What was your first job as a journalist?
Editing the stage section of my student newspaper. Nothing teaches you about sensitivity of tone quite like an angry amateur actor.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
No, I'd love to!
How is social media changing news?
As information is becoming more widely available online, reliable and. critical analysis, which is even more important, is proving elusive.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
He's hopeless but William Boot has a special place in my heart.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
It means telling stories that wouldn't otherwise be heard, that matter to us all, with a creative and personal insight.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Wordpress, OtterAI for transcription, Grammarly for converting my British English for an American publication
What's your favorite social network?
Old-school but has to be Facebook
Who do you wish followed you?
Adam Fleming, Gwliym Mumford, Coco Khan
Why did you become a journalist?
I'm good at telling stories, engaging people in things they don't think they're interested in. I want to this for other people.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I worked for my university newspaper as a stage editor, columnist, features writer, news reporter...everything really!
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
I'm really proud of a recent feature I did interviewing Ukrainian refugees in my local area about their lives here and Independence Day.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
I count myself in that category, so I suppose perseverance! I think there's space for everyone who has an eye for storytelling.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Evenings
What's the best pitch you ever got?
I was asked to write about my experiences with a terrible landlord who left an open sewage pit in my back garden.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Someone once asked me if they could write anonymously to avoid backlash for a terrible review they wanted to do.
What's your favorite drink?
Martini Fiero and tonic (trust me)
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
At the theatre probably
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Sensemaker from Tortoise Media is my favourite daily read - concise and always offering me something different to the rest of my news source.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That popular culture online doesn't translate to real-life behaviour. Trending online means trending in offline conversation too.
