One thing I wish I had known when I began my career is that you are only as good as the people around you. If you want to succeed, seek out successful people and put yourself in their service.

The book that has had the biggest impact on me: The Philosophy of Andy Warhol changed the way I thought about storytelling, humor, and personal writing. He was so dry, funny, and observational that I have gone back to that book many times over the years for a reminder on how to write simply and with bite. In the same vein, I Remember by Joe Brainard is one of my all-time favorite books. It’s a simple memoir in which every sentence begins with I Remember, but by the end I am weeping every time. And lastly I just finished Rachel Cusk’s Outline trilogy and am still processing those three books, but I have a feeling they will end up being one of those life-changing, mind-altering reading experiences.

The biggest gamble I’ve ever taken is coming to work at The Cut! I think it worked out great.

My first job was walking dogs and what I learned from it was that dogs are a lot of work and that even when you don’t feel like walking them, you have no choice. The dogs always have to be walked. It’s a great lesson in perseverance.

The three things I read every day are The Cut, The New York Times newsletter, and Twitter because I like to keep up with whatever people are talking about. Weekly go-to’s: London Review of Books, The New Yorker and Autostraddle.

Staying relevant in today’s media landscape requires keeping a very diverse set of opinions flowing into your scope of interests. Having people around you who are even more into niche things than you are.

My biggest concern about journalism right now is that Trump is destroying the nation's trust in the free press. Also that there’s not enough time to pass along the best practices to younger journalists, and that there’s too much emphasis on SEO and traffic, at the expense of due diligence.

My management style is lead by example.

If I could give my 18-year-old self one piece of advice it would go to culinary school!

The one thing I would like to say to every woman in the world is men don’t define you.