Hi! I’m Eileen, a Los Angeles-based journalist.
I am the senior reporter for features and investigations at MIT Technology Review, where I focus on how the tech industry shapes our world—often entrenching existing injustices and inequalities in the process.
This continues on my previous reporting as a freelance journalist on what I called the “inequality, injustice, and unintended consequences” beat. That description still feels right—now I just focus on technology which, these days, touches on just about everything.
My recent work has included a data investigation on the Department of Justice’s controversial program to root out Chinese economic spies, an exclusive look at a Biometric identity system left to the Taliban by the retreating American forces; and an exposé into a tech entrepreneur’s illegal superspreader event in Los Angeles.
My stories have sparked an EU antitrust investigation into Amazon's proposed acquisition of iRobot, led to suspensions of contracts and other changes in company policy, and informed ongoing efforts to develop US government standards to reduce bias in AI.
In addition to my accountability work, I have also covered breaking news events, shot photos to accompany my reporting, produced radio documentaries, and written cultural criticism. I’ve reported on the ground from Afghanistan, China, Central America, and across both rural and urban parts of the United States. My work has been supported by Type Investigations, where I am a 2020 Ida B. Wells Fellow, the Fund for Investigative Journalism (2020), the Fuller Project (2020), and the International Women's Media Foundation (2017, 2018).
Before journalism, I worked in international development. I spent two and a half years in Kabul, Afghanistan, where I co-founded a social enterprise focused on civic technology and citizen journalism.
I am a member of Investigative Reporters and Editors (IRE) and the Frontline Freelance Register. I report in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, have completed hostile environment first aid training, and am certified in wilderness first aid.
Recent Media + Interviews
BBC Digital Planet, Marketplace, KQED, Deutschlandfunk
Select Publications:
The Washington Post, The New York Times, FiveThirtyEight, Wired, National Geographic, Mother Jones, Entrepreneur, NPR, High Country News, Columbia Journalism Review, Playboy, Vox, Teen Vogue.
Select Audio:
West Virginia Public Radio, Nevertheless Podcast, Darknet Diaries, Fandom Presents: Superman vs the KKK (forthcoming)