Tomo Chien

Hi. My full name is Tomoki but my friends call me Tomo. I live in Los Angeles and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I'm an investigative reporter at L.A. Material, where I use data analysis and internet sleuthing to discover unexpected stories. I also code software for our newsroom.

Before joining L.A. Material, I was an undergraduate at USC, where I wrote an irreverent and scoopy newsletter called Morning, Trojan. Once, I organized a school-wide "Moron of the Year" vote and FedExed the trophy to the university president. Another time, I convinced a weed dispensary to sponsor a subscriber competition with a $500 gift card.

For half my years in college, I also worked at The San Francisco Standard, which involved an epic weekly commute up the Interstate 5. Ask me for my tips on long-haul drives.

In my spare time, I enjoy exploring the mountains, forests, and beaches of California. But you're probably here to see my work. Or you're from Twitter and you're here to dox me. So enjoy these/suck on these clips:

• L.A. Issued Nearly $1 Million in Bogus Street Sweeping Tickets
• Can Anyone Save USC?
• We Found L.A. Politicians’ Yelp Reviews
• The Strange, Twisted Story of the Frat Troll at UCLA
• I Calculated the Definitive USC Frat Rankings

A number of people have also written some very nice stories about me. See some of them here:

• Student newspapers still dominate campuses. This newsletter shows what else is possible. (Poynter)
• Goodnight, Trojan (Daily Trojan)
• Tomo Chien, creator of the Morning, Trojan newsletter, gives students storytelling through analytics (Annenberg Media)

Please direct all tips, inquiries, and hate mail to [email protected] or tomo.213 on Signal.