Media Movers: Lauren Young, Reuters rock star

Lauren Young knows readers are everywhere. Her audience is, as she puts it, the world. This tells me that she’s in the right field. When you’re a journalist, hunting for stories is part of your DNA. They’re waiting to be discovered on the weekends. On vacation. While exercising.

Her energy and passion led her to a unique position at Reuters (pronounced ROY-ters) where she is editor of digital special projects. The role puts her at the forefront of what journalism is today and what it will be. Prior to that, Lauren, who has degrees from Penn State and Northwestern, carved a niche writing about money: how we spend, save and invest.

I talked with Lauren about how she got into journalism, the mentors who helped her along the way and her “career blip.”

Dawn Wotapka: Tell me about Reuters (43.8 million unique visitors per month, per Muck Rack). Who is its audience?

Lauren Young: Honestly, the entire planet. Reuters is the world’s largest multimedia news service. We have journalists in 200 locations, and we cover every corner of the globe. What makes Reuters unique is that we are governed by the Trust Principles, which requires us to report with integrity, independence and freedom from bias. I’m proud to be part of an organization that values information you can trust. … Also, our photos are simply incredible.

Dawn: In your current role, you use fresh ways to showcase journalism. What have you learned about how we consume news?

Lauren: First and foremost, news is everywhere now. Just look at how many alerts you received on your phone today.

I’ve worked at three big media organizations: Dow Jones, McGraw-Hill and Reuters. The biggest difference is that Reuters readers are not looking for 5,000-word articles — we need to be fast, accurate and very concise. Many of our stories are 300 words. And our professional clients — the ones who use Reuters news to make decisions on a trading desk, for example — may act on a headline. Never underestimate the value of a well-written headline.

We have many more analytical tools at our fingertips these days. I geek out over Chartbeat. I love seeing what readers are looking at, as well as the key drivers of traffic, such as a Tweet.

Dawn: What should smart journalists be doing today to increase readership?

Lauren: It feels “icky” sometimes, but you need to promote yourself. That means sharing your work on social media and being a cheerleader for the people on your team. And be sure to include a link to your work on your email signature.

Pay careful attention to what your competitors are up to, too. (I created a Twitter list of more than 150 reporters, outlets and organizations.) I often promote their work.

Dawn: On LinkedIn, you mention that you work to increase revenue, which journalists typically don’t do. How did that come about?

Lauren: My official title is Digital Special Projects Editor, which is one of those kitchen-sink roles that includes a lot of different things. A key part of my job straddles the editorial and business sides of Reuters where I help create sponsorship opportunities around editorial coverage on the Reuters.com website. For example, I helped our business team develop a set of Editorial Franchises, including the World at Work and The Future of Money.

We have many kinds of sponsorships on our website, and I work as a gatekeeper to make sure we deliver what we promised while maintaining our editorial integrity in the process. It also means saying “no” sometimes. There are things we don’t cover at Reuters and we aren’t going to start covering certain topics just because an advertiser is interested.

My job has many other facets: I plan events, assign and edit articles and write a personal finance newsletter. Some of my most favorite assignments include social media coverage at the World Economic Forum in Davos as well as the White House Correspondents’ Dinner. No day is ever the same.

Dawn: You spent time early in your career as a copywriter. How did you transition from that into journalism?

Lauren: It was a career blip, but an important one. I was always going to be a journalist. I worked on my elementary, middle school, high school and college newspapers. I also have a masters in journalism.

At Penn State, I loved The Daily Collegian so much that I didn’t think I had time to study abroad. But I jumped at an opportunity early in my career to work in Budapest at an advertising agency. It was the only non-journalist experience of my life, although I did write some freelance stories while I was living in Hungary.

I also sent out graduate J-School program applications the day I left for Hungary, just in case it didn’t work out. I ended up deferring my acceptance to Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism for six months, but I came home to go to graduate school. It was one of those sliding door moments. If I stayed in Europe, I think my life would be very different now.

Dawn: What did you learn in your time at magazines that you still use today?

Lauren: Service journalism is not dead! People always want advice and guidance.

Dawn: How did your niche of finance come about?

Lauren: At Medill, I took a financial journalism class with George Harmon. We had to read The Wall Street Journal every day, and I fell in love with the writing. I knew I wanted to work at the WSJ. Within two months of graduating, I had my first byline in the paper.

Dawn: What is the top thing most of us do wrong with our money?

Lauren: In New York City, it is very easy to live beyond your means. It seems impossible, but start saving for retirement as soon as you can. The power of compounding is a beautiful thing.

Dawn: Who mentored you in your career?

Lauren: Big props to Michael Pollock, who hired me right out of J-School at Dow Jones Capital Markets Report. His wife Joann Lublin is one of my career gurus, too.  During my time at the Dow Jones newswires, I was very lucky to work under the tutelage of Dick Martin. He had a reputation for being tough, but I did not experience that side of him.

I wrote some of my best stories at SmartMoney (RIP!), which was the Wall Street Journal’s magazine of personal finance. I had the luxury of spending a few months on one article. The magazine was a magical and very challenging place. At SmartMoney, I’m especially grateful to have worked with Pete Finch, Bob Sabat, Wally Konrad, Jean Chatzky, Amy Virshup, Steve Swartz, Fleming Meeks, Jim Stewart and Stuart Emmrich.

BusinessWeek (in the McGraw-Hill era) was unlike any other; a weekly magazine has a very different pace than a monthly publication. And BusinessWeek felt very much like a family. I was blessed to work for Jeff Laderman and Amy Dunkin along with Steve Adler, who was also my boss at Reuters for a long time.

Finally, I don’t know if mentor is the right word, but Dan Colarusso is the wittiest boss I’ve ever had. I miss sparring with him.

Dawn: What advice do you give cub reporters?

Lauren: Go to the office! Working from home has its perks, but nothing can compare to sitting in a newsroom with colleagues. You can learn so much by listening to other reporters do their job. I sat next to Laura Holson at SmartMoney. She was a master on the phone with sources. Just today, I used a “Holsonism” on a call: “How young are you?”

In addition, stay connected with your colleagues and sources. When I was laid off from BusinessWeek in 2009, I sent out an email to my entire source list letting them know I was looking for work. It yielded a ton of freelance assignments. And I landed at Reuters because of Jennifer Ablan – I connected with her at a Newswomen’s Club event. She recommended me for a role here.

Dawn: If you could do anything differently professionally, what would it be and why?

Lauren: I was always destined to be a journalist. But if I could be any kind of artist, I’d be a choreographer. I see movement when I hear music.

Dawn: What do you do for fun?

Lauren:  I am a social creature. I have many friends from my childhood, Penn State, grad school, my kids and various jobs. I place a premium on my social interactions. I love to walk my dog CJ around Brooklyn, so I also have a lot of dog friends.

I travel a lot – we recently returned from a trip to Cape Town and Tel Aviv. In the first year of COVID-19, our entire family also lived in rural Montana for a while.

But I live in New York City for the culture. We belong to a bunch of museums, see a ton of theater, eat out a lot and go to concerts. In the summer, I spend as much time as I can near my family at the beach in Margate, New Jersey. I’m also president of the Brooklyn Heights Synagogue, which is a very rewarding experience.

Dawn Wotapka is a former Wall Street Journal who found happiness in PR. [Editor’s note: She’s a rock star in her own right.] She lives in Atlanta with her husband and two children. She is a slow runner and an avid Peloton user. To submit tips for her Media Movers column, you can contact her at dwotapka@gmail.com. Be sure to connect with Dawn on LinkedIn.