First of all, thank you to the Washington Press Club Foundation for giving me this opportunity to speak to

you today.
Im excited because it wasnt that long ago six years actually that I was in the exact same spot you are
today.
I was a DC intern. At WashingtonPost.com, covering local news wearing flip flops, staying up way too
late, eating too much ramen and doing everything you all probably already know not to do.
So how do you go from someone who probably belonged on What Not To Wear to a successful journalist
at a nationally known brand?
I wish I could tell you that wanting it is enough. Because let me tell you I WANTED to come back to DC
more than anything in the world. And specifically, I WANTED to work at POLITICO.
POLITICO launched while I was still in college, and I was absolutely obsessed. I hung on every single
word that John Harris and Jim VandeHei and Mike Allen said and every piece that came out of the garage
band days of Politico during the 2008 election.
Back then, there werent dozens and dozens of reporters. And it wasnt the force of nature that it was
today, but they looked like they were REALLY having fun covering politics. And I wanted in.
But wanting and dreaming isnt enough. I could sit in my college dorm room at the University of
Missouri and think about how I wanted to be a go-to reporter, one of the boys on the bus covering a
presidential campaign. But while thats cute and all, I realized that wasnt going to get me anywhere.
So I stopped dreaming, and got busy doing.
If you want to be a writer, you need to write. If you want to be a political journalist, you need to be doing
political journalism. So in January 2008, I gassed up my 10-year old car and drove from my hometown of
Kansas City, Mo. to Des Moines, Iowa to see the caucuses for myself.
I called every weekly newspaper around my hometown as well as the dailies to ask if anyone would let
me write ANYTHING for them. I didnt care about getting paid, though that would have been nice, but I
wanted to see this story for myself and I wanted to tell it for other people.
As it happens, a few places bit. One was the Kansas City Star. Id written for their now defunct teen page
when I was in high school, and a friendly editor there gave me a shot to go to a few events and help their
political reporters with filing bigger stories. I wouldnt get a byline, but it was WORK. I also managed to
get some weeklies to let me file short briefs on volunteers from Missouri. I shot video on a flipcam you
guys, I didnt have a smartphone back then and uploaded it to YouTube. And I wrote about my
experiences on Facebook.
This was also right around the time I signed up for Twitter. As it happens, my first tweet is about
preparing for the Caucus trip and complaining about a Mizzou football loss. Some things havent
changed.
That trip taught me the power of making my own opportunities when none seemed readily available to
me. So I kept doing it.
In the fall of 2008, after returning to college from my internship, I drove to both vice presidential
announcements, in Dayton Ohio and Springfield, Illinois. Again, no one was paying me, but I was able to
get my stories out there. KBIA, the NPR member station on my college campus, let me file field reports
that actually went on air. And I got class credit for it, too.
I spent the rest of that year immersed in covering statehouse politics, and writing about statewide
elections. I was the associate producer of an election night web show in 2008. I wasnt even old enough to
drink and I was helping track AP returns. I also got to help moderate a gubernatorial debate on my college
campus.
Thats the second takeaway from today youre never too young. Start now, start yesterday. Because
there are kids out there who are starting before theyre old enough to vote. Like Eli Yokley. He edits a site
called PoliticMo in Missouri.
He started it when he was 17, a week after he graduated high school he tells me. And hes young, but hes
smart and fast and web savvy and hes getting the types of interviews and level of attention of people
three times his age.
I think we could all learn a few things from guys like that.
Fast forward a couple years, past graduation. I was working for the Kansas City Star on a political
fellowship. And I was loving it. I was working for my hometown newspaper and telling really smart, fun
stories about elections.
Id been there three days before I got the call that changed everything. POLITICO had just launched a
new fellowship, and someone there had suggested I apply.
Another take away? Your plans never work out the way you think they will.
I have to tell you, despite my admiration for POLITICO, I almost didnt do it.
I was terrified to take a shot on something that only had a year of guaranteed employment behind it. After
doing a slew of internships and fellowships and a first job at a startup that shut down, I just didnt know if
I could handle the risk. Id be turning my life upside down for one shot.
I didnt know I was going to accept the position until I got the call. I remember this well because I was
sitting in the car with my best friend, driving to another friends rehearsal dinner. Not that I advocate
driving and talking on the phone or anything but hey, it happens. And when they told me I had gotten
the fellowship, I couldnt say anything but yes.
A one year fellowship at POLITICO turned into a job that changed my life. I worked harder than I have
ever worked. I created my own opportunities and took even the smallest tasks seriously.
One of those was covering this guy no one had ever heard of, called Herman Cain, who was talking about
running for president. Its one of those tasks you get when youre the intern, or the youngest person on a
team. Take a story that no one else wants to tell and run with it. I figured, hey, maybe thisll get me
noticed and theyll give me more chances to do good work. I recognized that the editor was giving me an
opportunity, and I didnt want to screw it up.
As it happened, Herman Cain became kind of a big deal, briefly. You might remember the harassment
allegations against him? I was on the team of reporters that told the story first.
That first Cain story and the ones that followed skyrocketed me into two years on the campaign trail,
telling the stories of the 2012 election.
Ive had the opportunity to travel with Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum, Paul Ryan, Rick Santorum, Jon
Huntsman and of course Herman Cain. I went to 33 states in a year plus Puerto Rico, the Democratic
and the Republican nominating conventions, and spent 2012 election night in Boston with the
Romney/Ryan campaign.
I also lost more luggage than I can keep track of, put countless miles on dozens of rental cars, learned
how to sleep on any bus or plane and learned how to appear alert in awake after staying up all night
writing. Secrets? Red Bull, concealer, eye masks. My mother, who doesnt have cable or internet, got
Twitter to figure out what state or city I was in. I never knew myself.
While at POLITICO, I also had the privilege of covering defense and national security, including
sensitive stories like the newest generation of veterans returning home from war and the crisis of sexual
assault among the militarys ranks.
Another thing to remember: be a human.
Getting the sexy headline or the front page story or the site lede is important. Believe me, I know. But
make sure when youre talking to people youre actually listening to them and relating to them as a
human, rather than just shoving a camera, a microphone or a notepad in their face.
Ive done this with rape survivors and Ive been the first person to tell people including a few politicians
that someone close to them has died. Its okay to hand someone whos crying a tissue. Or to give them a
few seconds to compose themselves. Or to tell them, if its true hey, Ive been there too. So I know
where youre coming from.
These are skills Im putting to the test now in my new role covering education at NPR. Ive been at NPR
for a little more than a month.
The stories arent about whos winning what primary, whether the race is going to come down to crucial
Waukesha county, and Im certainly not racing to tweet every line of a Hillary Clinton interview.
But Im talking to people in their kitchens and in their classrooms about a story that impacts every one of
you, and me too. Its about learning from the cradle to the grave from soccer fields to science labs,
boardrooms and bedrooms.
And Im having a heck of a lot of fun doing it.
While I spend a lot of time on TV and on the radio, this is actually the first time Ive been asked to give a
speech like this. And I have to admit, its a little terrifying. Im pretty sure one of you is going to be my
boss one day. Probably sooner than you or I think.
So this being the 21st century and because really, were all online journalists these days, I crowdsourced
it.
I posted this message on Facebook: Im speaking to a big group of DC journalism interns for 20 minutes
on Friday. What should I tell them?
I want to share a few of those responses with you:
First from Emma Carew Grovum, an editor at Foreign Policy magazine: Dont suck, dont be an a-hole,
dont give up.
Next from Jashin Lin of Indiana Public Media: Youll get ignored, dismissed, forgotten and turned down
By sources. A lot. Learn to move past that fear and pick up the phone and make that call anyway. Most of
the time its not personal, so dont make it personal.
Resilience sticking it out when it really sucks quickly became a theme.
From Chuck Raasch of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Get as much experience as you can starting right
now and find something that inspires you in your youth about the profession and make a pact with
yourself to regularly remind you of it.
Chucks been around a little while so Id take him at his word.
I also know hes right from personal experience.
There have been days when Ive been awake filing a newsletter at 4 A.M. or driving through six inches of
snow to make it to cover one more campaign event where I just havent wanted to do it anymore. I want
to go to Hawaii, or I want to have a job where I work 9-5 and dont have to back out of personal
commitments at the last minute or I want to just have some silence. But then I remember that I get to
wake up and tell really cool stories every day, and that makes this alright.
Back to Facebook advice.
My friend Jessica Estepa, who writes features for Greenwire, is one of the most talented journalists I
know. Shes also the busiest. When shes not in a newsroom, shes singing in a choir, volunteering or
baking a LOT of pie. I might benefit from some of this.
Someone suggested that being a journalist means you cant quote, have a life, or have consistent plans
outside of your job.
Predictably, Jessica disagreed.
Having a life outside of journalism is great, and figuring out work life balance is awesome, she wrote.
From POLITICOs Kelsey Snell: Use your internship well. Dont be needy, but be willing to step up for
any opportunity that presents itself. And if one doesnt, look for one. Oh, and try to turn down the
desperation meter: these people are your colleagues. Connect with people on a real level instead of only
thinking about how they can help you get ahead. Basically, those are just life tips.
Sirius XMs Julie Mason: Attitude is everything.
And National Defense Magazines Valerie Insinna: Listen to your teachers and your editors at school, be
humble and use what they say to make yourself better. But never let anyone tell you that you dont have
what it takes to make it as a journalist. Never let anyone tell you that your interests and knowledge in
other areas is not relevant to your journalism career.
So whats the recipe for making it in this town? Passion, drive and a little bit of pluck never hurts.
The reality is, not everyone sitting in this room will make it as a journalist. Each year, thousands of
students graduate, hoping to be the next Mike Allen or Dana Bash or Jonathan Karl or Jill Abramson.
And a lot of them arent going to make it.
Some people arent going to be good enough, some people are going to get frustrated by the grueling
hours that it takes to get there. Some of you might be scared of an industry that is constantly evolving,
where buyouts and layoffs are the norm, and youll be worried about how you can pay your rent with that
uncertainty hanging overhead. A lot of you guys wont wind up starting off in Washington. Youll work
for a small local paper or a major metro and have to claw your way back to #thistown or New York, or
somewhere else thats caught your eye. Some of you will waitress yourself through first journalism jobs,
others of you will opt for grad school, law school or an MBA.
But many of you will decide, as I have and as your mentors and editors have, that theres literally nothing
else you can see yourself doing when you wake up in the morning. Youll decide that these stories matter,
and that helping people understand the complex world in which we live is exciting.
Youre starting from a really good place already: youre here in Washington, interning at some of the
best publications in the country, working for some of the journalists I admire, telling stories with a bevy
of tools some of which didnt exist ten years ago, some of which are just coming out of the woodwork.
Were counting on you to be good, to be relentless, to tell stories that rock and in that pursuit, I am
really looking forward to being your colleague.

Thank you.