TIME Announces 7 New Hires

TIME Editor Edward Felsenthal sent the following letter to TIME’s staff Friday.

Team TIME,

As we head into the busiest season of the year (Person of the Year is fewer than 90 days away!), I wanted to take a moment to note some great work, welcome 7 new staffers and announce 7 well-deserved promotions and new assignments.

Our readership was up 45 percent in the first six months of 2018 versus the same period last year. We’re on target for nearly 2 billion video streams on Time.com this year, including a new record of17 million streams on Time.com in July.

Our covers have kicked off news cycles of their own and brought exciting new voices to TIME. We’ve partnered with the Texas Tribune at the U.S.-Mexico border. We’ve reported from Afghanistan to Italy, from Singapore to Sierra Leone, from Colorado to North Carolina. We’ve launched new franchises like World’s Greatest Places and a four-city TIME 100 series with WeWork, testaments to the power, reach and creativity of our brand and our team.

TIME also significantly exceeded its digital and print revenue targets for the first half of the year.

First, the 7 new staffers:

Judy Berman joins as TIME’s television critic. Judy, a prolific contributor to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Guardian and Esquire, brings with her a deep knowledge of television and an infectious curiosity about the ways television is changing and changing our world. A demanding critic and a joy to read, Judy starts on Monday.

Tomi Omololu-Lange joins Mia Tramz’s team as Associate Producer, Enterprise and Immersive Experiences. Tomi has previously worked at Food & Wine, Martha Stewart Weddings, and on special issues Condé Nast. She’s also worked on photo research projects at Google for their Content and Community team. In her personal work, she is currently exploring cultural identity and motherhood through augmented reality, video and cinemagraphs.

Mark Hokoda, a former copy editor at TIME, returns to join the copy desk. In addition to his work here, Mark’s previous jobs included staff editor at the New York Times News Service, copy chief at the San Francisco Chronicle and writer at Chowhound.

Gina Martinez joins the staff as a reporter on the News Desk. Previously a freelance reporter for TIME, Gina came to us from Times Ledger Newspapers, where she covered politics, crime and breaking news in Queens. Gina grew up in Brooklyn and graduated from CUNY York College.

Annabel Gutterman becomes Associate Audience Engagement Editor. Annabel was previously a producer to Time.com. She is a recent graduate of George Washington University, where she majored in journalism and mass communications.

Kat Moon joins as Associate Audience Engagement Editor. Kat was most recently an audience engagement fellow at The Intercept and has also interned at the NBA and The Muse. She is a graduate of the Columbia College and also holds a masters degree in data journalism from the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism.

Abhishyant Kidangoor joins as Associate Producer in Hong Kong. Previously a freelance producer in New York, Abhishyant will report to Chris Grasinger and work with Aria Chen to bolster our video production efforts in Asia.

In addition, I’m happy to announce 7 promotions and new assignments:

The unflappable Anny Kim becomes Copy Chief. A graduate of Middlebury College, Anny came to TIME in 2015 from Time Out New York, having previously worked at Bleacher Report, Entertainment Weekly, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon and the Late Show with David Letterman.

Feliz Solomon becomes Senior Editor in the Hong Kong bureau. Feliz, who joined TIME in 2016, has helped Time.com’s continuous news desk maintain its 24-hour news coverage and has reported from Myanmar, Japan and Thailand, where she covered the saga of the dozen boys trapped in Tham Luang cave. She will take on new responsibilities, helping to recruit and manage editorial fellows and oversee longform and multimedia projects.

Charlie Campbell becomes East Asia Correspondent with his forthcoming move from Beijing to Shanghai. Charlie’s agenda-setting reporting has included interviews with the leaders of South Korea, Thailand and Pakistan as well as profiles of business chiefs, sports stars and entertainment figures in China. He will lead our coverage of China, Japan and Korea from his new post.

Joseph Hincks becomes Middle East Correspondent. Joe, who joined TIME in 2016, has reported from the Philippines, Mongolia, Japan, Guam and South Korea while based in our Hong Kong bureau. He will relocate to Istanbul in early 2019.

Jamie Ducharme joins the Health team as a Staff Writer. Since coming to TIME less than a year ago, Jamie has quickly established herself as one of our best-read writers, enlightening readers on everything from Juuling to the flu. We are looking forward to having her focus on Health full-time.

Abigail Abrams becomes Staff Writer. Steady on deadline, dogged in her reporting and collaborative, Abby, since joining TIME full-time in 2016, has been a star of the research department. Working with Ryan Beckwith and the News Desk, Abby will now focus her efforts on covering national politics.

Abby Vesoulis becomes a reporter in TIME’s D.C. bureau. Abby previously interned with TIME, NBC Washington and at Columbus, Ohio’s NPR station. She is an Ohio State graduate, with a major in journalism and political science.

Please join me in welcoming Judy, Tomi, Mark, Gina, Annabel, Kat and Abbishyant and in congratulating Anny, Feliz, Charlie, Joseph, Jamie, Abby and Abby on their new roles.

Edward