Philip A. Stephenson covers lifestyle at Quartz. He began his career in media as an editorial assistant for Harvard University’s Transition magazine and the Carnegie Mellon University Press, while earning his M.A. in professional writing at CMU. He went on to report for the Pittsburgh City Paper and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, before moving to New York City in 2008, to begin a Ph.D. in communications and the social impact of media at Columbia University. As a Jamaican-American who grew up in the singular state of West Virginia he is obsessed with creolization. An adjunct assistant professor in the department of media culture at the College of Staten Island, he also holds an A.B. in drama and English from Kenyon College and an M.A. from the Columbia University School of Journalism. He reads German fairly well, but has proven constitutionally incapable of developing any ear for the language. His dissertation research focuses on depictions of West Indians in English-language media. He lives, with his wife, in Queens, NY.
