Xinyan is an Emmy-nominated journalist and documentary filmmaker with nearly 15 years of experience crafting powerful stories across Asia and North America. She began her career in 2012 as a producer for BBC News in Beijing, covering major breaking news events in Asia. In 2018, she moved to New York to launch the North America video team for South China Morning Post, and later returned to the BBC in 2020 as a Senior Video Journalist in Washington DC.

Now working as an independent filmmaker, Xinyan has directed and produced for international broadcasters and programs including BBC News, NHK, PBS NOVA and PBS Frontline. She is a New America National Fellow, a Firelight Media Doc Lab fellow, a Brown Girls Doc Mafia Sustainable Artist fellow and an alumnus of the Yaddo Residency.

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Made in Ethiopia, Xinyan's feature documentary debut supported by IDA, Ford Foundation, Firelight Media and the Danish Film Institute, premiered at Tribeca Festival and Sheffield DocFest in June 2024. Her latest PBS Frontline film investigates the causes and far-reaching aftermath of the 2023 Lahaina wildfire.

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Xinyan's storytelling is deeply rooted in her upbringing within a community of steel factory workers, where she witnessed firsthand the sweeping socioeconomic changes in China. Her work bridges two distinct worlds: documenting the evolving geopolitical landscapes of the Global South, her place of origin, while elevating the voices of marginalized communities in the developed world, where she now lives and works.