Shaan is an award-winning writer and researcher originally from Nashville, Tennessee, currently based in New York City.

He writes about culture, media, food and travel, with bylines in The New York Times, Slate, The Nation, Rolling Stone, and Oxford American.

He has supported research and production at several audio and TV institutions, including Full Frontal with Samantha Bee, The Daily Show with Trevor Noah, Jigsaw Productions, WNYC’s On the Media, and Search Engine with PJ Vogt.

He is the author of Survivor Legends (W.W. Norton/Countryman Press; May 2026), a book of profiles tracing the evolution of performance and strategy on reality television’s most influential show.