Work
Current
Senior Communications Manager, The Brookings Institution — Global Economy and Development program (2025-present)
Communications Manager, same program (2022-2024)
Managing Editor of Future Development, flagship DEV ECON blog, and lead communications across several research portfolios—including projects at the Center for Sustainable Development, the Center for Universal Education, the Reimagining Rural Policy initiative, and a new workstream on workforce and AI.
Day-to-day work spans editorial governance for 100+ policy outputs annually, thought leadership strategy, messaging and positioning, branding and design, integrated content strategy across publications, multimedia, and high-level convenings involving heads of state, cabinet officials, leaders of multilateral organizations, and industry experts.
Interviews and conversations
A series of long-form profile interviews with senior scholars and policy leaders. The format was subsequently adopted across other Brookings programs.
- Why humans matter most in the age of AI: Jacob Taylor on collaboration, vibe teaming, and the rise of collective intelligence — with Jacob Taylor (2025)
- Homi Kharas on FfD4: Can the Sevilla conference reshape global development paradigms? — with Homi Kharas (2025)
- The future of U.S. foreign aid: George Ingram on policy shifts, global fallout, and what comes next — with George Ingram (2025)
- Not just farms and folk songs: How Tony Pipa is reimagining rural policy for the 21st century — with Anthony F. Pipa (2025)
- Bridging the gaps: Allison Minor on U.S. foreign policy, conflict prevention, and fragility — with Allison Minor (2024)
- Gender, economics, tax progressivity, and care in the age of climate change: Caren Grown's vision for inclusive policy — with Caren Grown (2024)
- "The rise of the global middle class": An interview with Homi Kharas — with Homi Kharas (2024)
On-the-ground summaries and field analyses
- Brookings conversation with Prime Minister of Barbados Mia Amor Mottley and UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed (2026)
- Brookings conversation with European Investment Bank President Nadia Calviño (2026)
- America's rural future: Mississippi Delta site visits underscore trusted local leadership, access to capital, and institutional innovation and capacity as critical to rural development (2026)
- America's rural future: North Dakota and Minnesota field hearings spotlight rural innovation, connectivity, and capacity as foundations for prosperity (2025)
- Brookings conversation featuring the UN Expert Group on Debt (2025)
Select editorial and production credits
Selected reports and publications I contributed to as editor.
- USMCA Forward 2025 (2025)
- A new US-Africa blueprint amid China's rise (2025)
- Forging Next Steps into the SDG Second Half — Rockefeller Foundation and Brookings flagship synthesis report (2023)
- Reimagine Rural Podcast — communications and editorial advisor (2023–present)
- Climate Action at Global Crossroads with Amar Bhattacharya — producer (2023)
Select earlier publications
- Ren, Junjie, with Yuxin Lin, Kelsey Chesnut, Ariel Smith, and Wade Islan. Achieving Equitable Healthy Aging in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: The Aging Readiness & Competitiveness Report 4.0. AARP International and Economist Impact (2022).
Theses
- *[Reclaiming Utopia: What We Can Learn from Utopian Thinking?] — MA thesis, Columbia University. Inter-disciplinary research on the architectural and philosophical lineage of intentional communities. Presented at the Conference on Intentional Communities: Real Utopias in History, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid.
- Counterculture Dystopia: A Comparative Study of the Rajneesh–Osho Movement and the 1960s Counterculture Movement — BA Honors thesis, Syracuse University.
Earlier independent work
Cloud Hidden, Whereabouts Unknown — Independent research, Young Researcher Fellowship, Syracuse University (2018–2021). A history of Druid Heights, a Bay Area countercultural commune annexed by the National Park Service as part of Muir Woods National Monument. Fieldwork, interviews, and archival research across the United States.
World as Family — Book campaign for Senior Advisor on Global Affairs, Dr. Vishakha N. Desai, Office of the President, Columbia University. Publicity and digital media strategy, communications design, event planning, video and podcast production. The book was Pulitzer-nominated and received the Nautilus Award. Event · Podcast
Local-Global podcast — Independent policy communications project at Columbia University. Produced and hosted, analyzing the geopolitical, economic, and policy implications of electric vehicle adoption.
Earlier experience
- The Economist Group (Economist Impact), Research Contributor / Consultant
- United Nations Capital Development Fund (UNCDF), UNDP — Policy, Partnership, and Communications Intern; Research Assistant to the Executive Secretary
- Columbia University, Office of the President — Media and Research Assistant to Senior Advisor on Global Affairs Dr. Vishakha N. Desai
- Zen Studies Society, Catskills, NY, and Bay Area, California — Interim Resident and Researcher. Three-year fully funded ethnographic research on Buddhism in the United States.
- Bureau of Labour and Social Security, China — Policy Analyst Intern
Selected talks
- Featured speaker, Columbia University Alumni Reunion (2024), program following Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz
- Presenter, Conference on Intentional Communities: Real Utopias in History, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (2021)
- Featured speaker, Global Youth Summit, Columbia University (2020)
- Invited guest speaker, Graduate Seminar on China and the World Order, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University (2021)
Education
- MA, Committee on Global Thought, Columbia University. Kathryn Davis Fellow.
- BA, Religion; Environment, Sustainability, and Policy, Syracuse University. Summa cum laude with Renée Crown University Honors.