Bloomberg hires two for equality coverage

Nikki Waller, managing editor for equality and work coverage at Bloomberg News, sent out the following to the staff:

Everyone, I’m delighted to share news about two excellent additions to our Equality coverage team.

Abha Bhattarai joins us from the Washington Post to become Equality Team Leader. Abha has spent 16 years at the Post, covering business and economics and delivering much-followed stories about white-collar mothers exiting the workforce, Americans languishing in a stuck economy and the millions of student-loan borrowers facing plunging credit scores. (Not to mention the shrinking American wedding, and the comeback of Crocs.) Abha’s coverage of essential workers on the front lines of Covid-19 won her and her colleagues the 2021 Loeb award for beat reporting. In her pre-econ days, Abha covered retail at the Post, taking on the beat from our own Sarah Halzack: her Bloomberg connections run deep.

In our conversations over the past months, Abha has impressed us with her ideas, the depth and creativity of her reporting — ask her about the time she camped out overnight in a Kohl’s parking lot — and her vision for Equality coverage as core business and financial coverage, anchored in data and dollar signs.

Abha hails from Austin, Tex. and lives in Washington with her husband and two daughters. Outside work, she loves cooking and travel and is learning to ski. Abha will be based in the DC bureau and will report to me.

Don’t put those confetti cannons away just yet: Taylor Nicole Rogers is also joining the Equality team.

Taylor created the Labor and Equality beat at the Financial Times, breaking news and delivering deep reporting on America’s changing role as a talent hub in the eyes of foreign workers, the companies and workers hit by anti-Indian racism in the wake of H1-B changes, and how managers are coping with the mountain of paperwork now required by DHS and ICE. She also anchored a 2025 series on how the rising price of eggs affected workers all along the supply chain.

Taylor’s impressive portfolio of multimedia work includes this FT documentary about how towns like Coffeeville, Miss., fare after the local bank branch bloses. We’re excited to have Taylor, a true font of ideas, join Equality, where she’ll train her lens on workplaces and the ways that hiring, jobs and careers are changing.

Taylor grew up in Chattanooga and usually can be found on a beach or ski slope when not at the office. She’s always happy to chat about Broadway, pop music, or fun places to travel. Taylor, who reports to Abha, will be based out of 731 Lex.

Both Taylor and Abha start on March 16. Please join me in welcoming them to Bloomberg!

Nikki