What do you get when you take a journalism student interested in development issues and the nonprofit world, and send her to India for some hands-on experience?
What do you get when said student lands on her feet in the Big Apple, and decides to pursue a career at the intersection of new media and social good?
What do you get when you find out she now works at one of the largest media outlets around, yet still tries to reply to most, if not all, emails that are sent to her?
You get Zoe Fox, Mashable’s “social good” reporter, who primarily covers social media and sustainable technology for nonprofits.
I first “met” Zoe when I was pitching Oxfam America’s #IWD2012 campaign, and it was a delight to work with her.
I’m also intrigued by the number of young professionals who want their careers to live at the intersection of new media and social good (Harrison Kratz, the founder of TweetDrive, comes to mind immediately), so I set out to interview her.
This is the result:
Outside of the fact that Zoe takes her work very seriously, I learned so many other things:
- That her work in India for Jatan Sansthan increased her appreciation of Indian food (w00T!)
- That pitching “new media” well isn’t all that different from pitching “old media” well (and it’s important to write a really good pitch!)
- That not being able to follow a recipe is not necessarily a bad thing (are you listening, Ifdy Perez?)
Zoe, thank you for taking the time to chat with me. May the social good force be with you for a long time to come.
Any more questions for Zoe? How about leaving them as comments? And would you like to see more “Clearly UnConfidential” interviews (thanks, Betsy Decillis, for the name!).
Images courtesy Zoe Fox, used with permission
@jgoldsborough Thanks for sharing, pal!
I keep wanting to comment but I can’t LOL She is smart and bright but that mashable word keeps coming up. Sigh. Doesn’t she know I am banned from there?
@HowieSPM I’m not sure ,.. maybe you want to comment and let her know that. :p Kinda like that commercial where the girl calls the guy to tell him she’s giving him the silent treatment.
@_elv_ Thanks so much for sharing.
@kratzpr You’re so welcome, and thank you for sharing!
I love the video! Great tips for anyone reaching out to reporters/writers. I enjoyed getting to know Zoe and the fact that she was open to doing this is fantastic!
@rachaelseda I got an email from someone saying he was doing a search for Zoe (to pitch her), and the video was really helpful. I love that kind of feedback!
@kdillabough @ErinMFeldman @rachaelseda Thanks for sharing!
@ErinMFeldman Get for yourself a walmart voucher. All you have to do is respond walmart’s question! See my profile website!
Good interview, Shonali. Thanks for doing this. Would love to see more like this. Great idea, and definitely a topic that interests me!
@KenMueller Thanks, Ken! I’ll try to do more of these. How do you like the name “Clearly UnConfidential,” btw? ErinMFeldman and decillis helped me with it.
@Shonali I didn’t do a whole lot. I just said I liked the name. :)
I like the work Zoe is doing, too. Social good is something that fascinates me, and I know I would like to implement social good with my business if or when it ever gets going.
@Erin F. Saying you liked the name helped!