CV

S. MITRA KALITA 

www.mitrakalita.com

 

PROFILE

Award-winning journalist; published author; founding editor of three startups; past nonprofit president; adjunct professor at four universities; frequent speaker/writer on media, race, gender, digital innovation and the future of journalism

 

EXPERIENCE

Kalita Mukul Creative Inc., CEO/Publisher; July 2020-present

Creator of weekly Epicenter, Unmuted and Escape Home niche newsletters

Innovating a network model to connect community media to big media

Consulting and speaking on DEI 

Executive coaching and recruitment

CNN Digital, Senior Vice President for News, Programming and Opinion; July 2018 – Nov. 2020

My teams – breaking news, programming, features, national news, opinion, social media — collectively set the news agenda of the country’s largest news website. About 200 journalists reported into me, although we worked and influenced across the newsroom. An Aug. 15 email from Jeff Zucker to me: “U have changed the way we cover news.” My duties: 

Oversaw national news desk, which is CNN’s domestic news report outside Washington/politics

Initiated an effort to diversify content beyond the “Trump Bump” that led CNN Digital to remain No. 1 in multiplatform uniques

Coordinated digital distribution on owned-and-operated platforms and off platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Apple News, Amazon Alexa, Google and Google Home) 

Supervise Opinion, Travel, Style, weekends and special projects teams

CNN Digital, Vice President for Programming; June 2016 – July 2018

Tapped to lead a brand-new team as part of CNN Digital’s $20-million reorganization

Oversaw mobile, news and alerts, breaking news, photo, projects & new initiatives teams

Launched NOW team to revolutionize real-time coverage of breaking news and innovate a live-coverage tool (formerly known as a live “blog”)

Spearheaded digital coverage of every major news event for the last two years (and there have been many)

Have grown traffic to make or sustain CNN as the No. 1 news destination across platforms and devices

Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles, California; Managing Editor, May 2015-June 2016

No. 2 manager of country’s fourth largest newspaper; hired to infuse digital strategy and new direction into newsroom

In the year I was there, traffic soared to well above 50 million uniques consistently (previous average was 35 million); social referral traffic grew from 14% to 20%; we launched metrics trainings and more transparency into data; partnerships with Google AMP and Apple News; revamped headlines and framing and audience strategy; journalists of color grew from 23% to 35% during my tenure. 

Partnered with ad-sales side to better package and promote our content and audiences

Our data viz team went from being a “graphics department” to vital visuals innovators, with arresting presentations on Prince and Powerball, virtual reality on Mars and regular interactives and 360 videos.   

Launched education vertical in August 2015 to better serve core readership and attract new audiences. Translated regular stories and videos into Spanish. 

Set up strategy for separate print edition, news hub and reorganization (ongoing)

We won a Pulitzer! Our coverage of San Bernardino relied on reporting from inside communities, on the economics of a bankrupt county, on the militarization of immigrants via Pakistan and Saudi Arabia. 

We made the L.A. Times brand more ubiquitous by getting on Snapchat, Tumblr, Medium (there were no off-platform initiatives before my arrival). We did Reddit AMAs and asked readers what “Black Girl Magic” meant to them. We took a Latino poet laureate and asked him to read an ode to L.A. and set it to beautiful video and music. We changed the definition of local journalism. 

Quartz, Atlantic Media Co., New York, N.Y.; Executive editor, September 2014—March 2015

• Oversee global expansion, including verticals for India (staff of five) and Africa (staff of four)
• Oversee four-member Ideas team, responsible for much of the site’s most viral content
• Coordinate with ad sales, marketing, social media, legal, events teams on special projects and campaigns 
• Report directly to editor in chief as one of his three senior editors; handle hiring, recruitment, mentoring of interns, training, contract writers, new hires

Ideas editor, July 2012—August 2014

• Section produced seven of the site’s 10 most viral stories of 2014
• Solicited, commissioned and edited all third-party content 
• Wrote columns and pieces, namely on India, gender, tech, education, governance
• Conceived of a section that straddles commentary, interactivity, dialogue, and became known for bringing authentic voices of the global economy to the fore, from 9-year-olds on the World Cup to finance ministers to Bill Gates

The Wall Street Journal, New York, N.Y.

Senior special writer, December 2010—July 2012

• Report on housing and economy for page 1 and other parts of paper; coverage areas include foreclosures, lending, changes in housing stock and ways we live, homeownership. 

Senior deputy editor, Greater New York, 2010

• Oversaw reporters covering New York City, New Jersey and Connecticut; run morning meeting and dispatch reporters, freelancers, photographers and daily coverage; at peak had 22 direct reports

• Founding editor of startup section; helped hire and assemble team, implemented processes. 

Deputy global economics editor, 2008-2009

• Oversaw reporters covering economy, demographics and Federal Reserve; daily economic indicators

• Coordinated with reporters and editors in other bureaus, foreign and domestic, on economic coverage
• Write feature stories and biweekly New Global Indian column for the WSJ India web site

Mint, New Delhi, India.; National editor/ columnist for startup publication of Hindustan Times and Wall Street Journal, member of senior leadership determining content and direction; 2006-2008 

• Oversaw reporters covering eclectic beats as nonprofits, sports, steel, education, entertainment, workplace, religion; oversaw special series and sections, such as MBA guide

• My reporters won several awards, including CNN’s Young Journalist of Year and many internal recognitions; handled awards entries, hiring, training and internship program

• Wrote popular weekly column on life, work, family, gender, politics, New India

• Launched paper’s first blog, coordinated business development with new online ventures, regularly appeared on video and worked with broadcast side to get stories into print and vice versa
• Coordinated coverage with Wall Street Journal editors across the world

The Washington Post, Washington, D.C.; Business reporter, 2003-2006 

• Covered immigration, globalization, outsourcing and its effect on local, national and global economy
• Reported and blogged from India several stories on changing economy and society
• Covered education, schools, youth and immigration trends in 2003-‘04

Newsday, Queens, N.Y.; Business Reporter, 2000-2003

• Wrote daily and feature stories on business trends and New York City economy
• Covered aftermath of 9/11, from downtown to terrorism trial in Lackawanna, N.Y. 
• Carved beat out of minority/immigrant entrepreneurs, small business, Gen-X workplace 
• Reported series on India 10 years after liberalization; reported from Houston on Enron

India Abroad, New York, N.Y.; Monthly Columnist, 2002-2003

The Associated Press, Trenton, N.J.; Newswoman, 1998-1999

• Covered breaking news in New Jersey for print and broadcast wires; national stories included racial profiling and Kosovo refugees’ arrival
• Supervised desk, copy-edited, coordinated coverage among writers and photographers

The Daily Targum, New Brunswick, N.J.; 1994-1996, 1997 as Editor in Chief

• Directed all editorial operations of the non-profit, $2 million Targum Publishing Co., which produces Rutgers University’s newspaper. Circulation 17,000, average 20 to 24 pages

INTERNSHIPS: Wall Street Journal, Baltimore Sun, Patriot Ledger, WSJ Classroom Edition

EDUCATION

Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, M.S., May ’00 (concentration: new media)

Rutgers College (General Honors Program), May ’98, GPA: 3.7, Phi Beta Kappa

Majors: History/Journalism & Mass Media, Minor: Spanish

Financed 75 percent of college education through summer internships and college newspaper job

BOOKS

• • Suburban Sahibs: Three immigrant families and their passage from India to America (Rutgers University Press 2003; Penguin India 2004)
  • My Two Indias: A Journey to the Ends of Opportunity (Harper Collins India, November 2010)

• Commune: The social network powering the happiest people in the world and how you too can #LiveYourBestLife (Proposal)

TEACHING

• City University of New York Journalism School, Spring 2017, adjunct for advanced social media
• Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, 2009-2011-2014, adjunct faculty teaching “New York World” workshop, a class focused on accountability journalism of city and state government. Also advise master’s students on their long-form requirement for graduation)
• U-Mass Amherst, taught online course on Opinion Writing, 2011-2012
• St. John’s University, Jamaica, N.Y., adjunct, “History of Journalism,” Fall 2010 (27 students), Spring 2011 (37 students). Approach to course is lecture on aspects of journalism history and then half-hour discussion relating it to present day. Areas of interest are women, minorities in media, the future of print, journalism entrepreneurship, social media, partisanship in media.  
• Have lectured at New School, NYU, University of Illinois, Rutgers, Harvard, Montclair State, U-Penn, University of Virginia, Washington & Lee (latter as Donald Reynolds Visiting Scholar in Business Reporting)

CHAPTERS IN ANTHOLOGIES

• At Ground Zero: 25 Stories from Young Reporters Who Were There (Thunder’s Mouth Press 2002)
• Best Business Stories of 2003 (Vintage); series from India included
• Telling True Stories (Penguin, 2007): a chapter on reporting on one’s own community, from talk delivered at the Nieman Narrative Writing Conference.  
• Innovating Women: The Changing Face of Technology (Diversion, 2014): a chapter on rejecting having it all or leaning in and embracing most women’s reality: doing it all

DOCUMENTARY

• Served as story consultant on “Crossing Lines,” (2007) award-winning documentary about an Indian woman’s search for identity after her father dies
• Working on documentary about heavy metal and its lure in India’s troubled, militant northeast 

EXTRA

• Fluent in Spanish (lived in Puerto Rico, covered immigration), Assamese (North Indian language), some spoken Hindi (studied one year), Bengali (conversational), Mandarin (studied one year)
• Past president of the South Asian Journalists Association
• Frequent speaker at various events around the world; appearances include United Nations, World Bank, Harvard’s Nieman Narrative Writing Conference, SXSW, Perugia Internalism Journalism Festival, moderated New York City’s mayoral debates 

HONORS

• Named Cablefax’s “Most Powerful Women” of 2019
• Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News, 2016; part of LA Times team and led data/visuals idea that was a part of the award-winning entry
• Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Website, 2019; wrote award-winning entry for CNN’s homepage
• Been a Pulitzer juror twice, 2015 and 2016; also regular judge for ONA, ASNE and OPC
• Spirit of Asian America Award, 2018, Asian American Federation
• South Asian Journalists Association, Outstanding commentary, 2014
• Society of American Business Writers and Editors award for coverage of global recession, 2010
• South Asian Journalists Association, Finalist, Outstanding editorial/commentary for WSJ column, 2009
• South Asian Journalists Association, Finalist, Daniel Pearl Award; First Place in Overall News Feature for coverage of globalization, 2007
• Frank C. Porter Memorial Award for Labor and Business Reporting from the Washington Baltimore Newspaper Guild, 2006
• Print Excellence Award for Coverage of Race and Ethnicity, “Let’s Do It Better” workshop, Columbia University, 2006
• Celebration of Immigrant Voices Award from the International Institute of New Jersey, 2005
• New Jersey Authors Award from the New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance and New Jersey Library Association, 2004
• Caring for Children award from the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, 2004
• Work published in “Best Business Stories in 2003”
• Named “Young Journalist of the Year” by New York Associated Press Association, 2002
• Named “Best New Reporter” by New York Newswomen’s Club, 2001
• Newsday Publisher’s Award for Specialist Reporting, 2001 
• Women’s Economic Roundtable Prize for coverage of Entrepreneurship, 2002
• Society of Silurians News Analysis Award for LaGuardia Airport series, 2000 
• Robert Harron Award from Columbia University for journalistic excellence, 2000
• N.J. Press Association First Place News Writing, 1998