Select Editing Projects & Features
(Here is an incomplete list of writers I’ve worked with)
Stay Hungry (or In Tbilisi, Georgia, Food Is the Language of Resistance) by Gary Shteyngart
Nothing has ever come easy for the former Soviet republic of Georgia, but it is still a place of fascinating cuisine, centuries-old bathhouses, and steadfast good humor. On a visit to Tbilisi and the nearby mountains of the Caucasus, Gary Shteyngart learns that resistance comes in many flavors. Condé Nast Traveler, July 2025
Travel Well
We introduced this hub in response to the stratospheric rise in interest in wellness vacations and holistic health, but it was also an expression of our efforts to offer a more inclusive form of travel coverage by addressing issues of accessibility and traveling with chronic conditions. Launched in conjunction with a major print wellness package in the March issue. Condé Nast Traveler, launched in March 2024
Eat to the Beat (or Author Gary Shteyngart’s Dispatch from a Multi-Day Food Tour of Mexico City)
The best way to tap into the fast-paced rhythms of modern-day Mexico City? Immerse yourself in the wild flavors of its world-class restaurant scene. Gary Shteyngart gathers some friends and heads out on an epic grub crawl. Condé Nast Traveler, December 2022
The Future of Travel
To celebrate the 35th anniversary of Condé Nast Traveler‘s founding, we devoted an issue to exploring the ways travel had changed in a generation—and how we expected it to evolve in the future. Concurrently with the print issue, we launched our Future of Travel digital vertical and published our inaugural Bright Ideas in Travel list, an annual digital-only compendium of thought leaders and game-changing products across the global travel industry, with a companion accolades program. (Here are the Bright Ideas lists for 2025, 2024, 2023, and 2022). Condé Nast Traveler, September 2022
Wonderland: Yellowstone at 150 (or Yellowstone National Park at 150)
By early 2022, the pandemic had begun to recede, and masked Americans were traveling again, especially to their national parks, where the combination of social distancing, natural grandeur, and quietude felt like just what the doctor ordered. So we celebrated the sesquicentennial of the grandaddy of them all, while also examining a history that has too often excluded the park’s original stewards and pondering how best to preserve Yellowstone for future generations. Featuring contributions by Lauret Savoy, Jacqueline Keeler, myself, and numerous friends of the park. Condé Nast Traveler, March 2022
Love & Travel
When the romance of travel meets … romance. Featuring contributions by Colm Toibin, Ada Limón, Elif Shafak, and Rick Steves. Condé Nast Traveler, March 2022
The World Made Local
To celebrate the global return to travel as we began to emerge from the pandemic and mark a new era of collaboration among the seven international editions of Traveler, we changed the magazine’s tagline to “The World Made Local” and embarked on an ambitious project to ask 100 fascinating locals in 100 countries why we should come visit them. The print magazine ran a selection of the responses, from people like “Sistah Patt” Gunn, a Gullah Geechee tour guide in Savannah, Georgia; Khadjou Sambe, a professional surfer in Senegal, Rosalba Piccinni, a jazz singer and florist in Italy; Joel Gaitan, an artist and ceramicist in Nicaragua; Yara Saleh, a choreographer in Egypt; Francisco Seubert, a baker in Argentina; Tjok Gde Kerthyasa, a homeopath in Indonesia; and many more. Condé Nast Traveler, September 2021
The One in Ten Project
Ongoing digital and print initiative to celebrate the approximately one in ten employed adults around the world working in jobs supported directly or indirectly by tourism. Condé Nast Traveler, launched in January 2021
The New Standard
Print and digital initiative showcasing innovation in travel and hospitality during the pandemic. Print package here. Condé Nast Traveler, launched in October 2020
Higher Power (or Spotting Snow Leopards in the Himalayas) by Maggie Shipstead
On a journey through the foothills of the Himalayas, where humans live alongside one of the world’s most elusive creatures, Maggie Shipstead discovers the good that grassroots conservation can do. Condé Nast Traveler, October 2020
The Lands We Love
For “Under One Sky,” our first print issue produced entirely during lockdown, we asked some of our favorite travelers to tell us about the places they most wished they could be visiting. Featuring an all-star team of contributors, including Stephanie Danler, Cheryl Strayed, Ayad Akhtar, Francis Lam, Ruth Reichl, Porochista Khakpour, Rowan Richard Phillips, David Benjamin Sherry, Teju Cole, Julia Phillips, Peter Heller, Marcel Theroux, Aatish Taseer, Carina Chocano, Sophy Roberts, Jason Rezaian, Mark Doty, Maggie Shipstead, Walter Kirn, Marcel Dzama, Susan Choi, and Imani Bashir. Condé Nast Traveler, August/September 2020
Let’s Hear It for New York (or Our Favorite New Yorkers on the Best Things in All Five Boroughs)
In the redesigned April 2020 print issue, my first truly steering the American edition of Condé Nast Traveler, we honored the city where the magazine was born and is still made, asking some of our favorite NYC locals about their favorite things to do around town. Contributors included Bemelmans piano legend Earl Rose; fashion designers Dapper Dan and Rachel Comey; Brooklyn Museum director Anne Pasternak; late night host Jimmy Fallon; novelists Jonathan Lethem and Gary Shteyngart; Radiolab co-host Jad Abumrad; restaurateurs Missy Robbins, Danny Meyer, and Ignacio Mattos; SNL star Aidy Bryant; New York Times restaurant critic Pete Wells; and more. The celebration became bittersweet when the issue debuted to a ghostly, deserted New York, but today it is still a fantastic list of some of the coolest things to do in the greatest city on earth.
Condé Nast Traveler, April 2020
The Great American Winter
The many ways our country draws us out into the cold. Featuring contributions from Maggie Shipstead, Amanda Fortini, Peter Kaminsky, Tom Vanderbilt, Flora Stubbs, and myself. Travel + Leisure, December 2018
Destination of the Year: Canada
Our annual package went north of the border to celebrate the Land of the Maple Leaf’s sesquicentennial and its role as a beacon of tolerance in a moment when America was feeling decidedly intolerant (a preview of coming attractions). Keynote by self-professed Canuckophile Gary Shteyngart. Travel + Leisure, December 2017
How Baltimore Quietly Became the Coolest City on the East Coast by David Amsden
There’s much more to Charm City than what you’ve seen on The Wire. Even as racial tensions make headlines in this famously blue-collar town on the Chesapeake, slick waterfront projects and farm-to-table dining have arrived along with a new, younger generation of residents set on building the place they want to live in. One native Marylander travels to the city he first knew as a kid to meet the doers and dreamers driving Baltimore’s next act. (One of our top-performing stories of the year.)Travel + Leisure, August 2017
The Way They Cook in Sicily by Stephanie Danler
Here in southernmost Italy, every dish is infused with love and tradition, reflecting generations of family and centuries of history. Stephanie Danler eats her way across the island, savoring its humble, African-inflected cuisine and soaking up the wisdom of its women. Travel + Leisure, August 2016
The Great Wide Open by Pico Iyer
The future has arrived in Mongolia, both in the high-rises of its capital, Ulaanbataar, and in the vast emptiness beyond. Pico Iyer finds a country that is moving ahead by embracing modernity and rediscovering its own history.Travel + Leisure, July 2016
A Salute to the National Parks
We honored one hundred years of what Ken Burns called “America’s best idea” with tributes from Burns himself, Cheryl Strayed, Walter Kirn, Christopher Buckley, Heidi Julavits, Lauret Savoy, Eileen Myles, and Verlyn Klinkenborg, a photo portfolio by Harf Zimmerman, and more. Travel + Leisure, June 2016
Print Package | Expanded Digital Landing Page
Cruising the Northwest Passage by Saki Knafo
For centuries, the search for this fabled route through the Canadian Arctic captivated explorers—and led many to their deaths. Today, warming seas have made it possible to traverse the Northwest Passage on a passenger ship, creating a new frontier for the cruise industry. (Featuring specially commissioned map animations by Mara Sofferin and photography by Stefan Ruiz, who bunked with Saki.).Travel + Leisure, February 2016
Snow Country by Junot Díaz
On the starkly beautiful island of Hokkaido, Junot Díaz finds a rugged mountain landscape and an unexpected mash-up of cultures that together form a strange and wonderful version of Japan—especially in winter. Travel + Leisure, January 2016
T Magazine Interactives, 2014
I produced these expanded digital presentations of print stories featuring video commissions, audio elements, and other multimedia elements:
In Search of the Perfect Taco by Jeff Gordinier
Adventures in Mexico with René Redzepi.
The End of Cuisine by Dwight Garner
The author survives 50 courses with Ferran Adrià and Nathan Myrvhold.
From Russia With Love
Me on J. Mendel’s fashion fairy tale.
The 2012 Hollywood Mavericks
One in a series of Mavericks packages for Details (a Tech Mavericks would follow soon thereafter). Featuring Leonardo DiCaprio, John Krasinski, Rebel Wilson, Henry Cavill, and many others. Details, December 2012
Lone Star by Howie Khan
He’s a nine-time world champion. His serve approaches 180 miles per hour. He has the chiseled physique and dreamy looks of a matinee idol. So why haven’t you heard of Iñaki Osa Goikoetxea (Goiko to his fans)? Because this elite athlete plays the all-but-forgotten sport of jai alai. In another time and place, he could have been as fêted as Roger Federer or Tom Brady. Instead, he’s just happy to have a job. Details, May 2012
The Rust Belt Revival
Tales of innovation, resilience, and rebirth in Detroit, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Youngstown, and other cities across the the industrial Midwest. Featuring an early John Fetterman sighting. Details, April 2012
The Makers
Bold visionaries working across architecture, industrial design, lighting, automotive engineering, robotics, and more. Featuring several stars who have since become more famous, including Bjarke Ingels and Thomas Heatherwick. Details, August 2011
The Overheated, Oversexed Cult of Bikram Choudhury by Clancy Martin
At an advanced teacher-training session in San Diego, the inventor of “hot yoga” instructs a new generation of gurus. Is he leading them to enlightenment—or hosting a giant hookup party? (We ran this story several years before Vanity Fair ran a similar one, using our photography.) Details, February 2011