The New York Times announces staff updates from audience. Posted Tuesday, February 24, 2026 10:04 am We wanted to share some great news on our staff. Read on for updates on Steph Castillo's new role with Well, and Jen Thomas's and Carmen Fishwick's new roles in Seoul. We're excited to announce that Steph Castillo has joined Well as a senior audience editor. In her new role, Steph will help the desk continue its tremendous run of audience growth. She'll also be a player-coach across Audience, helping to lead our cohort of editors who are embedded directly on desks, and continue to work with our Culture and Lifestyle desks on strategy for their biggest moments. She'll bring her mastery of audience tools and deep experience in health journalism to the job. After joining The Times in 2021, Steph played an integral role on the SEO team, leading the charge on evergreen search optimization and working closely with the culture and lifestyle desks on tentpole events, annual lists and other big projects. "Steph has long been a not-so-secret weapon when it comes to spotting culture and lifestyle opportunities," said Mitch Dozois, Audience strategy and operations deputy. "We're thrilled to have her join Well and bring her insights directly to the fourth floor." Prior to joining The Times, Steph managed SEO strategy for Men's and Women's Health, Prevention and Oprah Daily at Hearst. Before that, she was a breaking news and SEO editor for Time, Fortune and Money magazines. Steph has also worked as a health editor and reporter for publications like Medical Daily, Newsweek and Prevention. Steph is on the steering committee for the Latino Network and has extensive knowledge of pop culture trends (and a Spotify playlist for every occasion). Steph started on Well at the end of last year and has already bowled over her colleagues on the desk. Please congratulate her on her new role. - Anna Dubenko and Lori Leibovich Jen Thomas (Photo credit: Earl Wilson) I'm thrilled to announce that Jen Thomas has joined the Audience team as an audience editor based in Seoul. Jen fills a key spot in our 24/7 operation, joining a group of audience editors across New York, California, Hawaii, Canada and London whose work ensures that our journalism is reaching a big, and growing, global audience. In this role, she'll be a key partner to editors in the Seoul newsroom, providing regular reporting on audience performance and identifying coverage opportunities based on off-platform trends and competitive analysis. She will also help shape the way our journalism appears on our social accounts and support SEO coverage during Seoul hours. Before joining The Times, Jen was the social media editor at The San Francisco Chronicle, where she oversaw a period of tremendous social growth and played a key role in launching its social video initiative. Prior to that, she worked in newsrooms in the United States and the Middle East in audience, reporting and home page roles. Jen began her role at the start of the year from the United States and has just relocated to Seoul with her husband and three rescue dogs. In her free time, she's an avid Ultimate Frisbee player - she's competed on both beach and grass in over 25 countries around the world - and she's working toward an associate's degree in American Sign Language. Please join me in welcoming Jen to The Times! - Lillian Chen Carmen Fishwick (Photo credit: Earl Wilson) We're excited to welcome Carmen Fishwick to the Audience team as a social editor based in Seoul. In this role, Carmen will lead our social report in that time zone and shape how our journalism reaches global audiences across platforms, particularly via video. She will collaborate closely with the Video department in Seoul to meet our ambitious audience goals. She will also help share audience insights and off-platform growth opportunities with the Seoul newsroom, with an eye toward our video performance off-platform and video opportunities. Before joining The Times, Carmen worked in audience roles at The Guardian in both the United Kingdom and the United States, with a focus on using data and off-platform signals to understand audiences, and inform decisions around formats, channels and newsletters. She's also worked for publishers and newsrooms in China, Lebanon and Turkey, bringing more valuable global perspectives to our team's work. Carmen started her role in January from London and will move to Seoul in March. Outside of work, she's also a trained nutritionist with a passion for women's health. Please join us in welcoming Carmen to The Times! - Lillian Chen and Jake Grovum

Spak, the chief growth officer at Well, used that familiar annoyance to illustrate a simple truth during a thought leadership spotlight at From Day One's Seattle conference.