? Just ask.