Biography

Leezel Tanglao is a bridge journalist at the intersection of editorial, product, business development and sales. She has worked at several media companies including HuffPost, Associated Press, CNN, CBSNews.com, VICE News, NowThis, ABCNews.com, KCBS/KCAL and Press-Enterprise. She is currently the Director of Audience Insights and Innovation for The Points Guy.

She was a 2019-2020 Reynolds Journalism Institute Non-Residential Fellow and developed a tool to measure impact. Leezel has also worked at CNNMoney (now CNNBusiness) as Assistant Managing Editor of Programming where she led a global team of multiplatform editors. While at CNN, she launched products like proprietary social metric SURGE.

She received her Bachelor’s degree at Loyola Marymount University and a Masters degree at UCLA. She was part of the Poynter/ONA Women’s Leadership Program in 2016. She was named 2018 Member of the Year by the Asian American Journalists Association.

She is the Filipino Young Leaders Program (FYLPRO) 2022 President and is the Chair of the FYLPRO COVID19 task force. She’s the project director and spokesperson for the Tayo help desk for the Filipino community during COVID19.

Articles, Publications, and Appearances

Articles:

Armless pilot Jessica Cox on inclusive globe trotting and how points and miles helps her travel  (Oct 28, 2021)

Hand tapping into history: A sacred Filipino practice with travel roots is alive in Las Vegas (Oct 21, 2021) 

From the Bay to the Bayou: 10 places that are steeped in Filipino American history (Oct 6, 2021)

How The Filipino Community Is Fighting Medical Invisibility (Jan 29, 2020)

Appearances:

How a team led by a journalist is fighting coronavirus misinformation in the Filipino community (Poynter Institute)

“If you are a Filipino, you are a bridge person” (Filipina on the Rise Podcast)

SMP #3: Leezel Tanglao (Startup Mindsets Podcast)