Maureen Pao
Maureen Pao is an editor, producer and reporter on NPR's Digital News team. In her current role, she is lead digital editor and producer for All Things Considered. Her primary responsibility is coordinating, producing and editing high-impact online components for complex, multipart show projects and host field reporting.
She also identifies and reports original stories for online, on-air and social platforms, on subjects ranging from childhood vaccinations during the pandemic, baby boxes and the high cost of childcare to Peppa Pig in China and the Underground Railroad in Maryland. Most memorable interview? No question: a one-on-one conversation with Dolly Parton.
In early 2020, Pao spent three months reporting local news at member station WAMU as part of an NPR exchange program. In 2014, she was chosen to participate in the East-West Center's Asia Pacific Journalism Fellowship program, during which she reported stories from Taiwan and Singapore.
Previously, she served as the first dedicated digital producer for international news at NPR.
Before coming to NPR, Pao worked as a travel editor at USA TODAY and as a reporter and editor in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
She's a graduate of the University of Virginia and earned a master's in journalism from the University of Michigan. Originally from South Carolina, she can drawl on command and talk about dumplings all day. She lives with her family in Washington, D.C.
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In 1992, when Lynne Houston first laid eyes on the man who would become her husband, he was wearing a white gown with blood all over it. The then-waitress dropped the food she was delivering and ran. -
New mom Maisha Watson uses one of the 20,000 cardboard boxes given out so far in New Jersey. She's glad to have a safe spot for her son to sleep. But some question the boxes' safety and effectiveness. -
The two-pronged approach to promoting safe sleep led to a 25 percent drop in the risky practice of bed sharing with babies in the first eight days of life, a study found. But more research is needed. -
Collectors covet the detailed and intricate charm-like pieces, used as anchors on kimono sashes. Master carver Komada Ryushi shares how he still gets nervous each time he starts a new netsuke. -
The baby boxes that Finland gives to all new mothers are legendary. Now states in the U.S. are experimenting with them as a way to encourage safe sleep practices and reduce SIDS. -
In the Civil War's waning years, African-Americans trying to find lost loved ones used classified ads in newspapers. More than 900 of these notices are now accessible via an online database. -
No snark or anti-commercialism rantings here, just a dose of simple sweetness. Readers share stories and photos — and an NPR artist re-creates a couple of valentines that live on only in memories. -
Raising kids is tough, even if you have a partner and a steady income or two. Single moms and dads face even more challenges, and like all parents are doing the best they can, with what they have. -
Kids may be little. But the cost of paying for someone to take care of them is really big. Stressed-out parents are pinching pennies, driving for Uber and putting off saving and having more kids. -
The "dark presence" of the bronze and brooding National Museum of African American History and Culture illuminates black history, and by extension, the history of America itself.
