Our Team
Meg Marco
Editor in Chief
Meg Marco is the Editor in Chief of the Observer. She has held senior editorial positions at ProPublica, The Wall Street Journal , Consumer Reports and Axios.
She coedited ProPublica’s coverage of the coronavirus pandemic that was a finalist for the 2021 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service and received the 2021 National Magazine Award for Social Media. She is the author of the satirical self-help book Field Guide to the Apocalypse, from Simon & Schuster.
Twitter: @meghann
Email: editor@observer.com
James Ledbetter
Executive Editor
James Ledbetter is the Executive Editor of the Observer. Previously he was editor-in-chief of Inc. magazine and Inc.com; former editor at Slate, Reuters, TIME, The Industry Standard and The Village Voice.
Twitter: @jledbetter
Email: jledbetter@observer.com
Samantha London
Managing Editor
Samantha is the managing editor of the Observer. She graduated from Barnard College with a degree in Philosophy. Prior to joining the Observer, Samantha was a features assistant at Vanity Fair and the assistant entertainment editor at Vogue.
Instagram: @slondons
Oliver Staley
Senior Business Editor
Oliver Staley has spent nearly 30 years as a reporter and editor. Prior to the Observer, he worked at Quartz, Bloomberg News, and at several regional newspapers where he covered everything from the casino industry in Mississippi to college basketball in Montana. He is a member of the board of governors of the Society for the Advancement of Business Editing and Writing. Oliver’s life ambitions include owning every issue of the Fantastic Four comic book and climbing the highpoint of every US state.
Twitter: @OStaley
Email: ostaley@observer.com
Erin Taylor
Arts Editor
Erin Taylor is a poet, journalist and editor living in New York. They’re the arts editor of the Observer and have written for Allure, The Verge and Bitch Mag. They are the author of Bimboland and run the Instagram meme page @atmfiend. They love birds, Crusader Kings 3, and a good conversation.
Twitter: @erinisaway
Email: etaylor@observer.com
Joe Levy
Entertainment Editor
Joe Levy is an editor, writer, and podcaster living in New York. He has worked at Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, and Billboard and as a correspondent for The Today Show, Access Hollywood and Vh1.
Email: jlevy@observer.com
Rachel Millman
Social & Platforms Editor
Rachel is the Observer’s Social Media Editor residing in New York City by way of the Hudson Valley. Formerly at The Outline, Rachel specializes in pop culture and trending topics. She presides over a small feral cat colony in Brooklyn along with her two indoor cats, Meryl and Bucket. She fundraised, co-produced and shot a documentary on gerrymandering reform called Line in the Street. She is the producer and host of the podcast Wrestlesplania, and can be found at a frightening amount of pro wrestling shows in the northeast.
Twitter: @rachelmillman
Email: rmillman@observer.com
Sissi Cao
Senior Business Reporter
Sissi Cao is a journalist based in New York covering business, technology and finance. She previously wrote for Business Insider, The Baltimore Sun and Voice of America. Sissi is a graduate of the University of Maryland and is originally from Shanghai, China. Outside work, she loves painting, dogs and history books.
Twitter: @sissicao
Email: scao@observer.com
Morgan Halberg
Senior Lifestyle Reporter
Morgan is a writer living in New York. She’s a graduate of Barnard College, and is currently the senior lifestyle reporter at the Observer. Her interests include travel, books, fashion, bad tv and anything involving Stevie Nicks—not necessarily in that order. She prides herself on her ability to always pack in a carry-on suitcase.
Twitter: @morganhalberg
Instagram: @morganhalberg
Email: mhalberg@observer.com
Courtney Vinopal
Reporter
Courtney Vinopal is a journalist covering labor and management for the Observer, based in Washington DC. She was previously a reporter and producer for Quartz, PBS NewsHour, and Washingtonian magazine. Prior to becoming a journalist, she did a two-year stint in the press office of the French embassy in Washington.
Twitter: @cglennvino
Email: cvinopal@observer.com
Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly
Reporter
Alexandra Tremayne-Pengelly is a journalist covering general news and the business of arts and culture for the Observer. Previously, she wrote for Volup2 Magazine and volunteered at the inmate-run newspaper San Quentin News.
Twitter: @allypengelly
Rachyl Jones
Reporter
Rachyl Jones is a journalist based in New York covering media for the Observer. Previously, she wrote for Raleigh Magazine and the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. She graduated from Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism and the University of South Carolina. If she could be anywhere in the world, she’d be at an Italian cafe with a good book in one hand and a fizzy drink in the other.
Twitter: @RachylJones
Email: rjones@observer.com
Natalia Petrzela
Columnist, The Quick Study
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela writes The Quick Study column. She’s associate professor of history at The New School, the host of the Welcome To Your Fantasy and Past Present podcasts, and the author of two books, CLASSROOM WARS and FIT NATION. Her writing has appeared in many outlets, from the New York Times to The Atlantic to CNN. The Boston suburbs are where she grew up, but after more than 25 years, New York City is where she proudly says she is from.
@nataliapetrzela on IG and Twitter
Rex Reed
Film Critic
Rex Reed has been the film critic for the Observer since its debut in 1987, and needs no introduction.
He is not on Twitter.
Illustrations by Joe McKendry