Contact

Abby Seiff

Editor and Reporter

NY/Remote ● aseiff@gmail.com ● abbyseiff.com ● https://www.linkedin.com/in/abby-s-51286110

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Award-winning editor and writer with bylines in Time, Al Jazeera, The Economist, and many others. Deep expertise editing and reporting on Asia. Author of Troubling the Water: A Dying Lake and a Vanishing World in Cambodia. More than a decade of experience in managing diverse and global teams.

 

EXPERIENCE

Radio Free Asia, Investigative Editor: Washington, DC/NY                                                                  June 2023 - May 2025

Commissioned and edited enterprise features for RFA's newly formed investigative unit, including an impactful multi-part investigation into the criminal tycoon powering Southeast Asia's fastest growing company; a multimedia feature on how TikTok is drawing Vietnamese migrants to the U.S. southern border; and a narrative investigation into an elderly Chinese American historian charged with espionage.

 

Reported and wrote daily news stories as well as longform features, including a co-reported investigation into how Rohingya children are being kidnapped from Bangladesh to serve in the Myanmar military and a feature on a teenaged refugee shot dead by police in New York.

 
Worked closely with freelance and staff reporters, including those from RFA's nine language services, to aid at every step of the writing process, from ideation to sourcing and angle-development through story structuring and line-editing. Liaised with lawyers, security officers and standards editors to ensure watertight stories and the safety of reporters and sources. Worked closely with creative team to determine best art or multimedia elements and to create special pages. Advised on social media rollout and any outside press or comms needs. Helped script and produce social media and documentary video.

 

The New Humanitarian, Interim Asia Editor: Remote                                                                            May 2022 - June 2023

Commissioned and edited features, news, and photo essays, drawing on a stable of freelancers and seeking out new ones. Shepherded stories from pitch to publication, working closely with reporters and production team. These included an illustrated feature on a monk battling Myanmar’s junta; an investigation into how Indian Dalits are excluded from disaster aid; and articles on life under the Taliban. Wrote briefs for the ‘Cheat Sheet,’ a roundup of the past week’s events.

 

ChinaFile, Senior Fellow: NY/Remote                                                                                                            Aug. 2020 - June 2023

Curated the magazine’s ‘Conversations’ section, a regular discussion of news from leading China experts, by developing ideas, commissioning writers, editing contributions, and writing intros. Edited features, essays, book reviews, and fiction

 

Mekong Review, Contributing Editor: Remote                                                                                             Oct. 2020 - Aug. 2022

Wrote profiles, reviews, and reported pieces including interviews with Myanmar protest leader Ei Thinzar Maung, writer Amitav Ghosh, and Hong Kong activist Chow Hang-tung. Conceived, launched, and wrote a weekly email newsletter on Southeast Asia news, which had 2500 subscribers and a 47 percent open rate — more than double the industry standard.

 

Foreign Policy, Deputy Editor: Remote                                                                                                                  March - July 2020

Edited and published 80+ articles, including analysis, reporting, and photo essays. Built a roster of contributors, developed writers from under-represented backgrounds, and mentored junior staffers. Developed plan to improve commissioning-editing-copyediting workflow and served on the diversity committee to hire more writers of color

 

Asia Society Magazine, Editor-in-Chief: NY                                                                                              Jan. 2019 - March 2020

Laid the groundwork for the digital launch of Asia Society Magazine, offering deeply reported features on arts, politics, and news related to Asia and Asian America. Created editorial calendars and content ideas, presenting these plans to executives and donors. Led publication of a special print edition by conceptualizing content, assigning writers, editing, budgeting, and researching art — as well as hiring and managing creative director.

 

Devex, Editor (varied positions): Bangkok/Phnom Penh/NY                                                              Jan. 2017 - April 2022 

Commissioned and edited weekly op-eds on the international aid sector from writers and nonprofits around the world as parttime opinions editor. Oversaw a team of journalists across the U.S., guiding coverage and editing daily news articles as parttime US editor. As fulltime staff Asia Editor, managed staff reporters, plus global freelancers. Strengthened regional coverage by increasing reporting on humanitarian challenges, including the Rohingya refugee crisis, and China’s aid footprint.

 

UCANews, Senior Editor/Reporter: Bangkok                                                                                               Oct 2013-Dec. 2016

Phnom Penh Post, Deputy National News Editor: Phnom Penh                                                        Sept. 2012-Oct. 2013

Cambodia Daily, Associate Editor: Phnom Penh                               Feb. 2009 - March 2010; April 2011 – Sept. 2012

 

Freelance Reporter, Editor, Media Trainer                                                                                              Oct. 2013 - June 2023

Wrote news and features for varied publications including the New York Times, Time, Al Jazeera, The Dial and more. Edited stories for the English-language news outlet CamboJA and served as an informal advisor during start-up. Worked as a contributing editor at Asia Society magazine, commissioning, editing, and publishing an analysis on the unintended consequences of Vietnam’s anticorruption drive; oral histories from Partition; and a photo essay on New York’s Bangladeshi American community. Served as a roster writer/editor for Open Society Foundation — editing briefings and reports from around the globe and ghostwriting op-eds. Served as an interim managing editor at the American Prospect to produce their Feb/March 2022 issue on the supply chain crisis. Trained five Southeast Asian investigative journalists remotely in 2020/2021 through an IRI-funded program.

 

AWARDS & FELLOWSHIPS

• One World Media, Innovative Storytelling Award (with team), longlist: Cambodia’s New Cabinet is Steeped in Nepotism - 2024

• Yaddo: highly selective arts residency in Saratoga Springs, New York - 2021

• Boulevard Magazine, Nonfiction Content for Emerging Writers: finalist for nonfiction - 2021

• Logan Nonfiction Program: fellowship for working on my book - 2021

• Earth Journalism Network grant: awarded for a story on threats to the Mekong River - 2018

• Thomson Reuters Foundation, Uncovering Security grants – 2016 and 2017

• International Reporting Project: grant to report on migration in Nepal - 2017

• SOPA Awards: honorable mention for investigative journalism (2013); breaking news (2014)

 

SKILLS & TRAINING

• Adobe suite, Google suite, Squarespace, Wix, Mailchimp, Drupal, Arc, Plone, Wordpress

• Photography, basic video, basic scriptwriting, basic video and audio editing

• Hostile Environment and First Aid Training, Rory Peck Trust - 2018

 

Brooklyn College:  MFA, Creative Writing - 2023

University of Chicago: BA, Anthropology - 2006