What was your first job as a journalist?
I was an intern at CNN, organizing scripts, going along with the reporters on their beats, researching stories daily
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes I have :P
How is social media changing news?
No longer is our news in the hands of a few oligarch gatekeepers. Now we can get 1000 perspectives on 1 story, helping us formulate the truth
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Every staff member at the Onion--their truth cuts like a jagged knife through an onion, making you laugh before you want to cry.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
It means to find and share the truth, while maintaining a code of uncompromising ethics and impartiality in this quest.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Blanche is a cookbook author & social media influencer dedicated to preserving and sharing middle eastern culture through food.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Canon camera, Macbook, adobe software and editing, iphone
What's your favorite social network?
Youtube-- I have always loved the medium of video to tell stories
Who do you wish followed you?
Foodies, peace minded people interested in other cultures, middle eastern professors and historians, journalists
Why did you become a journalist?
Because I heard my parents saying the TV was full of lies. I literally wanted to go inside the TV set and tell the truth as a child.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Yes! I was the editor of the entertainment & food section! I did an expose on the unhealthy cafeteria food and got in trouble for that too.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
My Middle Eastern travel series where I give viewers and inside look at remote villages they would never hear about
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Do not go into this for the money, but for the passion to make a difference. It is a roller coaster ride of highs and lows, enjoy the ride.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Anytime
What's the best pitch you ever got?
A pitch to cover the food and culture of Iran through an American lens. I think people are completely in the dark on the realities of Iran
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
How to incorporate protein powder into classical Arabic recipes
What's your favorite drink?
Sahlab - Turkish latte flavored with rose water, cinnamon, pistachios and coconut
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Teaching fitness classes, scouring farmer's markets and international food markets, at children's baseball games & ballet performances
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Several: MondoWeiss, MintPress News, The Intercept, Zero Hedge, 972 Magazine
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That I'm highly political which I am not. It appears humanizing Middle Eastern people through food is revolutionary, it's just every day life
