Jacob Dean
(He/Him)
As seen in:
MSN,
The New York Times,
Yahoo Life,
The Washington Post,
Aol,
TechCrunch,
Adweek,
Substack,
VICE,
Serious Eats
and
Covers:
Food, travel, recipes, cookbooks, beer, wine, spirits, kitchen appliances, home goods, cookware, pets, and parenting.
Doesn't Cover:
I don't cover cannabis or any type of cannabis-related product (including foods and drinks). I am unlikely to respond to press releases.
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
My very first assignment ever was interviewing Jacques Pepin at his home in Connecticut. It was an incredible way to start my career.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Before my time! But I do remember when CDs were invented.
How is social media changing news?
Social media has done incalculable damage to the news, making it much more trend-based and shallow.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Spider Jerusalem
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
A personalized email that shows you're familiar with my work and didn't pull my name randomly from a mailing list.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Google Drive. A Handy H1n handheld recorder and a Manfrotto Pixi tripod. Pens and notebooks.
What's your favorite social network?
Dinner parties
Why did you become a journalist?
Because getting to tell people about the wider world is a joy and a privilege
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Afraid not
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Build genuine relationships, not transactional ones. Making real friends will serve you better than thinking about what people can do for you
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Any pitch where it's clear the publicist scraped me from a list and didn't bother to look at my byline. So, 99% of the pitches I receive.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
On assignment either domestically or internationally. Either that or food shopping, gardening, or exploring Oaxaca, Mexico.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.