She has been the paper's Arts & Leisure editor and covered two presidential campaigns, chronicling the transformation of Barack and Michelle Obama into the President and First Lady of the United States.

[4] Later, Kantor attended Harvard Law School for one semester, taking a leave, to work in Washington, D.C.,[7] at Slate's office, where she later became the magazine's New York editor.

[11] Under the guidance of Rich and others, she made the section more visual, added new features and more reporting and recruited writers like Emily Nussbaum, Jesse Green and Manohla Dargis.

Other reviewers called the book "insightful and evocative, rich with detail"[24] and "an honest portrayal of people who are put under unprecedented scrutiny with unusual rapidity.

"[26] Kantor's 2006 story, "On the Job, Nursing Mothers Find a 2-Class System", on the class gap in breastfeeding[27] inspired the creation of the first free-standing lactation stations, now installed in hundreds of airports, stadiums and other workplaces around the United States.

[32] The article drew a response from Jeff Bezos, broke the newspaper's all-time record for reader comments, prompted veterans of the secretive company to come forward about their experiences online, and sparked a national debate about fairness and productivity in the technological workplace.

The series won millions of readers and praise from across the globe, including from Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who called it "remarkable & very human.

"[35] On October 5, 2017, Kantor and Megan Twohey broke the story of three decades of allegations of sexual harassment and abuse by the film producer Harvey Weinstein.

[2][37] Women around the world began coming forward with accusations of sexual harassment and assault by Weinstein, sending shock waves through the entertainment industry.

[38] The discussion soon turned into a worldwide reckoning, spread beyond the entertainment world, with women using the social media hashtag #metoo (initially started by the American activist Tarana Burke) to describe their common experiences, powerful men brought to account in a wide range of fields, and shifting attitudes and policies around the globe.

Speaking on Meet the Press, Rich Lowry, the editor of the National Review, called Kantor and Twohey's Weinstein investigation "the single most influential piece of journalism I can remember.

[46] The New York Times won the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service for Kantor's and Meghan Twohey's reporting, sharing the award with Ronan Farrow at The New Yorker.