Stephanie Chang on Custom Content Trends and Her ASJA Conference Keynote
Stephanie Chang has a bird’s eye view of how technology and the times are changing the content marketing and custom content business – and she’s sharing it in a keynote at ASJA Always in Fashion NYC 2025 conference Feb. 24-26 at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York.
Chang is Vice President of Content, Global Editor at Wall Street Journal Custom Content, where she directs content strategy and operations for The Trust, the creative studio that produces custom content for The Wall Street Journal/Barron’s Group.
Changes in search engine optimization and businesses’ growing reliance on artificial intelligence make 2025 a challenging time for freelance content writers to find new clients, Chang said in an interview. Writers who work with The Trust have the added complexity of navigating the global aspect covering business topics.
Through it all, writers need to understand the importance of good storytelling, Chang said. One of her favorite recent projects was a documentary series The Trust produced for Unlikely Collaborators, a non-profit that works to inspire meaningful change. Such a series would have been difficult for AI to create.
“It featured successful entrepreneurs, each with fascinating stories of how life challenges changed their perceptions about themselves and the world and ultimately led them to find personal and professional success,” Chang explained.
An Early Start as a Storyteller
Chang’s path to a career as a storyteller started at a young age. “I loved writing stories as a teenager, and that passion led me to major in journalism in college,” she said. “My first job after graduation was as a general assignment reporter at a daily newspaper, and that was it. I was hooked on the adrenaline of covering the news and on newsroom culture and I never looked back.”
As a journalist, Chang started out as an assistant city editor and reporter for a small West Nyack, New York, newspaper. She’s been the executive editor of a large, glossy technology publication, a founding editor and senior vice president of a 10-million circulation weekly tech pub, and an editor-in-chief of a national monthly magazine.
In Chang’s keynote on Monday, Feb. 24, at 3:45 pm Eastern time, which will be a moderated Q&A session, she’ll discuss The Trust’s award-winning content and how it fits into the Wall Street Journal’s overall mission. She’ll also explain how the agency creates “responsible content for brands.”
During Chang’s workday, she and a team of 11 editors assign news articles, Q&As with C-level executives, videos, events, custom podcasts, and data visualizations, among other projects. Everything is produced with a finger on the pulse of the WSJ’s 4.3 million paying subscribers.
The Trust editors work with “dozens and dozens” of freelancers every month, Chang said. At the conference, she’ll draw from her experience to talk about what makes a good content writer, the dos and don’ts of custom publishing today, and the role freelancers have in creating content for brand leaders.
If you’re attending the ASJA 2025 conference and have a question for Chang, feel free to submit it in advance to sourcesforstories@gmail.com. Chang will also be taking questions from the floor.
Register for the ASJA 2025 Conference Today!
Conference registration is $559 for ASJA members and $659 for nonmembers through 11:59 p.m. ET on Feb. 14, and $659 for members and $759 for nonmembers from Feb. 15 until the conference starts.
Find the full ASJA 2025 conference schedule and register here.
To stay up to speed with news about the 2025 conference and other ASJA events, subscribe to the ASJA Weekly newsletter, read ASJA Confidential blog or follow ASJA on LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok.
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KJ Bannan is an experienced journalist, content writer, editor, moderator, and script writer. She covers a wide variety of topics including technology, health, personal finance, human resources, and marketing, among others. Her work has appeared in publications such as the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, Parents, Time, WebMD, and Marie Claire. Bannan is the co-chair of ASJA’s Client Connections program. You can see her in person at the ASJA Conference where she will be co-managing Client Connections 2025, moderating Chang’s Q&A, and speaking on a content marketing writing panel about writing case studies.