What have you done since leaving NA?

I attended George Washington University and was arts editor of The Hatchet, the university paper. I graduated in 2007. While at GW, I worked part time for The Washington Post, and freelanced for some local papers & also Newsweek. After graduation, I worked for U.S. News & World Report for two and a half years, writing about environmental issues, business, and education. At the same time, I also worked as an art critic for the Washington City Paper, and I freelanced stories about culture, art, fashion and theater to some local newspapers and national magazines. I left U.S. News and worked at a startup called TBD.com for one year, from 2010-2011. It was a local news site from the same owners as Politico, but it didn’t last. In 2011, I was selected to be a National Endowment for the Arts journalism fellow at the university of Southern California. That year, I also came back to the Post, and at the time, I was writing about local arts, internet culture and pop culture. After about 2 years, I started on the food beat. I now cover food and the culture of food, along with some theater, art, film, pop culture and travel. My work has been recognized by the Association of Food Journalists and the Virginia Press Association. Last month, I was nominated for a James Beard Award, which was really exciting because it’s the top award in food journalism. I’ll find out if I win later in April. Lately, the most meaningful work I’ve done is writing about sexual harassment in restaurants. This is my most recent.

From your history, you seem to have started your career in journalism very early. What inspired your interest in journalism? I know it takes a lot of determination and hustle to succeed. How did you find yourself at the Post?

I was interested in journalism ever since i was a little kid because my parents used to work in the field — my mom is an artist, but she started her career as a graphic designer for The Post-Gazette. And my dad is a freelance photographer whose photos have been featured in People, Time, Forbes, BusinessWeek and Pittsburgh Magazine. So, we grew up with at least a dozen magazine subscriptions and we also got The Post-Gazette and the Sunday New York Times in print. I’d spread out the paper and read it over breakfast on the weekend, always starting with Sunday Styles and the Magazine. Even though our focus at The Washington Post is on the digital version of the paper, I still love the print edition, especially the front page. Whenever a story of mine ends up on A1, I still get excited.

I worked really hard to end up at the Post. When I was in my senior year of high school at NA, I won this journalism scholarship called the Al Neuharth Free Spirit Award, and part of the prize was a trip to DC to go to a journalism workshop. We toured the Post and I knew that I wanted to work there someday. During my junior year of college, I applied for an unpaid internship with the Post’s Going Out Guide, which is the section that covers local arts and entertainment. I was offered the internship, and actually convinced them to turn it into a part-time paid job, which I held for two years — while also taking a full courseload and working two other jobs, as the arts editor of my school paper and as a nighttime copy editor at Knight-Ridder. But in 2007, when I graduated from college, the Post was not in the financial situation it’s in now, so they couldn’t offer me a full-time job. I left for a few years, working for U.S. News & World Report and a startup called TBD.com, which was pretty high-profile at the time but has since closed. All the while, I was freelancing like crazy and keeping in touch with editors and reporters that I had met at the Post. I was able to draw upon those connections — and also the portfolio of clips I had been building all of those years — to come back full time in 2011. Since then, I’ve done a couple of different things: I worked as a web producer for the Style section, a reporter covering local art and food for the Weekend section, and now a reporter covering national stories for the food section. I still write for all the previous sections, as well as the magazine, travel and Outlook. And so far in my career, I’ve gotten to cover a bunch of really memorable and historic events: President Obama’s inauguration and inaugural balls, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner, New York fashion week, the 2015 terrorist attack in Paris (I was actually vacationing there at the time), and the Women’s March.

What advice would you give current NA students about pursuing journalism or a similar career? Now that you’ve built foundations at the Post, what are your next steps and goals?

I would tell students who are interested in pursuing a career in journalism that they have to be prepared to work very hard. It’s very much an all-in career. But it’s also a calling – I can’t think of anything else I’d rather do, and I know my colleagues feel the same way. Even though I’m working constantly, part of my job is going out to restaurants, museums and the theater, so I’m very fortunate to have a beat with some built-in fun. Writing about food has been a pleasure, because it has such a full range – it’s decadent one day, serious the next. I am always learning, and that’s a important part of the job.

If you want to be a journalist, you don’t necessarily have to major in journalism. But you need to work for your college paper or TV or radio station, because that will help you understand the rhythm of a newsroom. Look for mentors everywhere you intern, and keep in touch with them. And get clips that show you’re a good reporter – someone who can find stories that no one else had thought to write or produce. Stories that make people think.

As for next steps: I’d like to write a nonfiction book! I’ve been kicking around a few ideas, but I’m still figuring out what kind of shape it will take.

What subjects are you interested in for the nonfiction book? Will it be related to your work in the culture section of the Post? 

I’m still playing with some ideas, but I expect the book will be about the intersection between food, art, and technology. These are topics I write about often. But I still have a lot of work to do to get it going.

Is there any other message you’d like to relay to the NA student population?

Young women should never be afraid to ask for an opportunity, especially one that they’ve worked hard for. It’s so important to advocate for yourself. The worst that will happen is that you’ll get a no, which leaves you right where you started – but you might get a yes! When I interviewed for an unpaid internship at the Washington Post while I was in college, I asked them if it could be turned into a paid, part-time job – and they said yes. I’m so glad I learned that lesson early on in my career.

But to the NA faculty, I’d say: hi, and thank you. You did so much to give my peers and me a great start into our adult lives. I’m grateful.

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