Starlight Williams
Starlight Williams, a National Geographic Travel associate editor, focuses her travel journalism on national parks, adventure, history, and culture. As a digital producer and writer, Starlight takes a special interest in topics at the intersection of conservation and community. As an editor, she has developed award-winning, engagement-driving content across platforms. Some of her top-performing stories include: an article about a rollback of federal protections that endangers more than half of Alaska’s Tongass National Forest, an ecologically significant area that is the historical homeland of Haida, Tsimshian, and Tlingit peoples; a story about Indigenous women who are reshaping Canada’s tourism industry; and a piece about a little-known Native American society that was once as powerful as the Aztecs and Incas. She also loves narratives that take readers on unexpected journeys. One recent article examined what happens to street animals when tourists suddenly disappear; another explored the Great Loop, an epic nautical adventure from the Great Lakes to the Florida Keys (and back). Before joining National Geographic as a research editor in 2018, Starlight worked as a staff reporter, covering education, business, and city government at Community Impact Newspaper in Texas and as a culture and festival contributor for The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com. When not on the hunt for engaging pitches (send yours to starlight.williams@natgeo.com), you can find Starlight on her yoga mat working on her niyamas.