What was your first job as a journalist?
Self-employed freelance writer.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes!
How is social media changing news?
Social media has made news gathering and news writing democratic, but it has also filled the platforms with misinformation and poor writing.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Lois Lane
What does it mean to be a journalist?
It means that I can share my knowledge and insights with other people.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Pages, Microsoft Word, Google, Grammarly.
What's your favorite social network?
Instagram.
Who do you wish followed you?
Piet Oudolf.
Why did you become a journalist?
I love researching and writing about home and garden design, architecture, sustainable living, and travel.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Santa Monica High School Newspaper. Wrote feature articles.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
Writing about why Freetown Christiania, an alternative community in Copenhagen, has some of the most world's most interesting architecture.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Read journalism written by great journalists of all genres and write as much as you can.
When's the best time to pitch you?
Any time.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Story about how plants can produce music.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
A story about how some toxic pesticides were actually good for the environment.
What's your favorite drink?
French 75.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Cooking, rowing, traveling.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Architectural Digest.
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
Gardening is difficult.
