MICHAEL DAVID “Mick” DELA CRUZ TAN is a graduate of Bachelor of Arts (Communication Studies) from the University of Newcastle in New South Wales, Australia; and Master of Development Communication from the University of the Philippines-Open University.
Though he has been working as a journalist since the 1990s, with his pieces published in Philippine dailies, magazines and webzines, he also worked for donor agencies, overseeing publications about advocacy issues – e.g. writing the “Being LGBT in Asia: Philippines Country Report”, funded by UNDP and USAID.
He received the Catholic Mass Media Awards (Best Investigative Report) in 2006, and Art that Matters for Literature from Amnesty International-Philippines in 2019.
Aside from heading Upgrade Magazine, Mick - who is conversant in Filipino Sign Language - also heads the only LGBTQIA publication in the Philippines, Outrage Magazine, which he established in 2007. He also founded Zest Magazine, Fringe Magazine, and Kickstart Magazine.