Fox Biz's McDowell relied on self-taught expertise to survive

Y’all magazine has a feature on Fox Business Network reporter Dagen McDowell where she discusses how she got into business reporting.

The story states, “After graduating in 1991 with a degree in art history, McDowell spent a few years in Colorado before deciding that she needed to do something with her life, and moved to New York City in an effort to find a career that would interest her. It was at that time when she actually ‘fell-in’ to her first job. ‘A friend told me about it,’ she recalls. ‘It was a job as a business and financial writer. I had no experience at either, but I interviewed for it and got the job. Immediately it was sink or swim.’

“Swim it was.

“McDowell’s self-taught expertise into the broad and complicated field caught the attention of Fox News Channel producers who invited the writer on various programs to explain (and sometimes argue) business and financial-related news items. After a year as an occasional guest she became a regular contributor. Two years later, the Fox News Channel senior vice president of business news, Neil Cavuto, invited McDowell to join the full-time news team.

“‘It was unbelievable,’ McDowell says. ‘The chances that Cavuto and [Fox News president] Roger Ailes take on people are amazing. Not just me, but a whole host of people. They are willing to use different people, people that were not trained to be on TV. They give you a shot. If you do a good job, you’re in. If you don’t, you’re out. I was thankful that I was given the opportunity.'”

Read more here.