Close worked as the China editor in Hong Kong for the
Far Eastern Economic Review in the mid-1960s. Upon her return to the U.S. she co-founded Oakland-based newspaper
The Flatlands. She was also a weekly commentator for Morning Edition from 1984 to 1985. In 1991, she founded
Yo! Youth Outlook, a monthly magazine of youth writing and art, and in 1996, she co-founded
The Beat Within, a weekly journal written by incarcerated youth. She served as the executive director of Pacific News Service from 1974 to the publication's closing in 2017. In 1996, she founded New America Media, which involved up to 3,000 ethnic news organizations in California, and served as its executive director until its closure in 2017. In 2018, Close founded Ethnic Media Services, a non-profit agency focused on developing cross-cultural journalism and marketing projects to promote inclusive public discourse. Close was a co-producer for the film ''
Breathing Lessons: The Life and Work of Mark O'Brien'', which won the
Academy Award for Best Documentary (Short Subject) in 1996. == Personal life ==