Michelle Toh is an award-winning international journalist, most recently a longtime reporter with CNN.
In 2025, Toh launched Behind the Business, an independent video show and podcast on business and leadership that became an “Instant Hit Show” on Spotify and top-ranked podcast in more than 20 markets, including the US, UK, China and Germany.
Toh has covered top stories in global business, trade and tech — from the chip and trade wars and the corporate response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, to China's property crisis and crackdown on private enterprise, to Europe's energy crunch and Huawei's battle in the US. She has also covered world-leading IPOs, the rise of global inequality during Covid, fallout from the Hong Kong protests and the mysterious disappearance of China's billionaires.
A multimedia journalist, Toh reported breaking news and features across CNN's digital and television platforms, chronicling business and tech across Asia Pacific and delivering exclusive coverage on brands including Disney, Samsung and Starbucks. She also served on CNN's Diversity Council, working with network leadership to advance representation both within newsrooms and the stories told.
Toh has booked and interviewed top global business leaders, including:
In 2022, Toh won an Award of Excellence from the Society of News Design for a project that she led across six bureaus about workplace discrimination of Asians around the world. In 2017, she was part of the CNN team that was nominated for an EPPY Award for Best Mobile App.
Prior to joining CNN, Toh was an associate editor at FORTUNE. Her reporting has been featured in publications including TIME, USA Today and the South China Morning Post, and she currently serves as a contributor to The New York Times and LA Business Journal.
Toh holds a bachelor's degree from the University of Southern California, where she was awarded the Penny Lernoux Award for International Reporting. She also studied Mandarin at Tsinghua University in Beijing and journalism at City University of London.
Toh has been called on to moderate events at major conferences, including for CES and the Asia Society. Originally Malaysian-Chinese, she grew up in Hong Kong and is currently based in Los Angeles.
