Matt Hudgins returned to freelancing in December 2019 after a three-year foray into corporate communications at commercial real estate firm Transwestern, where he served as National Business Writer.
A freelancer from 2003-2016, Matt sold bylined articles to The New York Times and Wall Street Journal in addition to writing regularly for national commercial real estate trade publications and providing editorial services to select clients.
Matt learned the commercial real estate business while covering the industry for the Austin Business Journal during the late 1990s high-tech boom and the real estate bust and recovery of the next decade.
In the early 1990s, Matt covered city government at the Temple Daily Telegram, a Texas newspaper, where he received awards from the Associated Press Managing Editors Association for investigative reporting and feature writing. He later earned accolades at the Austin Business Journal for editorial writing and for breaking news.
Matt began studying the Japanese language in high school, and in 1987 he left his native Houston to pursue a degree in journalism and Asian studies at Baylor University. His coursework included a year at Seinan Gakuin University, Baylor's sister school in Fukuoka, Japan, where he continued his language study and took courses in Japanese history, culture and traditional sports. While living in Japan, Matt sold his first articles to Kyushu Journal, an English-language magazine published in Fukuoka.
Matt is a member of the Japan-America Society of Greater Austin and served for several years as its communications chairman. Today he directs his undiminished passion for Japanese culture into the study of traditional Okinawan weapons and go-ju ryu karate.
"With an interview approach that puts the most on-edge execs at ease, Matt knows how to diligently ask questions and always takes the time to thoroughly understand what he's writing about. This results in consistently insightful, accurate stories that delve much deeper than typical reporting."
–Mary Alice Kaspar
President
Columbus Communications LLC
Austin, Texas
