This year has been unrelentingly bleak, so I want to tell you a real-life Cinderella story that started almost exactly ten years ago today. (A THREAD)

In the summer of 2010, I was a lowly graduate student studying the history of science. I loved it, but I knew I didn't have a future as an academic. Not least because every paper I submitted to scholarly journals got rejected.

So one day, I cold-emailed my favorite podcast, @Radiolab. I had no experience in radio or podcasting or documentary or music or journalism. But I figured, what the heck, I'm gonna tell them how much I love them. And also maybe ... pitch them some history of science stories??

Surprisingly, then-Executive Producer @ramenshopradio answered my email and agreed to get on the phone to hear out my story ideas. On the first phone call, I rapid-fired about six different ideas at her. "Nah, none of those work," she said, "but keep pitching us."

So I did. I pitched Radiolab a lot. Dozens of story pitches. All rejected, one by one. Until finally, FINALLY, one story got through. It was about a praying robot monk. https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/radiolab/articles/radiolab-clockwork-miracle

Cut to 2014. I finished grad school and took a full-time staff job at Radiolab. My dream job. Working with an A-team of brilliant weirdos. Achievement unlocked. I couldn't imagine anything better until ...

This morning, when they announced that I'm the new co-host of @Radiolab. It's surreal. In one decade, I went from being a random fan with ZERO experience, to being a professional journalist and one of the three lead voices of one of the biggest podcasts in the world.

My takeaway from all of this? Dream dreams. Email the people you admire. And don't let rejection get to you, because if you love something, you'll put up with initially sucking at it before you get good.

A profound thank you to my podcast fairy-godmothers - @ramenshopradio, @SorenWheeler, @JadAbumrad, @rkrulwich, @radiosuzie, & @jamisonjyork. I'm as excited as the day I wrote that cold email. I'll do my best not to disappoint. And hopefully do some fairygodmothering of my own.