Working

This season on Working, we’re going to the White House. Head Speechwriter Cody Keenan writes and edits the President's speeches. He takes us through his career starting as a speechwriting intern in 2008 and how a speech goes from the blank page to the teleprompter. In a Slate Plus Extra, Keenan tells us about some of the lighter speeches he's written over the years, including one he gave himself. If you’re a member, enjoy bonus segments and interview transcripts from Working, plus other great podcast exclusives. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/workingplus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This season on Working, we’re going to the White House. Director of Scheduling Gregory Lorjuste is responsible for figuring out what the President will do from one minute to the next while he's on the road. In a Slate Plus Extra tells us about scheduling the inauguration in 2009. If you’re a member, enjoy bonus segments and interview transcripts from Working, plus other great podcast exclusives. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/workingplus.If you're looking for more about how Greg made his way from the difficult neighborhoods of his youth to his job at the White House, this article from BET tells the story in detail. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This season on Working, we’re going to the White House. Because the jobs of the people who work there are sometimes unpredictable, we weren’t able to bring you an episode this week. But we’ll be back next week with another conversation. In the meantime, be sure to check out our first two episodes of Working at the White House. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This season on Working, we’re going to the White House. For our second episode, we spoke to Paulette Aniskoff, director of the White House Office of Public Engagement. Aniskoff has been working with the president since 2007, and she brings many of the strategies developed on the campaign trail to the administration’s outreach to the American citizenry. She explored question large and small, including a bit about how the White House coordinates its approach to issues via sequences of morning meetings. Even in our digital age, much of the administration’s internal communication still happens through face-to- face conversations, Aniskoff suggests. That extends to the way she and her office work with constituents: She told us about the effort they put into bringing real people into the White House to talk with the president, going into the ways that they diagram seating charts for meetings in the Roosevelt Room.In a Slate Plus extra, Aniskoff goes into detail about how her job has changed since the early days of the campaign and tells us how she maintains balance in her current life as a new mother. If you’re a member, enjoy bonus segments and interview transcripts from Working, plus other great podcast exclusives. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/workingplus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There's no workplace that looms larger in Washington, D.C. than the White House. Hundreds of employees work within its walls, but most of us don't know much about what really goes on there. In a special season of Working, we're peeking behind that curtain talking to some of those who make their way through the White House's gates each morning.For our first episode, we're talking to Fiona Reeves, the Director of Presidential Correspondence. Every day Reeves and her staff sort through thousands of letters and emails that the President receives from his constituents. She ultimately selects ten for him to read each night. She talked to us about some of the most memorable letters she's examined, from the sad, to the funny, to the hopeful. And in a Slate Plus extra, Reeves tells us how social media and email have informed the art of letter writing. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/workingplus.Email: working@slate.comTwitter: @Jacob_Brogan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We spoke to Faith Smith who orchestrates all of Slate's live events. She puts together live tapings of podcast episodes, and has also organized conferences, panel discussions, happy hours, and much more. She offered us a literal backstage look at the way that those events come together, starting with the way that she gathers participants and finds a venue. She also talked to us about preparing for the events themselves and led us through her day-of efforts. Finally, she laid out some of her pet peeves for events gone wrong.And in a Slate Plus extra,  Faith tells us of her early efforts for an upcoming event, Slate's 20th birthday celebration. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/workingplus.Email: working@slate.comTwitter: @Jacob_BroganWorking is supported by Tictail, a social shopping marketplace. Visit tictail.com/working to create your profile and see a selection of our favorite products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meet the Chief Scientist of NASA, Dr. Ellen Stofan. By training, Dr. Stofan is a planetary geologist who has studied volcanoes both here on Earth, and elsewhere in the solar system. In her current role, she helps coordinate scientific projects of all kinds, which means she has to keep up with a dizzying array of recent research topics. She also discussed how she helps communicate NASA's work to students and the public at large, before addressing that big question: Are we alone? And in a Slate Plus extra, Dr. Stofan tells us why she'd like to visit Titan, a moon of Saturn that is much like Earth in certain ways and profoundly alien in others. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/workingplus.Email: working@slate.comTwitter: @Jacob_BroganWorking is supported by Carbonite, protecting digital files with automatic cloud backup. You can try it free without at carbonite.com and use offer code "WORKING" for two free bonus months when you decide to buy. And by Tictail, a social shopping marketplace. Visit tictail.com/working to create your profile and see a selection of our favorite products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ever find yourself at a museum wondering about who chose the artifacts and wrote the captions? We spoke with Mary Elliott, a museum specialist at the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture. Along with her colleague Nancy Bercaw, Elliott has worked years on a massive exhibit that explores the global history of slavery and the makings of America.And in a Slate Plus extra, Mary Elliott tells us more about the family history research that began her career. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/workingplus.Email: working@slate.comTwitter: @Jacob_BroganWorking is supported by Carbonite, protecting digital files with automatic cloud backup. You can try it free without at carbonite.com and use offer code "WORKING" for two free bonus months when you decide to buy. And by Tictail, a social shopping marketplace. Visit tictail.com/working to create your profile and see a selection of our favorite products. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Visit Second Story Books in Washington, D.C. and meet book buyer and seller Topher Lundell. He told us about how they acquire the thousands of books that line the store's shelves and discussed how the internet change his brick and mortar business model. And in a Slate Plus extra, Topher tells us about some of the gloriously weird pulp Sci Fi novels that he posts to his Instagram @topherlundell. If you’re a member, enjoy bonus segments and interview transcripts from Working, plus other great podcast exclusives. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/workingplus. Email: working@slate.comTwitter: @Jacob_Brogan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Mogavero is a dog walker based in Washington, D.C. who looks after a dozen or more pups every day. He went in deep with us on the particulars of his job, from the way he gets to know new clients—human and animal alike—to the way he arranges his schedule. Along the way, he covered a lot of other ground, discussing the contents of his fanny pack, how he keeps bones out of the dogs’ mouths, and much more.  And in a Slate Plus extra, Moagavero tells us about his nemesis, a unicycling dog walker who sounds an awful lot like a Portlandia joke come to life. If you’re a member, enjoy bonus segments and interview transcripts from Working, plus other great podcast exclusives. Start your two-week free trial at slate.com/workingplus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices