WSJ's Talent Lab is staffing up.
"We want to experiment with our reporters, and cook up some new ways for them to interact with our existing subscribers."
Good morning everyone.
I spent the last week reading and writing on the beach in Grand Cayman. One night in the sauna, some men who live on the island told me how hard it is to imagine living in New York or London after not having to pay income tax. In Pilates classes, I spoke to women who use freight forwarders to order clothes and Amazon packages, and shop at Sephora when they take the hourlong flight to Miami for work trips. I was alone for most of my vacation and consciously trying to stay off my phone, which turned all of the people around me into television.
If you want to work together this year, or have a story you think Feed Me should be covering, shoot me an email at emily@readfeedme.com.
Today’s letter includes: The man who got the WSJ talent coach job that I wrote about in August, food media startup Caper’s latest hire, East Hampton’s year-round population is booming, and Vox is doubling down on their B2B efforts (intimate dinners! conferences!) in 2026.
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Back in August, I wrote about an interesting role that WSJ was hiring for: “talent coach.” It was the first time I’d seen the term used in a newsroom, and the first time I’d seen a job description that explicitly mandated working with reporters “to set social media goals” and “develop guides, templates, and other practical resources to support reporters’ ongoing social media development.”
Although they might not use the term talent coach, other successful media companies are navigating their own version of investing in video talent: The Cut is currently hiring a platforms editor (“a creative voice who can appear on camera for short-form social video”); The New York Times just hired eight new video journalists from The Boston Globe, CNN, Vice, and the documentary world; in October, Rachel Tashjian became CNN’s senior style reporter, breathing new life into the organization’s fashion reporting; and last month, Dylan Byers reported that Bari Weiss signed a slate of new CBS TV contributors including Lauren Sherman and Casey Lewis.
A few days ago, I got a DM from Myles Tanzer, who has been at WSJ for the past six years, saying that he recently started as deputy director of the company’s Talent Lab. Devin Smith, who previously launched the first creator network at USA TODAY’s Sports Media Group, will serve as director. Below, my conversation with Myles:
First question, why is it called a Talent Lab?
I was not the person who named the department—I do love it!—but I think it speaks to the work that we’re going to be doing. We want to experiment with our reporters, and cook up some new ways for them to interact with our existing subscribers and lots of people outside of our paywall, too.
What was your job before becoming the deputy director of the Talent Lab, and how did it set you up for this role?
I worked at WSJ. Magazine and the Style News team for six-plus years in a few different roles, most recently as platforms director. In that job, I led our video, social and newsletter efforts. (Plus, doing some celebrity interviews and fun things like commissioning custom Labubus for WSJ.’s annual Innovators Awards.)
I hope to use those experiences by coming up with new editorial projects and coaching our reporters to talk to readers more directly: that could be in a variety of ways, including making their own videos, pitching a new newsletter or moderating a live event.
Do you find that writers see this pivot to more personality-based reporting to be more dreadful or exciting? Do you think the pivot is necessary?
I’m happy to say that the reporters and editors I’ve met with during my first week on the job are really excited about this new department. Understandably, there can be some major anxieties about posting on social media as a reporter in 2026—especially in a front-facing video if you’ve never made one before. But in these AI slop times with the rise of misinformation, I think we all know that it’s important to show our faces and be human.
What else will the lab be invested in? What other types of experts do you hope to work with?
Our newsroom continually breaks the biggest stories in the world (and some of the most fun features as well!). I want to make sure more people know those stories and the people who are reporting them. I feel like that’s a fun challenge and that’s the one we’ll be focusing on tackling first.
Other job updates:
Will Welch is stepping down from his role as global editor of GQ to work with Pharrell.
Zack Hauptman, Feed Me’s former assistant, started at GQ this week.
Biz Sherbert is now an editor at large at The Face.
Elizabeth Ralph (currently editor of Politico Magazine) is joining the San Francisco Standard to oversee the opinion section.
Madeleine Schulz was promoted from reporter to the US Editor at Vogue Business.
Dan Krenitsyn, beehiiv’s former chief of staff, was promoted to COO.
Kim Seymour is joining SKIMS as their first chief people officer. Prior to this role, she served as chief human resources officer at Etsy.
Chris Crowley is leaving New York Magazine after 11 years to join Caper, a new food media company founded by Puck alumni. I’m curious if New York will be hiring another restaurant reporter this year.
Seth Matlins is partnering with Vox on “a multi-platform franchise for business and marketing executives,” a sign that the media company is doubling down on their executive-focused B2B efforts including summits, private dinners, and workshops.