Nellie Bowles at Summit

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Nellie Bowles will bring her signature wit and investigative grit to StageX at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit!

Together with her wife—2x ASU+GSV Summit keynoter Bari Weiss—Nellie co-founded the new media company The Free Press, dedicated to journalistic pillars of honesty, doggedness, and fierce independence. Since its inception as the Common Sense newsletter in 2021 and official relaunch under its new name in 2022, The Free Press has promoted free and balanced speech through good-faith debates and incisive takes on current events and culture, topping the Substack charts and amassing 1.7 million readers along its meteoric trajectory. In addition to serving as head of strategy for The Free Press, Nellie pens TGIF: a weekly news satire column renowned for the sharp analysis and irreverent humor behind its probing prose.

Prior to The Free Press, Nellie covered technology and culture at The New York Times, where her reporting earned her the Gerald Loeb Award for investigative journalism and the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award. Before starting her reporting career at her hometown paper, the San Francisco Chronicle, Nellie worked on epigenetics research at UCSF, studied hypnosis with a neuroscience laboratory at McGill, and served as the 2011-2012 Fulbright Fellow to Swaziland.

Join us at the 2026 ASU+GSV Summit for bold and balanced discussions on StageX and beyond—secure your spot in San Diego before rates increase October 1!

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