Zoë Schiffer

Zoë Schiffer (born 1992)[1] is an American technology journalist and author. She oversees business and industry coverage at Wired and previously served as managing editor of Platformer, the tech newsletter founded by Casey Newton, and as a senior reporter at The Verge.

Early life and education

Schiffer grew up in Mission Canyon, California, a suburb outside Santa Barbara.[1][2] Her parents are Howard Schiffer, the founder of the nonprofit Vitamin Angels, and Kim Schiffer, a chef. In 2009, her family's home was consumed by the Jesusita Fire.[1]

She attended Seattle University,[1] then the University of California, Berkeley, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in political science.[3] She earned a Master of Arts in journalism from Stanford University in 2019.[4][5]

Career

Schiffer started her career as a tech employee, working as a content manager and UX writer for Uber.[6] She then began reporting freelance for publications including Vox and the San Francisco Chronicle.[4] While in graduate school, she reported on tech for KQED-FM.[3]

Schiffer became a reporter at The Verge in 2019, focusing on labor movements in Silicon Valley.[7] She uncovered a growing culture of discontent among Apple employees regarding the company's working conditions and secretive corporate culture.[8] The CEO of the luggage brand Away resigned following Schiffer's 2019 investigation into the company's work environment.[9] Schiffer briefly left The Verge in 2021 to join the tech investigations team at NBC News, but returned two months later as a senior reporter.[10]

In 2022, she became managing editor of fellow Verge alumnus Casey Newton's newsletter Platformer.[11] In January 2023, Schiffer, Newton, and The Verge editor Alex Heath wrote a cover story for New York magazine on Elon Musk's acquisition of Twitter.[12] Platformer became a leading source on Musk's acquisition and its aftermath; Schiffer later said the newsletter was "getting literally thousands of new subscribers every single month by writing about Elon Musk."[13] The debacle became the topic of Schiffer's first book, Extremely Hardcore: Inside Elon Musk’s Twitter, published in February 2024.[14] Later that year, Wired hired Schiffer as director of business and industry, a newsroom leadership position.[7]

Personal life

Schiffer lives in Santa Barbara. She is married and has a daughter.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Kornell, Sam (2011-05-05). "Mission Canyon Dreaming". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
  2. ^ a b "Speaking Up for Parents". The Santa Barbara Independent. 2022-09-01. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
  3. ^ a b "Zoe Schiffer". KQED. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
  4. ^ a b Ahmed, Mariam (2021-11-09). "Schiffer departs The Verge for NBC tech investigations team". Talking Biz News. Retrieved 2025-03-03.
  5. ^ Ramachandran, Vignesh (2024-09-18). "Stanford alums translate journalism skills to book publishing". Stanford Journalism Program. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
  6. ^ "Zoë Schiffer Profile and Activity". The Verge. 2023-12-12. Retrieved 2025-03-03.
  7. ^ a b Drummond, Katie (2024-10-31). "WIRED welcomes Zöe Schiffer as director of business and industry". Editor and Publisher. Retrieved 2025-03-03.
  8. ^ Patel, Nilay (2021-09-07). "How Slack changed Apple's employee culture, with Zoë Schiffer". The Verge. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
  9. ^ Mosley, Tonya (2019-12-10). "Away CEO Out After Workers Reveal Toxic Work Culture". WBUR. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
  10. ^ Orr, Amani (2022-01-04). "Zoë Schiffer and Sarah Jeong rejoin The Verge". The Verge. Retrieved 2025-03-03.
  11. ^ Bhattacharya, Ananya (2024-01-12). "Substack's Nazi content has cost it a top tech newsletter". Quartz. Retrieved 2025-03-03.
  12. ^ McMillan, Dane (2023-01-17). "On the Cover: Extremely Hardcore: Inside 3 Months of Twitter Under Elon Musk". New York. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
  13. ^ Hayden, Tyler (2024-02-29). "Elon Musk's Worst Nightmare Lives in Santa Barbara". The Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 2025-03-04.
  14. ^ Jurecic, Quinta (2024-02-13). "How Elon Musk broke Twitter as he turned it into X". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2025-03-03.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.