Chua moved to New York in 2005 and worked as The Wall Street Journal's assistant managing editor for budget and administration until 2008.[1][5][8] In July 2009, Chua was named editor-in-chief of the South China Morning Post in Hong Kong and stepped down in March 2011.[11][12]
Chua began working as an editor for Reuters in 2011 and was appointed executive editor in April 2021.[4][5] In March 2022, Chua announced she would leave Reuters to become the executive editor of Semafor, a new media startup founded by journalist Ben Smith and former Bloomberg Media Group CEO Justin B. Smith.[3][2]
Chua co-founded the Sigma Awards for data journalism with Aron Pilhofer in 2020.[5][13] She has taught graduate- and undergraduate-level classes and short training courses on the business models of journalism, computer-assisted reporting, and numeracy at New York University, Hong Kong University, and Nanyang Technological University.[9] She also created and found funding for a fellowship to bring Asian journalists for a Masters' in business and economic reporting at New York University.[9]
In 2021, Chua was named the inaugural recipient of the Online News Association's Impact Award for "her dedication to innovation in visual storytelling and steadfast commitment to mentor journalists and address structural issues in the industry."[14][15]