Colleen O'Dea
Verified
As seen in:
NJ PBS,
NJ Spotlight News,
MosaicNJcom,
Gothamist,
WNYC (New York, NY),
NorthJersey.com,
The Record (Bergen County),
NewsBreak,
WHYY-TV (Philadelphia, PA),
TAPinto,
The Press of Atlantic City,
Financial Advisor
and
Covers:
data journalism, government, politics, elections, education, social issues, legal issues, immigration
Doesn't Cover:
Energy, environment
Journalist and data wrangler for @NJSpotlightNews. Lifelong Jersey girl. Proud mom and fan of Bruuuuuce. Crocheting is my zen. All my tweets are my own.
Interview
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Brenda Starr (wished I had her red hair)
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Via email.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Microsoft suite, QGIS, Carto, Tableau, Google Drive, Cometdocs, etc
Why did you become a journalist?
It started as a love for writing and wanting a job where I got paid to write and then grew into a fire to tell people the truth.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I was the editor of my high school newspaper (of course). Going to Columbia's HS Journalists program confirmed my need to be a journo.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
A long-form series on a couple who found love late in life and with a stay-at-home dad who adopted 3 disabled children.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Sitting on my comfy couch with my pencils and markers, coloring, or at the bowling alley trying to throw strikes.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.