I’ve spent more than two decades reporting and leading news teams on the frontlines of global and domestic upheaval, studying democracy, trauma, and repair from Cuba to Cambodia, Hong Kong to D.C. I worked for the Voice of America, Al Jazeera English, and The Washington Post, where the story became personal.

In 2020, the pandemic, protests, and the U.S. presidential election pushed my team — and the country — to the limit. So when a mob attacked the U.S. Capitol and swarmed me on January 6, 2021, I defused the threat with humor and humanity, but it came at a cost: Complex PTSD. My Post colleagues and I won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, a professional pinnacle — and a personal breaking point.

In time, I realized that staying inside a compromised system meant suffering trauma, burnout, and moral injury to keep telling stories about everyone else’s. I stepped away from the daily news cycle in 2024 to focus on building deeper foundations for intergenerational healing.

I founded Invisible Threads, a media, education, and action hub exploring how mental health and democracy are intertwined. As a visiting affiliate scholar at Georgetown University's Psychology Department and senior fellow with the school's Red House research unit, I bring science-backed approaches to my workshops, speaking engagements, and coaching practice. I guide clients to recognize how personal wellbeing influences—and is influenced by—our political, social and economic systems.

In a world where our old ways of thinking no longer serve us, I believe we need to know better to do better to feel better. By honoring the body's wisdom and understanding trauma's far-reaching effects, we can build the resilient systems our future requires.