We’re thrilled to announce that Kanyakrit “Yu” Vongkiatkajorn has joined the Metro desk as an assignment editor, bringing an audience-first focus to local breaking news coverage and quick-turn enterprise.
In her five years at The Post, Yu has worked closely with many newsroom teams, first as an editor overseeing comments, live chats and reader callouts and then as an editor for strategy and growth on Next Generation, a group that focused on engaging younger, more diverse readers.
Yu joined The Post in June 2019 as the newsroom’s first community editor. In that role, she worked with nearly every desk to connect reporters with their readers. She pitched, reported and edited several reader-driven projects, including how veterans responded to The Afghanistan Papers, a series on Americans navigating the pandemic, and a piece asking readers to describe 2020 in one word. She also partnered with product and engineering teams to lead significant overhauls of our comments and live chat platforms.
Two years later, Yu was promoted to a senior subscriber engagement editor, where she continued leading projects aimed at deepening our relationship with readers. She joined Next Generation in late 2021 as its audience and engagement editor, a role that had her work closely with desks to launch reader-friendly experiments and desk trainings. With Shirley Qiu and Lizzy Raben, she created Audience Innovation Labs, a program for reporters to pitch new, audience-forward projects. She also invited editors and reporters to host Expert Talks, a series of newsroom trainings on digital skills and new platforms. And she led the first versions of desk dives in partnership with the audience and analytics teams, providing analysis and strategic recommendations for Business, Tech, Climate and Well+Being.
Most recently as Next Gen’s editor for strategy and growth, Yu launched several projects aimed at new audiences: Post Grad, a column and newsletter with Opinions to reach new graduates; three SMS-based projects with Features, Business and Opinions; and “Try This,” an audio course for self-improvement podcasts on Apple. For most of 2023, she was part of a cross-departmental working group on the future of Local coverage.
In her new role on the Metro desk, Yu will help shepherd breaking news and coverage about life in the D.C. region, working with a team of general assignment reporters. She will also work across teams to help Metro grow its audience.
Outside of work, Yu loves running in Rock Creek Park, hunting for Asian groceries in D.C. and watching endless amounts of anime.
Please join us in welcoming Yu to Metro and congratulating her on her new role.
