What was your first job as a journalist?
Education reporter at The Fremont (Neb.) Tribune in 1988.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes, I learned how to type on a manual typewriter.
How is social media changing news?
Social media is being used to manipulate the news.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Mikael Blomkvist
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To cover the news objectively, with clarity and precision.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Send me an email: hoopervisor2@yahoo.com (My Dad was hoopervisor1)
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Charles Schwab StreetSmart trading software
What's your favorite social network?
I like Instagram.
Who do you wish followed you?
Thinking people, investors, entrepreneurs and futurists.
Why did you become a journalist?
I loved going on adventures and then staying up late at night documenting my memories in my diary. I have kept a diary for 39 years.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
I worked at the Daily Nebraskan student newspaper at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I was a reporter and assignment editor.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
I was sad yet proud of my work documenting the history and departure of The Menninger Clinic from Topeka to Houston
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Work furiously to learn and master your beat. Prepare to change, adapt and grow often. Live cheap, save your money.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Day time
What's the best pitch you ever got?
I was profiling the town of Loup City, Neb., when someone asked, "how would you like to see the town from the sky?"
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Please write a story about my business because we're celebrating our five-year anniversary. Lame.
What's your favorite drink?
Coffee
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
In my art studio drawing and painting.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Seeking Alpha is informative and fun. It's quick to get out financial news while publishing the work of investor analysts.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
Every entrepreneur is a capitalist using human and financial capital to create valuable services or products that consumers want to buy.
