What was your first job as a journalist?
Editor at a community newspaper on Long Island.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
yes!
How is social media changing news?
By providing multiple distribution channels (positive) and increasing the pressure to publish without proper fact-checking (negative).
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Clark Kent
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To be a truth-teller, storyteller, and educator.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Via email.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Laptop, Google, Mac productivity tools, WordPress.
What's your favorite social network?
Instagram
Who do you wish followed you?
Anyone who cares about good writing.
Why did you become a journalist?
I love to learn and share information.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
College newspaper editor, not a big joiner in high school.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
They're all my children, so I'm proud of all of them ;)
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Chase the truth, not the money.
When's the best time to pitch you?
anytime
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Perhaps the one that got me on a two-week trip to Australia to write for a wedding magazine. Trip of a lifetime, as they say.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Any that are off-topic, full of errors, or spell my name wrong.
What's your favorite drink?
anything with rum, or a well-made Old Fashioned
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
hockey rink
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Read the NY Times, Washington Post, and a variety of other news sources every day.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
The assumption that because I write a lot on particular subjects (travel and health, for example) that those are the only things I can do.
