Two Can Be True is an independent newsletter by investigative journalist Monique O. Madan, where reporting, narrative writing, and lived experience intersect.

Here, I publish original reporting, essays, notebook-style posts, analysis, and behind-the-scenes looks at how stories come together. Some pieces are deeply reported. Some are personal. Many live somewhere in between.

Most posts begin with a story, written with the same human-centered reporting approach I’ve used across national and local newsrooms, including the Miami Herald, USA TODAY, The New York Times, Reveal, The Dallas Morning News, el Nuevo Herald, The Boston Globe, The Boston Herald, The Markup, and most recently, The Guardian.

If you’ve ever wanted to read a reporter’s notebook — not just the finished story — you’re in the right place.

The reason I named this publication Two Can Be True is because life rarely fits into a single lane. You don’t have to be just one thing. More than one thing can be true at the same time.

I’m an investigative journalist, and I’m also a narrative storyteller.

A wife, a mother of two, and an entrepreneur.

An editor, educator, coach, strategist, and consultant. A builder.

In other words, I’m human. And so are you.

All of the work published here is produced independently. There’s no newsroom behind it — just the reporting, producing, writing, editing and the readers who choose to support it.

If you subscribe, you’ll receive new posts in your inbox. If you become a paid subscriber, you help make it all possible.