Tiffany May

One night during the 2019 Hong Kong protests, Tiffany May ‘13 and fellow New York Times reporter Daniel Victor were covering the breach of a government building. May’s editors asked her whether she would compromise her own safety to enter the premises. Without hesitation, May stepped into the heart of the riot. “She wants to go where the story is,” Victor said.

Originally from Hong Kong, May first discovered her love for research, writing and history through Exeter’s English and history curriculum. “I think I often got excited about primary sources I read in history class at Exeter and enjoyed building essays around what I learned from those quotes,” she said.

History Instructor Michael Golay, May’s advisor while at the Academy, elaborated on the “unique talent” she demonstrated in the US History sequence. For her 333 research paper, May wrote about the lack of American effort to halt the German transportation system from sending Jews to concentration camps. At the beginning of her senior year, the History Department awarded her the Negley Award, a prize given annually for the best U.S. History research papers of the year. 

May connects her interest in history while at the Academy to her work with the New York Times today. “I think that’s perhaps what I like most about journalism: talking to many people, trying to understand issues and also getting to ask follow-up questions,” she said.

May also devoted herself to service at Exeter as an Exeter Student Service Organization (ESSO) President. The ESSO community aided May in forging life-long friendships. “I feel like I thrive in close knit communities,” May said. “ESSO was one of them and I still keep in close touch with friends on the board and visit them.”

After Exeter, May further pursued her passion for writing at Columbia University as an English major. She regularly wrote for the Columbia Daily Spectator, another activity that kindled her interest in journalism.

May recalled her first experience writing an article for the Spectator: the feature “Say ‘I Do.’” “It was a very interesting and lighthearted article around Valentine’s Day about different religious groups and marriage,” she said. “It was really fun to have peers come up to me after and tell me they read my work.”

During her time at college, she also worked at the PEN American Center, advocating for free expression as an Editorial and Communications Intern. During her time at PEN, she curated a Kickstarter campaign to fund the project Passages, a translation series including text, stills and video. “While the experience was very different from other things I’ve done, I was able to help raise the profile of translation and literature, which was a very valuable experience,” May said.

After college, May enrolled in graduate school but was offered a position to serve as a New York Times reporter in Hong Kong just before she planned to enroll. “This job was a really unique opportunity that I fell into,” she said. “In Hong Kong, I can use my Cantonese and Mandarin language skills along with writing and reporting.”

Reporting in Hong Kong was a sort of homecoming for May. “I think it is important to go back to Hong Kong after eight years in the United States,” she said. “I am learning about my city again, through the eyes of a journalist.”

May’s duties as a New York Times reporter range from writing to data collection. Over her period at the Times, her name has been featured in hundreds of bylines covering the recent Hong Kong protests, the New Zealand shootings and the Trump-Kim Summit, among other subjects. According to Victor, May is “an essential part of the team.”

Quartz reporter Mary Hui, a journalist who was also relocated to Hong Kong after years in the United States, recalled her frequent discussions with May about articles and reporting experiences. “Tiffany is incredibly hardworking, curious, humble, thoughtful, rigorous and generous—a hard-to-beat set of qualities not just for a journalist but for an amazing person,” Hui said.

A good journalist, according to Victor, not only asks many questions and explains nuanced issues succinctly but can also “adapt to the way the world has changed instead of getting stuck on one track.” May, stated Victor, is certainly one of those journalists.

Over her time covering the protest, May has forged invaluable connections with citizens she has interviewed. “I have kept in touch with many hardline protesters and airport employees involved in protests that the Chinese authorities target,” she said. “The wide network of people who tell me things that are not publicly known and hearing their stories—is my favorite part of the job.”

As a former journalist himself, Golay praised May for her meticulous work as a reporter. “I really like following her Twitter accounts and I get a real sense of closure when I see her byline in the paper,” he said.

Reflecting upon May’s articles, Hui concluded with one piece of advice: “Recommendation—everyone should follow Tiffany’s work closely.”