Nikelle Murphy

Nikelle has worked in journalism for more than 15 years, but her passion for great food started as a child when her produce manager father taught her how to select the ripest, juiciest watermelons each summer. She got her professional start at the Syracuse New Times in college, a weekly paper focused on the city's culture. That led to becoming an education reporter at the York Dispatch — one of two competing daily papers in York, Pennsylvania. In 2015, she started as a writer and associate editor for The Cheat Sheet, an Endgame360 website. She became the site's first senior editor for the Food, Drink & Travel section in 2017. Within the year, she became the managing editor and worked with company leadership to rebrand as an entertainment-focused site in 2018. She held numerous editorial leadership roles, including the editor-in-chief and vice president of product, during which time Endgame360 launched new websites dedicated to other areas of expertise. In 2022, Nikelle moved to freelance editing and writing roles while raising her young children. This includes a focus on the food-centric writing she came to adore during her early days at The Cheat Sheet: She never misses a chance to cover a "Top Chef" alum or research the perfect method for scrambled eggs. She began writing for the Mashed brand in 2024.

Nikelle has a bachelor's degree in journalism from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. While at Syracuse, she also double majored in political science.