Elise Hu is an American broadcast journalist who hosts the TED Talks Daily podcast and serves as host-at-large for NPR. From 2015 to 2018, she was the network's first

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the Capital city, capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the North Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, bureau chief.

Life and education

Hu was born in

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, whic ...

, to Chinese-American immigrants, and grew up in suburban Missouri and Texas. She graduated from

Plano Senior High School Plano Senior High School (commonly Plano, Plano Senior High, or PSHS) is a public secondary school in Plano, Texas, serving students in grades 11– 12. The school is part of the Plano Independent School District, with admission based primari ...

Plano, Texas Plano ( ) is a city in Collin County and Denton County, Texas, United States. It had a population of 285,494 at the 2020 census. It is a principal city of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. History European settlers came to the area near ...

. During high school, she and friends were paid $100 each to appear in national

7-Up 7 Up (stylized as 7up outside North America) is an American brand of lemon-lime-flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The brand and formula are owned by Keurig Dr Pepper although the beverage is internationally distributed by PepsiCo. 7 Up comp ...

advertisements, after which agents scouted Hu to work as a model for a few years into college. She interned at

WFAA-TV WFAA (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Dallas, Dallas, Texas, United States, serving the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex as an affiliate of American Broadcasting Company, ABC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside Decatur, Texas, Decat ...

in Dallas before earning a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism from the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded ...

School of Journalism. She is married to Matt Stiles, a reporter, with whom she has three daughters. She speaks

Mandarin Chinese Mandarin (; ) is a group of Chinese (Sinitic) dialects that are natively spoken across most of northern and southwestern China. The group includes the Beijing dialect, the basis of the phonology of Standard Chinese, the official language ...

Career

Hu began her career as a television reporter for stations including

KWTX-TV KWTX-TV (channel 10) is a television station in Waco, Texas, United States, serving Central Texas as an affiliate of CBS. It is owned by Gray Television alongside Belton-licensed CW affiliate KNCT (channel 46). Both stations share studios on ...

, KVUE-TV and WYFF-TV, and then was among the founding journalists at the

Texas Tribune ''The Texas Tribune'' is a news website headquartered in Austin, Texas. It aims to promote civic engagement through original, explanatory journalism and public events. Its website and content in various delivery platforms serve as an alternati ...

, a digital news startup. She joined NPR in 2011 and opened the Seoul bureau in early 2015, where she oversaw coverage of South Korea, North Korea and Japan. She hosted video series on NPR named "Elise Tries," which received a

Gracie Award The Gracie Awards are awards presented by the Alliance for Women in Media Foundation (AWM) in the United States, to celebrate and honor programming created for women, by women, and about women, as well as individuals who have made exemplary contr ...

from the

Alliance for Women in Media The Alliance for Women in Media (AWM) is a nonprofit organization created by women in 1951 that works to support women in the media in the United States. About The mission of the organization is to "advance the impact of women in broadcasting an ...

Foundation, and "Future You, With Elise Hu." As of 2020, she is host-at-large based at NPR West, filling in on programs such as "It's Been a Minute"; correspondent for

Vice News Vice News (stylized as VICE News) is Vice Media's current affairs channel, producing daily documentary essays and video through its website and YouTube channel. It promotes itself on its coverage of "under-reported stories". Vice News was create ...

; and co-founder of the podcast production company Reasonable Volume. Her reporting has been honored with a National Edward R. Murrow Award for Video, a

Gannett Gannett Co., Inc. () is an American mass media holding company headquartered in McLean, Virginia, in the Greater Washington DC, Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association. It produces news reports that are distributed to its members, U.S. n ...

. The

Austin Chronicle ''The Austin Chronicle'' is an alternative weekly newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demogr ...

twice named her "Best of Austin" for reporting and social media work. Hu is a senior fellow at the USC Annenberg Innovation Lab, a director on the Grist.org board, and a member of the

Council on Foreign Relations The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) is an American think tank specializing in U.S. foreign policy and international relations. Founded in 1921, it is a nonprofit organization that is independent and nonpartisan. CFR is based in New York Ci ...

. She previously served as a guest co-anchor on Tech News Today on

TWIT TWiT.tv, which is the operating trade name of TWiT LLC, is a podcast network that broadcasts many technology news podcasts, founded by technology broadcaster and author Leo Laporte in 2005, and run by his wife and company CEO Lisa Laporte. ...

, an adjunct instructor for

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private research university in the Georgetown (Washington, D.C.), Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789 as Georg ...

and an adviser and blogger for the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.

References

External links

NPR bioNPR's Seoul bureau announcement
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hu, Elise Living people American journalists of Chinese descent American people of Taiwanese descent University of Missouri alumni NPR personalities American women journalists 21st-century American women writers 21st-century American non-fiction writers Year of birth missing (living people) American women journalists of Asian descent