Writing & Multimedia Samples

Business/Technology

How the former employees of Theranos explain themselves on LinkedIn (Quartz)
What happens when the company you work for implodes?

These Entrepreneurs Are Taking on Bias in Artificial Intelligence (Entrepreneur)
Meet the founders, data scientists and researchers trying to make sure the algorithms that increasingly run our lives are free from bias.

4 Ways Ransomware Companies Behave Like Legitimate Businesses (Entrepreneur)
The nefarious firms that target your data have become pretty sophisticated operations.

Slowed Peapod growth due to operational issues, not demand drop (Supermarket News)
Operational problems at Peapod’s Chicago warehouse have dragged on Ahold Delhaize’s U.S. online grocery business, executives told investors.

How bad can it get for Whole Foods? (Supermarket News)
When it comes to Whole Foods Market’s legacy business, these days it seems to be all bad news.

Costco winning with Millennials and Gen Z (Supermarket News)
Executives said that while Costco has not specifically targeted younger shoppers, it has seen growth in the number of Millennial and Generation Z members.

Politics

Clinton lauds Walmart in document released by WikiLeaks (Supermarket News)
The Democratic presidential nominee praised Walmart and its founder in speech excerpts included as part of WikiLeaks’ release of John Podesta’s emails.

Balls sees ‘win-win’ with SNAP produce pilot (Supermarket News)
A pilot program that rewards SNAP recipients for spending their benefits on local produce has been a “win-win” for customers, farmers and the retailer.

Top regulatory issues for fresh foods in 2015 (Supermarket News)
A host of regulations on nutrition, food safety and country-of-origin labels that will be released or take effect this year promises to keep retailers on their toes.

Bakeries report progress on removing trans fat, additives (Supermarket News)
For many in-store bakeries, the FDA’s proposed ban on partially hydrogenated oils
— a major source of artificial trans fat — seemed like a no-brainer.

Science/Environment

‘ Ugly’ produce brings attractive sales to retailers (Supermarket News)
Supermarkets help reduce food waste with imperfect fruits and vegetables.

Report: Green Business Leads to a Greener Bottom Line (Entrepreneur)
Providing eco-friendly and sustainable products and services appears to give small businesses a competitive advantage.

Labels Sway Seafood Shoppers (Supermarket News)
Seafood “traffic light” sustainability labels push consumers towards the more sustainable purchases and may even boost sales in the department.

Sun City (Street Level)
Solar energy could help solve New York’s power problems. So why are blue silicon panels missing from the city skyline?

Food/Travel/Lifestyle

How exactly Stitch Fix’s “Tinder for clothes” learns your style (Quartz)
Style Shuffle is more than just a fun game. It’s an extremely effective way to learn about customers’ style, and what they’re most likely to want to wear—and buy.

How Fresh Direct, Blue Apron satisfy consumer taste trends (Supermarket News)
Food delivery companies FreshDirect and Blue Apron use their buying power and tech savvy to cater to consumer tastes, as well as drive new trends.

GrubHub CEO predicts rise of ‘virtual’ restaurants (Nation’s Restaurant News)
In the future, “virtual” restaurants will focus solely on delivery and eliminate in-house dining, according to Grubhub CEO Matt Maloney.

Bike Share Programs Delayed Across the U.S. (ShermansTravel.com)
Four cities – Chicago, New York City, San Francisco, and St. Petersburg, Florida – were set to launch ambitious bike share programs this summer. What happened?

Hotel Guests Disappointed with Just About Everything (Except Cost) (ShermansTravel.com)
Guests report overall high satisfaction with hotel costs and fees, according to an annual survey from J.D. Power and Associates.

Fashion Delivers Fund-Raiser Brings Emerging Designers to Sandbox Studio (BizBash)
Tapping into a young and diverse audience, three organizations banded together to host a fashion showcase of emerging designers, reception and silent auction.

China’s Luxury Hotel Explosion (ShermansTravel.com)
While the rest of the world tiptoes back to financial growth, China is surging full speed ahead. For proof, one can look to the advance of the luxury hotel sector.

Media

Reimagining the Digital News Subscription Model
I have an idea for a radical rethinking of the digital New York Times subscription as a news rewards app called NYT Extra.

Content Delivery via Facebook Messenger Bot
Are chatbots an effective way for media organizations to reach younger users, who are less likely to use email and thus may not sign up for email newsletters?

What Is the Impact of Facebook Instant Articles on News Media?
There are three main areas of consideration for publishers when determining the benefits and drawbacks: the user experience, data collection and monetization.

Data Visualization

As Trump looks to renegotiate NAFTA, Mexico has become No. 1 supplier of U.S. food imports (Medium)
Mexico supplied the most food to the U.S. last year for the first time since at least 1993, and perhaps ever, a new analysis of U.S. Census Bureau trade data found.

Kroger’s 50 quarters of positive ID sales visualized (Supermarket News)
Kroger’s earnings results revealed a remarkable accomplishment: The retailer has had 50 straight quarters of positive non-fuel identical-store sales.

Chart: Retail pork sales slumped in 2014 (Supermarket News)
Overall the category has not fared as well as other proteins in the past year, according to data from Nielsen Perishables Group.

Charts: Butter vs. margarine in America (Supermarket News)
While the gap between volume sales of butter and margarine has narrowed in the last few years, retailers still sell a heck of a lot more margarine.