Jimmy Soni
{{short description|American author and editor}}
{{Infobox writer
| name = Jimmy Soni
| image =
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Toulouse, France
| occupation = {{flatlist|
- Author
- columnist
- editor
}}
| alma_mater = Duke University (BA)
| nationality = American
| notableworks = A Mind at Play,
The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley,
Rome's Last Citizen
| genre =
| spouse =
}}
Jimmy Soni is an American author and former managing editor of The Huffington Post.{{cite web|last=Byers|first=Dylan|title=Nico Pitney out, Jimmy Soni in at HuffPost|url=https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2012/01/nico-pitney-out-jimmy-soni-in-at-huffpost-110352|publisher=Politico|date=January 10, 2012}}{{cite magazine|title=The Young Influentials Adweek picks 20 under 40 who are wicked smart and rebooting your world|url=http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/young-influentials-138997|magazine=AdWeek|date=March 19, 2012}} He is best known for A Mind at Play, his biography of Claude Shannon and The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley.
Background
Soni was born in Toulouse, France to Indian parents from Rajasthan and was raised in Chicago, Illinois.[http://aartivirani.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/JimmySoni_VogueIndia_Dec13.pdf Man of Letters] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150530050525/http://aartivirani.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/JimmySoni_VogueIndia_Dec13.pdf |date=2015-05-30 }} Vogue India. May 25, 2015 He attended Duke University and graduated in 2007.{{cite web|last=Pompeo|first=Joe|title=Top Arianna Huffington Deputy, managing editor Nico Pitney, to leave The Huffington Post|url=http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2012/01/4962177/top-arianna-huffington-deputy-managing-editor-nico-pitney-leave-huffin|publisher=Capital New York|date=January 10, 2012}} During his time at Duke he was chairman of the honors council and vice president of student government.{{cite web|title=A Day in the Life of a Day| date=23 April 2012 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-5qUHNUHPVo|publisher=TEDx}}{{cite web|last=Soni|first=Jimmy|title=WLP Alumni Profile – Jimmy Soni, Class of 2004|url=http://www.thewlp.com/2010/05/wlp-alumni-profile-jimmy-soni-class-of-2004.html|publisher=Washington Leadership Program|date=May 18, 2010|access-date=August 11, 2012|archive-date=July 16, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100716210750/http://www.thewlp.com/2010/05/wlp-alumni-profile-jimmy-soni-class-of-2004.html|url-status=dead}}
Career
Soni became the managing editor at The Huffington Post in January 2012.{{cite web|last=Lincoln |first=Kevin |title=This 26-Year-Old Is About To Become The Managing Editor Of The Huffington Post |url=http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-10/tech/30610702_1_huffington-post-arianna-huffington-cato |website=Business Insider |date=January 10, 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130503001824/http://articles.businessinsider.com/2012-01-10/tech/30610702_1_huffington-post-arianna-huffington-cato |archivedate=May 3, 2013 }} Previously he had worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey and Company, as well as a speech writer at the office of the Mayor of the District of Columbia.{{cite web|last=Tate|first=Ryan|title=Meet the 26-Year-Old Assistant Now Managing the Huffington Post Newsroom|url=http://gawker.com/5874851/meet-the-26+year+old-assistant-now-managing-the-huffington-post-newsroom|publisher=Gawker|date=January 10, 2012}}
In 2012, Soni was named to AdWeek's "Young Influentials", a list of 20 people under 40 "who are wicked smart and rebooting your world".
He was featured at a TEDx event held at Duke University in March 2012.{{cite web |last=Lloyd |first=Glorida |title=TEDxDuke speakers encourage innovation |url=http://www.dukechronicle.com/article/2012/04/tedxduke-speakers-encourage-innovation |publisher=Duke Chronicle |date=April 2, 2012}}
In May 2014, Soni transferred to India where he was in charge of launching the Huffington Post in the country.{{Cite web | title=HuffPost M.E. Jimmy Soni transfers to India {{!}} Capital New York | url=http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/media/2014/05/8545835/huffpost-me-jimmy-soni-transfers-india | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140523081845/http://www.capitalnewyork.com:80/article/media/2014/05/8545835/huffpost-me-jimmy-soni-transfers-india | access-date=2024-12-24 | archive-date=2014-05-23}} He left the company before the launch to focus on writing a book.{{Cite web|url=http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/huffpost-india-launching-thanksgiving-week-159623|title=HuffPost Reveals India Launch Details, Calling It a 'Critical Market' for Growth|date=21 August 2014 }} Later, reports surfaced saying more than a book prompted his departure: internal complaints and a sexual harassment investigation of his management style were cited by current and former employees at the time. Arianna Huffington declined to comment on the matter.{{Cite web|url=https://www.politico.com/blogs/media/2014/09/former-huffington-post-editor-jimmy-soni-investigated-for-sexual-harassment-194871|title=Former Huffington Post editor Jimmy Soni investigated for sexual harassment|website=Politico|date=4 September 2014 }}{{Cite web|url=http://gawker.com/top-huffington-post-editor-was-investigated-for-sexual-1626614104|title = Top Huffington Post Editor Was Investigated for Sexual Harassment| date=4 September 2014 }}{{Cite web|url=https://gizmodo.com/arianna-huffington-ignored-sexual-misconduct-at-the-huf-1820389889|title = Arianna Huffington Ignored Sexual Misconduct at the Huffington Post| date=14 November 2017 }}
In 2014, Forbes named Soni one of the 30 people under 30 years of age in the media.Bercovici, Jeff [https://web.archive.org/web/20121231012243/http://www.forbes.com/pictures/eeji45eegdf/jimmy-soni-27-managing-editor-the-huffington-post/ 30 Under 30: The Next Generation of Media Moguls, Machers and Mavens] Forbes. May 25, 2015 That same year the New York Observer listed him as the most "poachable" tech talent.Mulshine, Molly, Jordyn Taylor, Jack Smith IV [http://observer.com/2014/07/betabeats-most-poachable-players-in-tech/#slide6 Betabeat's 2014 Most Poachable Tech Talent] New York Observer. May 25, 2015 Previously, Soni was named one of Crain Communications' 40 Under Forty talents.[http://mycrains.crainsnewyork.com/40under40/profiles/2013/jimmy-soni 40 Under Forty] Crain's New York Business. May 25, 2015
In 2016, Soni worked with Eric Greitens on his successful campaign for governor in Missouri.{{cite web|last1=Erickson|first1=Kurt|title=Former Huffington Post editor on Greitens transition team|date=20 December 2016 |url=https://www.stltoday.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/former-huffington-post-editor-on-greitens-transition-team/article_87f4d9da-9c96-5422-bdb1-1fa81829f479.html}}
Written works
Soni has co-authored several pieces with fellow Duke graduate Rob Goodman; their work has been featured in Politico, The Huffington Post, Business Insider, AdWeek, and The Atlantic, among others.{{cite news|last=Soni|first=Jimmy|title=National Security As Culture War: Why Civil Libertarians Lose the Argument|url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/jimmy-soni/national-security-culture-war_b_1553200.html|work=The Huffington Post|date=May 29, 2012}}{{cite magazine|last=Soni|first=Jimmy|title=Happy Birthday, Herbert Hoover: The Lost Legacy of a Hated President|url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/08/happy-birthday-herbert-hoover-the-lost-legacy-of-a-hated-president/243406/|magazine=The Atlantic|date=August 10, 2011}} In 2012, Thomas Dunne Books a division of St. Martin's Press, published their first book, a biography of Cato the Younger, titled Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar.{{cite book|title=Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar|isbn=978-0312681234|last1=Goodman|first1=Rob|last2=Soni|first2=Jimmy|date=16 October 2012|publisher=Macmillan }}{{cite web|title=Jimmy Soni on DukeConnect| date=15 May 2012 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8JJneUWqqE|publisher=DukeConnect}}
In 2017, Simon & Schuster published their biography of Claude Shannon, A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age.{{cite book|title=A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age|date=18 July 2017|url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01M5IJN1P|publisher=Amazon}} The book received positive reviews from the Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Nature and others.{{cite news | url = https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-elegance-of-ones-and-zeroes-1500667513 | title = The Elegance of Ones and Zeroes | date= 21 July 2017 | accessdate = 15 August 2017 | newspaper = Wall Street Journal | author = George Dyson }}{{cite news | url = https://www.ft.com/content/41c20716-6c7a-11e7-b9c7-15af748b60d0 | title = The man who paved the way for the information age | date= 19 July 2017 | accessdate = 15 August 2017 | newspaper = Financial Times }}{{cite journal | title = Information technology: A digital genius at play | date= 12 July 2017 | journal = Nature | author = Vint Cerf | volume = 547 | issue = 7662 | page = 159 | doi = 10.1038/547159a | bibcode = 2017Natur.547..159C | s2cid = 205094634 | doi-access = free }} In an interview with the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Soni explained that part of the reason he wrote A Mind at Play was that he was drawn to Shannon's personality and wanted to read a biography about him, but, "it turned out there wasn’t one."{{cite web | url = https://spectrum.ieee.org/meet-the-authors-of-a-mind-at-play-how-claude-shannon-invented-the-information-age | title = Meet the Authors of A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age | date= 27 June 2017 | access-date = 15 August 2017 | publisher =IEEE Spectrum | author = Stephen Cass }}
The British Society for the History of Mathematics awarded Soni and Goodman their 2017 Neumann Prize for A Mind at Play.{{cite web|url=http://www.bshm.ac.uk/neumann-prize|title=Neumann Prize|publisher=British Society for the History of Mathematics|accessdate=13 February 2018}}
In 2022, his second biography, The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley, was published by Simon & Schuster.{{cite book|title=The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley|date=22 February 2022|author=Jimmy Soni|publisher=Simon and Schuster |isbn=978-1501197260}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/20/books/review-founders-paypal-jimmy-soni.html|title=Ambitions and Emotions Run Hot in 'The Founders,' a History of PayPal|date=20 February 2022|author=Alexandra Jacobs|work=The New York Times }}
Bibliography
- {{cite book | publisher=Thomas Dunne Books|location= New York| title=Rome's Last Citizen: The Life and Legacy of Cato, Mortal Enemy of Caesar | year=2012 | isbn=978-0312681234}}
- {{cite book | publisher=Simon & Schuster|location= New York| title=A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age | year=2017 | isbn=978-1476766683}}
- {{cite book | publisher=Phaidon Press|location= New York| title=Jane's Carousel | year=2021 | isbn=978-1838661885}}
- {{cite book | publisher= Simon & Schuster |location= New York| title=The Founders: The Story of Paypal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valle | year=2022 | isbn=978-1501197260}}
References
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Category:Year of birth missing (living people)
Category:American political commentators
Category:American political writers
Category:American male non-fiction writers
Category:Duke University alumni
Category:American online journalists