We are thrilled to announce that Maya Salam, a senior staff editor on Express, will join the Gender Initiative as a writer and general jane-of-all-trades. She’ll be revamping our newsletter, contributing to projects like Overlooked and 45 Stories of Sex and Consent on Campus, and bringing her unique sensibility and sharp voice to this cross-departmental effort, which aims to more deeply engage women readers globally.

Earl Wilson/The New York Times

Things you may not know about Maya: She is a first-generation Arab-American and spent her earliest years in Beirut during its civil war. She is the youngest of three sisters, all staunch feminists, and has lived in eight states. At The Times, she’s worked as a copy editor, assigning editor, slot, producer, weekend briefer and reporter, filing stories under nearly every section, covering breaking news, and helping to unearth such stories as why radical body love is thriving on Instagram, the significance of Adam Rippon’s red carpet harness and what happens when 9,000 barrels of bourbon come crashing down in a building collapse.

She’s also been an amateur boxer, skateboarder, snowboarder and runway model. She and her wife have a goldendoodle named Bea, who will join Charles the dog as our departmental admin.

Maya will start July 16.

— Jessica Bennett and Jodi Rudoren