What was your first job as a journalist?
Covering a Rhode Island political corruption trial for UPI.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
IBM Selectric.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Tintin.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
You get to receive an education every day.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email, rread@nerdwallet.com. Eager for tips on the next Wells Fargo scandal etc.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Pen, notepad.
Why did you become a journalist?
Because I'm better at asking questions than answering them.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Use your natural curiosity to start digging. You'll get discovered.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Invitation from Tazo Tea founder to accompany him on annual tasting trip in Calcutta and Darjeeling.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Skiing, hiking.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The New Yorker
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That investigative reporting is rocket science.
