Guido Mingels was born in Lucerne in 1970 and studied German, linguistics and philosophy in Berne and Frankfurt. He has contributed to several German-language media, including Geo, mare and the Tagesspiegel, and was the deputy chief editor of the magazine of the Tagesanzeiger in Zürich, later becoming the newspaper's New York correspondent. Since 2012 he has been a reporter on social matters for the Spiegel.