3 interviews: I Didn’t Know You Could Do That edition
Hi guys! For the next two weeks, I’m going to run back a few of our favorite Q&As from the past; feel free to take this time to also hit reply and let me know who you wanna see interviewed for the rest of 2020!
For today, here are three Q&As on some of the most enterprising people in the biz:
1. NASA’s Katy Mersmann, on making space content for social media:
It really is a dream job everyday, which *I know* sounds super trite. When I was a baby intern, New Horizons flew by Pluto, the first time something built by humans came that close to the dwarf planet (Pluto is not a planet, do not @ me). Another intern and I worked on a gif that showed how NASA’s views of Pluto had evolved over the years, from the first like six-pixel image taken when it was discovered to this beautiful, close-up view of the surface. The gif went bananas viral and was even posted on Facebook by the Obama White House. That was completely surreal.
2. The Atlantic’s John Peabody, on interviewing Gay Talese for his blog:
When you interview Gay Talese, he does most of the talking, but it was still one of the best conversations I’ve had since moving to New York. He’s just no bullshit and pulls no punches. Like I said before, I just find that super refreshing, even if I don’t agree with everything he says. But yeah it was a trip going to his townhouse, waiting for him to come down the stairs and then going to his bunker to chat. He offered me a martini but I declined because he wasn’t having one and I didn’t want to drink alone. I probably should have it anyway.
3. Drone Girl — AKA Sally French — on how she grew her blog into a full-on media outlet:
The first conference I ever spoke at was this terrible venue on the outskirts of Vegas, and I think there were maximum 30 people in the audience. However, a bigger drone conference in Vegas found me through that, which was my next gig, which led to Harvard Business School finding me, which led to an invitation to speak at SXSW. If I had turned down the first crappy event, none of the other ones would have happened.
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