Elise Hu is an accomplished journalist, best known for her coverage of East Asia for NPR as its Seoul bureau chief and international correspondent. Born in St. Louis and raised in Texas, Elise began her career in journalism as an intern for Taipei Times. Her early work focused on state politics, before moving onto cover the intersection of technology and culture. She joined NPR in 2011, where she coordinated the development and editorial vision for StateImpact, the state government reporting partnership with member stations. Elise covered the Texas government and politics beat during her tenure at The Texas Tribune, and helped launch the non-profit online news organization devoted to government and politics. Fluent in Mandarin Chinese, Elise was a state political reporter for Austin's ABC affiliate, KVUE-TV, and worked for television stations in Greenville, SC, Waco, TX, and Columbia, Missouri. Elise is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, and she spends her idle moments watching congressional hearings on C-SPAN, C-SPAN 2, or C-SPAN 3.