Leah Finnegan’s journalism journey reads like the resume of someone decades in, which makes what she’s accomplished even more impressive. She first discovered her passion for journalism while working on the newspaper at the University of Texas and parlayed that into a stint at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, where she quickly realized that one does not need a master’s in journalism to be a good journalist. Over coffee and sparkling water, Leah shares how she’s worked her way up the journalism ladder from Gawker to the New York Times to the current Executive Editor of The Outline, the quirky online publication started by Josh Topolsky that recently sold to Bustle.

What You’ll Learn:

• The challenges of going freelance
• How to differentiate yourself as a media company
• The value, or lack thereof, of a degree in journalism
• How the media environment is changing in today’s political climate