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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& #39;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& #39;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">https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/...
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. 
https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤩" title="Vom Star geblendet" aria-label="Emoji: Vom Star geblendet"> Achievement unlocked. I couldn& #39;t imagine anything better until ...
This morning, when they announced that I& #39;m the new co-host of @Radiolab. It& #39;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. https://abs.twimg.com/emoji/v2/... draggable="false" alt="🤯" title="Explodierender Kopf" aria-label="Emoji: Explodierender Kopf">
My takeaway from all of this? Dream dreams. Email the people you admire. And don& #39;t let rejection get to you, because if you love something, you& #39;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& #39;m as excited as the day I wrote that cold email. I& #39;ll do my best not to disappoint. And hopefully do some fairygodmothering of my own.
