Maya Lau Email & Phone Number

I work at the intersection of media & research, drawing from my former career as a newspaper reporter.I host the podcast "Other People's Pockets," produced by Little Everywhere + Pushkin Industries. I interview people about how much money they make, how they feel about their finances, how they got to where they are, and if they've figured out anything about money the rest of us haven't. I came up with the idea and am one of the show's exec producers.I'm also a consultant on research projects. My clients include firms in the finance and tech worlds who are in need of people with hybrid skills. I provide investigative research, due diligence, fraud analysis, in-depth interviewing, as well as writing.I'm a former investigative reporter at The Los Angeles Times. My work exposed some of the chaos inside the USPS; showed how signature verification on mail-in ballots is ripe for error; and illuminated the challenges of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.While covering the L.A. County Sheriff's Dept., I was the lead writer on a team that revealed names on a secret list of deputies with histories of misconduct, prompting the district attorney to review past criminal cases featuring some of those officers. The list was so secret even prosecutors couldn’t access it.My stories also demonstrated the impact that secret police records have on CA's justice system, where an officer’s testimony could send people to prison without prosecutors or courts knowing about the lawman’s history of dishonesty. My work, in collaboration with colleagues, helped to bring about new laws that reversed decades of secrecy in police disciplinary files.I previously covered criminal justice at The Advocate, Louisiana’s largest daily newspaper. There, I was a lead writer on a team that won a national Investigative Reporters and Editors award for our investigation into the business dealings of Burl Cain, the long-serving warden of the notorious Angola Prison, who resigned following our stories. Our work also revealed the network of cronies and family members controlling the state's prison system and spurred criminal investigations into prison officials, some of whom have been arrested and indicted. 

My first journalism job was at The New York Times Magazine. But I truly learned how to knock on doors and dig up documents by moving to Louisiana and working in the small newsroom of The Shreveport Times, where I covered crime and criminal justice.I served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Senegal a few years after graduating from Vassar College.

Listed skills include Blogging, Editing, Writing, French, and 1 others.

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  Vassar College

  International Studies