Originally from San Jose, CA, she received her BA from Hampshire College, and MS from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She has published articles in the Wall Street Journal Asia, Far Eastern Economic Review, Foreign Policy magazine, Migration Policy Institute, Reason magazine, Glimpse magazine and the Phoenix New Times. She also has credits with NOW on PBS and Frontline. Malia speaks fluent Spanish and intermediate Mandarin, and has reported from China, South Korea and Mexico. She will shortly be moving to India to report for Mint, a newspaper affiliated with the Wall Street Journal.