As a freelance investigative and enterprise reporter, Irene broke the sexual misconduct allegations against famed chef Mario Batali for Eater, covered the El Chapo trial for the Los Angeles Times and has written for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg, Vice and others. Her reporting on Batali was recently featured in the documentary Batali: The Fall of a Superstar Chef, on MAX. 

Most recently, Irene was a producer for the Emmy-nominated, The Problem with Jon Stewart, a long form news-comedy show on Apple TV+. The episode she produced on the politicized battle for transgender rights won a 2023 GLAAD Media Award. Before joining The Problem, Irene was a news producer on the final season of the Peabody Award-winning Netflix show, The Patriot Act.   

Irene was also previously a staff writer at The American Lawyer magazine and a reporter at NYC news website, DNAinfo, where she was awarded a Tow Foundation Juvenile Justice Fellowship for her story on teens charged as adults in NYC criminal courts. Irene began her career in New York City media as a stringer for the New York Post while she attended Columbia Journalism School — where she’s now an adjunct professor. Irene also received her BA from Columbia University.