WSJ adds four to its newsroom talent team

Wall Street Journal managing editor Karen Miller Pensiero sent out the following on Thursday:

Greetings,

As we continue to build up expertise and resources for hiring and developing journalists with deep knowledge and abilities, varied experiences and diverse backgrounds, we’re delighted to announce that we’ve enriched our Journal newsroom talent team.

Erin Ailworth, Michelle Higgins, Emil Lendof and Jared Diamond are joining Aisha Al-Muslim, Jo McGinty and Steve Wisnefski on the talent team, which will set and meet ambitious targets for hiring, performance, retention and diversity. We’re eager to get your feedback as we roll out new initiatives for recruiting and career development. The four new team members will report to Steve.

Erin joined the Talent Team a few weeks ago and will be working with the U.S., World, Washington and Speed & Trending groups. She joins from the Publishing Desk and was previously a reporter for U.S. News, where she wrote a broad array of stories, including disaster coverage. Erin joined the Journal in 2014 as an energy reporter in the Houston bureau. Prior to the Journal, she worked at the Boston Globe and the Orlando Sentinel. Erin was a Dow Jones News Fund intern, holds a degree from Northwestern University’s Medill School and is a longtime member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists, where she served four years on the national board.

Michelle joins the team this week and will be working with the Finance, Business, Health & Science, Professional and Investigations groups. This is a homecoming for Michelle, who is returning to the Journal newsroom where she began her career as an intern in 1998 and was then a reporter for six years. In addition to two decades of reporting experience, Michelle has expertise as an educator and career coach. Most recently, she was the director of career services at CUNY’s Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, where she developed partnerships with newsroom editors, while supporting emerging journalists from diverse economic, racial and cultural backgrounds in their career goals. Michelle previously was also a staff reporter and columnist at the New York Times and is a graduate of George Washington University.

Emil will join next week and will focus on the Video & Audio, Visuals and Live Journalism groups. He most recently has been the Lead Photo Editor for the Finance coverage area and was a WSJ Trust Fellow focused on photographic storytelling. Over the past three years he has helped expand and elevate the Journal’s visual storytelling in its core financial coverage areas, making collaboration between the visuals and reporting teams a centerpiece of story development. Emil has a background in art and graphic design, and he previously worked as a photo editor at the New York Post and the Daily Beast. In his free time you can find him watching the latest Marvel movies or browsing comic book stores.

Jared joins the team in mid-June and will work with the Features, Life & Work, Publishing, Platforms, Print and new formats teams. Jared joined the Journal as a reporting assistant on the Sports team in 2011 and has been the Journal’s national baseball writer since 2017. He previously covered the Mets and Yankees for Greater New York. Jared also teaches a class in sports journalism at Manhattan College. A graduate of Syracuse University, Jared lives with his wife and one-year-old twins in Jersey City.

Please join us in congratulating Erin, Michelle, Emil and Jared on their exciting and important assignments.