Emma Carmichael: The Powerful Journey of a Journalist, Editor, and Screenwriter

From Digital Media Leadership to Television Writing and the Story of Women’s Basketball

Blog Mark September 24, 2026

0 8 9 minutes read

Emma Carmichael is an American journalist, editor, and screenwriter whose career has crossed several influential areas of modern media. She became widely recognized through senior editorial positions at publications including Deadspin, Gawker, The Hairpin, and Jezebel, before expanding into television writing and long-form journalism. Her professional journey reflects the changing nature of digital journalism, where writers and editors increasingly move between online publications, television, magazines, and books.

Her official professional biography identifies her as a journalist and screenwriter and records major stages of her career, including her time as editor-in-chief of Jezebel, editor of The Hairpin, and managing editor of Gawker and Deadspin. It also states that she worked as a staff writer on HBO’s Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas from 2017 to 2019 and is working on an oral history of the WNBA for Simon & Schuster.

Table of Contents

Quick Bio

Category	Details
Full Name	Emma Carmichael
Profession	Journalist, Editor, Screenwriter
Known For	Journalism, digital-media editing, television writing
Major Editorial Roles	Jezebel, The Hairpin, Gawker, Deadspin
Television Work	Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas
College	Vassar College
Graduation	2010
Current Base	Brooklyn, New York
Current Writing Project	Oral history of the WNBA
Publisher for Book Project	Simon & Schuster

Early Life and Education

College Years at Vassar

Publicly available professional information about Emma Carmichael’s childhood and family is limited, but her educational background is better documented. She graduated from Vassar College in 2010. Her connection with basketball also dates back to her younger years, and her later writing demonstrates that the sport became an important influence on both her interests and professional direction.

Her early experiences are particularly relevant to understanding her later work. Rather than entering journalism through a conventional newsroom career immediately after college, she developed her professional path through smaller opportunities, unpaid writing, and internships. That route eventually brought her into the influential digital-media world of the early 2010s.

An Early Interest in Journalism

After college, Carmichael moved to New York and worked at a public-relations firm while pursuing journalism opportunities. A Columbia Journalism Review profile reported that she wrote unpaid pieces for The Awl before obtaining an unpaid internship at Deadspin. That internship became an important turning point because it eventually developed into paid staff work.

This period illustrates one of the more difficult sides of her professional story. The positive development was that her persistence opened a door into journalism; the negative side was that she initially had to work through unpaid opportunities and uncertainty before establishing herself professionally.

Career Beginnings

Deadspin

Deadspin became an important starting point in Emma Carmichael’s professional career. After working as an intern, she moved into paid writing and eventually editorial responsibility.

Her experience at Deadspin helped establish a foundation for the editorial positions that followed. The publication was known for a distinctive approach to sports and internet culture, giving Carmichael an environment in which she could develop both writing and editorial skills.

Her career later brought her back to Deadspin in a senior capacity. A 2013 report on the Gawker Media network documented a management change in which Carmichael moved into an editorial leadership role at Deadspin. This was significant because it showed how quickly she had progressed from an unpaid intern to a senior editor.

Gawker

Carmichael also served as managing editor of Gawker. Her work there placed her within one of the most influential digital-media organizations of its era.

Gawker Media was known for developing strong editorial identities across its individual websites. Working within that environment gave Carmichael experience managing writers, shaping coverage, editing stories, and participating in the larger strategic direction of a digital publication.

The Hairpin and Jezebel

Editor of The Hairpin

After her earlier work in the Gawker Media network, Carmichael became editor of The Hairpin. The publication had developed a distinctive voice around culture, essays, humor, relationships, and women’s perspectives.

Her position as editor allowed her to move beyond writing individual articles and into the broader responsibility of deciding what stories deserved attention. Editorial work also required balancing writers’ individual voices with the identity of a publication.

Editor-in-Chief of Jezebel

One of the most prominent positions in Emma Carmichael’s career was becoming editor-in-chief of Jezebel in 2014.

She remained in that position until 2017. Her official biography confirms the 2014–2017 tenure, while historical records of Jezebel’s leadership also identify Carmichael as editor-in-chief during those years.

At Jezebel, she worked at the intersection of culture, gender, media, politics, entertainment, and internet culture. The position required not only editorial judgment but also the ability to manage a recognizable publication and its staff.

Her editorial influence was also visible through the writers she worked with and recruited. Contemporary accounts from former Jezebel contributors describe Carmichael’s involvement in bringing writers onto the publication.

Her tenure was therefore an important stage in the development of her reputation as an editor. It also demonstrated the more demanding side of digital publishing: maintaining a distinctive editorial voice while managing a rapidly changing online media environment.

Career Timeline

Emma Carmichael Career Timeline

2010: Graduated from Vassar College.
Early 2010s: Worked in public relations while pursuing journalism opportunities.
Early career: Wrote for The Awl and obtained an internship at Deadspin.
Following internship: Joined Deadspin as a paid staff writer.
Early-to-mid 2010s: Took on senior editorial responsibilities within the Gawker Media network.
2013: Returned to Deadspin in a managing editorial role.
2013–2014: Served as editor of The Hairpin.
2014: Became editor-in-chief of Jezebel.
2014–2017: Led Jezebel as editor-in-chief.
2017–2019: Worked as a staff writer on HBO’s Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas.
2020: Became associated with the proposed television project Scraper, based around the Gawker media world.
Recent years: Continued magazine and journalism work, with increasing focus on women’s basketball.
Current: Working on an oral history of the WNBA for Simon & Schuster.

Television Writing Career

Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas

Emma Carmichael expanded her career from digital journalism into television writing when she joined Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas.

Her official biography states that she was a staff writer on the HBO program from 2017 to 2019.

The program combined comedy, documentary reporting, interviews, and investigative storytelling. Its subjects included policing, education, infrastructure, surveillance, and other social issues. Carmichael received writing credits across the series.

IMDb and other entertainment databases credit her as a writer on numerous episodes. For example, she was credited on “Student Problems, Sidewalk Problems, Misconduct Problems,” “Research Problems, Reef Problems, Punitive Problems,” and “Safety Problems.”

This phase of her career demonstrated that her editorial and journalistic skills could transfer into scripted and documentary-style television production.

Scraper and Screenwriting

Another notable screenwriting project connected with Carmichael was Scraper, a proposed television series inspired by the world of Gawker Media.

She was involved with the project alongside Leah Beckmann. The project attracted attention because it was connected to the media organization where Carmichael had built much of her early reputation.

Although the project generated industry interest, it did not become a released television series. Its significance in her biography therefore lies primarily in showing her continued movement from journalism toward screenwriting.

Journalism and Published Writing

Writing for Major Publications

Emma Carmichael’s work has appeared in a broad range of publications. Her official website lists bylines and contributions to outlets including GQ, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, Elle, Sports Illustrated, and Harper’s Bazaar.

This range illustrates an important evolution in her career. She moved from specialist digital-media editing into a broader form of journalism capable of reaching national magazine and newspaper audiences.

Her work has covered culture, media, sports, and contemporary social subjects, with women’s basketball becoming increasingly important in her recent writing.

Emma Carmichael and Women’s Basketball

A Personal Connection to Basketball

Basketball is more than a subject of professional interest in Carmichael’s later work. She has written publicly about her own relationship with the sport.

Her writing recalls experiences of following women’s basketball and playing the sport when she was younger. These personal experiences help explain why women’s basketball became such a significant subject in her journalism.

Her recent work has increasingly focused on the WNBA and the people who shaped women’s professional basketball.

WNBA Oral History

According to her official professional biography, Emma Carmichael is currently working on her first book, an oral history of the WNBA, for Simon & Schuster.

The project represents another major step in her career. It brings together several of the skills she has developed over the years: reporting, interviewing, editing, storytelling, sports knowledge, and historical research.

An oral history also fits naturally with her background in journalism because it allows first-person experiences to become part of a larger historical narrative.

Writing Style and Professional Approach

Carmichael’s career demonstrates a combination of editorial management and reporting. Her work has moved between fast-paced digital publishing, magazine journalism, television writing, and long-form projects.

Her professional progression also shows the value of adaptability. She did not remain tied to a single form of media. Instead, she moved from staff writing into editing, from editing into senior editorial leadership, and later into television and book-related work.

There is a positive lesson in that trajectory: skills developed in one part of media can create opportunities in another. At the same time, her early career shows the instability and uncertainty that can accompany journalism, particularly for writers trying to enter competitive media industries.

Personal Life and Public Profile

Life in Brooklyn

Carmichael’s official website states that she lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Beyond that basic professional biographical detail, she maintains a relatively private personal profile. Reliable public sources do not provide enough verified information to establish details such as a spouse, children, romantic relationships, or other private family matters.

For that reason, unsupported online claims about her personal life should not be treated as established facts.

Family Background

Detailed information about her parents, siblings, grandparents, and wider family is not sufficiently documented in reliable public sources. Those details are therefore not included here.

This limited public information is consistent with a career in which her professional work, rather than her private life, has remained the central focus of public attention.

Achievements and Professional Significance

Emma Carmichael’s most significant achievements are connected to editorial leadership and journalism rather than conventional entertainment awards.

She has held senior editorial positions at several recognizable digital publications, worked as a television writer for HBO, contributed to major national publications, and developed a book project about the history of the WNBA.

Her career is also notable because it spans different generations of media. She entered journalism during the influential era of digital-first publications and later moved into television and long-form sports journalism.

Current Work

As of the latest information available from her official professional biography, Carmichael is working on an oral history of the WNBA for Simon & Schuster.

Her current direction represents a strong continuation of themes that have appeared throughout her career: journalism, storytelling, editorial work, and women’s sports.

Rather than being defined solely by her former editorial positions, her recent work shows an ongoing evolution toward long-form reporting and historical storytelling.

Conclusion

Emma Carmichael has built a distinctive career across journalism, digital publishing, television, and sports writing. Her path began with entry-level and unpaid opportunities before developing into senior editorial positions at Deadspin, Gawker, The Hairpin, and Jezebel. She later brought those editorial and reporting skills to HBO’s Wyatt Cenac’s Problem Areas and expanded her writing portfolio through major publications.

Her career has not been without difficult stages. The early uncertainty of breaking into journalism and the changing nature of digital media presented real challenges. Yet those experiences also helped shape a versatile professional capable of moving between editorial leadership, journalism, television writing, and long-form storytelling.

Today, Emma Carmichael’s work on an oral history of the WNBA represents an important continuation of her interest in sports and journalism. Her professional story demonstrates how persistence, editorial experience, and the willingness to explore different forms of storytelling can create a career that continues to evolve.