Hal Koss
Welcome to my Web site :-)
About Hal (professionally)
I’m a storyteller and strategist with nearly a decade of experience in tech and media. I’ve written and edited hundreds of articles, managed high-performing teams, and launched editorial projects from the ground up.As senior editor at travel media company Atlas Obscura, I led the strategy and team behind the site’s place-based editorial products — including guides, lists, and a user-generated database of the world’s hidden wonders. Before that, I spent several years at Built In, a media-meets-hiring platform, first as a reporter covering marketing and technology, and later as a senior associate editor managing and editing a team of writers and overseeing a successful SEO-driven content updates program.My tech, culture, and film writing has appeared in OneZero, The Weekly Standard, and Bright Wall/Dark Room, among other publications.
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Nice Things People Have Said About Hal
Nicholas Jackson — editorial leader and National Magazine Award winner: “Hal is one of the most thoughtful and effective editorial leaders I’ve worked with. Whether he’s improving an existing product or building something entirely new, he approaches the work with clarity, care, and a deep understanding of both the value of editorial excellence and the need for business impact. He’s a rare kind of editor: equally skilled at elevating the quality of stories and managing the systems and people that bring them to life. Hal is built for the modern media landscape — he’s someone who respects the core values of great journalism but isn’t beholden to outdated models. He’s open to new ideas, sharp about identifying what will work, and steady in the face of change.”
Diana Hubbell — journalist and James Beard Award winner: “Hal is a hyper-organized, highly efficient, detail-oriented editor with a gift for tackling borderline overwhelming volumes of content and data with apparent ease. He hit the ground running at Atlas Obscura, proposing and implementing workable solutions to large structural problems that had plagued the company for years within a matter of months. He’s equally down for the big picture strategic thinking and the unglamorous nitty-gritty tasks that are essential to keeping a publication running smoothly. Hal is also collaborative to his core and will always lend a hand to a drowning colleague. I will miss our brainstorming sessions in which he helped hone my big, messy ideas into projects we could successfully execute — invariably making them better in the process.”
Ellen Glover — journalist and Pulitzer Prize winner: “Hal is one of the best editors and managers I’ve had the pleasure of working under. I am an infinitely better journalist thanks to his guidance. He was also a steady, empathetic leader. He fostered a culture where people felt supported, respected, and valued every day. Now, as a manager myself, I often find myself drawing on the lessons I learned from Hal. He was an incredible example of what it looks like to lead with kindness and compassion, and his influence continues to shape how I approach my work today. He’s a shrewd editor, a thoughtful and supportive manager, and a genuinely great human being to boot — and I am grateful to have worked with him.”
