Ylan Q Mui

Ylan Q. Mui joined the staff of The Washington Post in 2002, first covering education as a Metro reporter and now writing about the business of shopping for the Financial section. She covers mammoth companies such as Wal-Mart, Target and Macy’s as well as small businesses, with a special focus on consumer trends. Her reporting for The Post has taken her to an organic coffee farm in Brazil, an old battle site in Vietnam and more than a few sleazy bars in Ocean City, Md.

In fall 2008, Ylan began teaching a beginning journalism course at the University of Maryland in College Park. She also has volunteered as a reader and mentor at Ross Elementary School in Washington and as a guest speaker for The Post’s Young Journalists Development Program. She is a member of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers and the Asian American Journalists Association, where she is a past vice president of the Washington, D.C., chapter. 

Ylan began her career as an obit writer and glorified phone-answerer and fax-passer at The Times-Picayune in New Orleans, where she was born and raised. Her family immigrated to the Big Easy from Vietnam in the 1970s, and she was brought up on both po-boys and pho, Cafe du Monde and ca phe sua da. Despite several years on the East Coast, she still considers herself a New Orleans girl at heart.

Outside of work, her passions include food (both cooking and eating it, but mostly eating it), children’s literature and the arts. Ylan ran the 2003 Mardi Gras Marathon in New Orleans and was a member of a local hip-hop dance company. She lives in Washington with her husband and his record collection.

Thank you to Kristy May for putting together this site and Alana Hill for her wonderful photography.