From Purity Balls to Silicon Valley Sex Parties, Laurie Segall Shares All

   

Laurie Segall’s journalism career has landed her in the unlikeliest places, from purity balls, sex parties, and awkward interviews with some of Silicon Valley’s biggest leaders. She recounts these larger-than-life stories and more in her memoir Special Characters: My Adventures with Tech's Titans and Misfits.

This week, Laurie joins the pod to talk about her journey into journalism, and how she managed to create a position for herself at CNN. She talks about being one of the first reporters covering the tech industry during Web 2.0, and how she’s managed to hold powerful figures like Travis Kalanick accountable. Plus, Laurie talks about what led her to eventually leave CNN, and why she decided to strike it out on her own.

 Some highlights from our interview:

• [13:20 -13:32] “I learned that you’re going to get asked to do a lot of things that you’re going to have no idea how to do. And you just kind of say “yes” and figure it out along the way. You just can’t say “no.”

• [15:56 - 16:02] “No matter how hard you work, you have to play the game a bit. I wish great work was just awarded, but you have to play the game.”

• [31:06 - 31:21] “An interview is a dance, right? It has an arc, it’s a story. I think for me, I always started not so so hard, but easing into it — and then would go harder.”

• [45:48 - 46:08] “When I wanted to quit [CNN], I became obsessed with this video of a rabbi talking about how lobsters grow — super weird I know. It’s super stressful for lobsters, but the only way for them to grow is they have to completely shed their shell.”