Alma mater University of Virginia Education University of Virginia | Notable works Still Processing | |
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Occupation Journalist
The New York Times Magazine Subjects Technology, business, culture Nominations Shorty Award for Best Journalist Similar Wesley Morris, Nikole Hannah‑Jones, Ezra Edelman Profiles | ||
Home sweet home jenna wortham on the importance of having a garden
Jenna Wortham is a technology reporter and staff writer for The New York Times Magazine. She co-hosts The New York Times podcast Still Processing.
Contents
- Home sweet home jenna wortham on the importance of having a garden
- Think x think x with jenna wortham
- Early life
- Journalism
- Still Processing
- Other projects
- References
Think x think x with jenna wortham
Early life
Wortham grew up in Alexandria, Virginia, then studied medical anthropology at the University of Virginia. She graduated in 2004.
Journalism
After college, Wortham moved to San Francisco, where she interned for San Francisco Magazine and Girlfriend Magazine and wrote for SFist, eventually becoming a technology and culture reporter for Wired. She joined The New York Times in 2008, working as a technology and business reporter, then moved to the Times magazine in 2014; Politico said the hire "gives the magazine additional editorial firepower and cachet," citing Wortham's "huge following" including more than 530,000 Twitter followers as of December 2014.
Wortham's work has also appeared in Matter, The Awl, Bust, The Hairpin, Vogue, The Morning News, and The Fader among other publications. Pi.co calls her "one of those rare writers who is able to explain the shapeshifting culture of the younger and newer internet." The Fader named Wortham's piece on The Shade Room "Instagram's TMZ" to its list of "The Best Culture Writing of 2015."
In addition to praise for her technology reporting, Wortham has been recognized for her commentary on a range of cultural topics. At The Village Voice, Mallika Rao described Wortham as "skirt[ing] the edges of tech, culture, and identity in her writing — carving out her own corner of the internet wherein she is a rightful star. (A shimmering Lemonade essay prompted a thank-you note from the Queen herself, signed "Love, Beyoncé" and 'grammed by Wortham.)" Other topics in Wortham's writing have included queer identity and race and gender on television. At Rookie, Diamond Sharp praised Wortham's "incisive writing, and the generous way she moves within the world. She is, with no hyperbole, one of the most important minds working in media."
Still Processing
In September 2016, Wortham and New York Times colleague Wesley Morris launched a culture podcast called Still Processing, produced by the Times and podcasting startup Pineapple Street Media. The show debuted to strongly favorable reviews and made year-end "best of" lists at The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, and IndieWire.
Other projects
In 2011, Wortham created Girl Crush Zine with Thessaly La Force, a project After Ellen said aimed "to show women embracing their love for other women." Other contributors included fiction writers Jennifer Egan and Emma Straub—with Straub writing about her girl crush on Egan.
In November 2014, Wortham debuted an ongoing project called Everybody Sexts which "collect[s] anecdotes of people’s sexting decisions, accompanied by nudes from said sexting incidents that are then recreated by an array of artists," including Melody Newcomb. Vice Media's technology vertical Motherboard said Wortham's treatment of sexting was "one of the first to transcend hand-wringing or how-to guides, and present the sexual behavior as something worthy of inspiring art."