Vaishali Dinakaran
As seen in:
MSN,
Deutsche Welle (DW),
India Times,
Yahoo Finance India,
Salon,
Food52,
Forbes India,
Autocar India,
MW (Man's World)
Covers:
Motorsport, travel, art, culture, food, human interest, long-form feature stories, personal essays.
Freelance writer & Journalist | Motorsport & Miscellany. (@vaishdinakaran.bsky.social)
Interview
What was your first job as a journalist?
Copy Editor at Autocar India.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Never. I do want one though!
How is social media changing news?
It both dilutes it and amplifies it at the same time.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Peter Parker
What does it mean to be a journalist?
Being a journalist means to tell the whole truth, even if you look foolish while doing it.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
I can't remember anything that stuck.
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
I prefer story pitches via an email. An ideal pitch is one that doesn't go beyond three or four paragraphs.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
Google Docs, Adobe InDesign, Adobe Photoshop, PDF Expert, Goodnotes, Microsoft Word, Notepad, Adobe Acrobat.
What's your favorite social network?
Twitter and Instagram
Who do you wish followed you?
Several writers I respect, so I could on occasion send them Direct Messages on Twitter.
Why did you become a journalist?
I wanted to tell stories about the world as I saw it, while also travelling and stopping by a few racetracks along the way.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Yes, wrote and edited articles.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
My interview with Michael Schumacher back in 2011. It was a childhood dream fulfilled. As was getting to drive a Formula 1 car in 2018!
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
The three R's: Research, respect, recorder.
When's the best time to pitch you?
I accept story pitches via email at all times.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Go to the Paul Ricard racetrack and drive a Lotus-Renault E20 Formula 1 car. And one that asked if I would interview astronaut Charlie Duke.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
One that asked if I'd stay at a hotel free of cost and write about it. I turned it down, naturally.
What's your favorite drink?
Water. Or a classic gin and tonic.
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Reading a book.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
The New Yorker and The Road Rat
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
People believe motorsport writing is result/news based, but it is instead a study of human motivation. Of what drives people.
Would you like to take the Muck Rack Interview?
Create a Muck Rack profile.