Wired hires four new editorial staffers

Wired global editorial director Katie Drummond sent out the following on Thursday:

Hi All –

It’s been a blockbuster year for WIRED so far, and the hits keep coming: I’m very excited to welcome several new, talented colleagues to the team!

Verity Burns is joining the WIRED Gear team as an Associate Editor, based in the UK office and reporting to Jeremy White. Verity has over 15 years of experience writing and editing news, features, and reviews about consumer tech. She’s worked at outlets including MSN, Pocket-lint, and Stuff, and spent the last year freelancing as both a writer and an editor at multiple media outlets.

Skye Battles is joining the WIRED photo team as a Photo Editor, based in San Francisco and reporting to Anna Alexander. Skye has been a photographer and producer of photo shoots for over 15 years. Recently, Skye has collaborated with major art museums in San Francisco for photography events. (For a sneak preview of Skye’s work, check out her incredible portfolio here.)

Zeyi Yang is joining WIRED’s business desk as a senior writer covering China. Based in New York, Zeyi writes about a range of tech, including artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, semiconductors, and social media. He most recently covered China tech for MIT Technology Review, and previously worked for Protocol and Rest of World. He has also written for Columbia Journalism Review, South China Morning Post, and Nikkei Asia.

Alana Yzola is now WIRED’s full-time Senior Multiplatform Producer, based in D.C and reporting to Indu Chandrasekhar. Alana has worked as a producer for BuzzFeed and Complex Networks, among other outlets. You’re all well-aware of Alana’s genius, since she’s been with WIRED on contract for several months. She’ll work closely with Indu and Evy to lead WIRED’s social video strategy and production; Hallie Yearwood in London will report to Alana to complete this video dream team.

Please join me in virtually welcoming your new colleagues, and give each of them a warm welcome when you see them in the UK, SF, and NYC offices. (And keep an eye out; we’ll have more new team members to announce in the coming weeks…).

Best,

Katie