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Our guest on today’s episode of Coffee with a Journalist is Cloey Callahan, senior reporter at WorkLife, part of Digiday.
Cloey covers how modern workplaces and workforces are changing across culture, technology, talent, leadership, spaces, diversity, equity & inclusion.
During the episode, Cloey discusses how to get front of the line status in her email inbox, the power of data in storytelling, how to optimize pitches for SEO, and so much more!
Follow her on LinkedIn and X/Twitter.
Click below to listen to the full conversation and read below for highlights from the interview:
"Spilling Tea" on Cloey's Coverage & Organization Hacks
[00:00:51] BB: Welcome, everyone. This is Coffee with a Journalist. I'm Beck Bamberger, and what we try to do on Coffee with a Journalist is maybe have some coffee with a journalist but really understand how it is to work with reporters, editors, journalists that are out and about in the world.
Thank goodness because us publicists need to know how to better make our pitches and to better our relationships with journalists because we all have a job to do. That's why we're here.
With us today, speaking of work and what we have to do, is Cloey Callahan. She is the senior reporter at Digiday Media's WorkLife section, so specifically all the things about work. Cloey, thanks for being here.
[00:01:33] CC: Yes. Thanks so much for having me, Beck. I'm super excited to spill some tea with you.
[00:01:38] BB: I can't wait. That's what we do. Okay, first, first, first, for those who may not be as familiar, how would you describe the coverage of WorkLife? There's quite a bit on here.
[00:01:50] CC: Yes. With WorkLife, I cover all things future of work. That ranges from things like spaces and office design to HR and people management and really everything in between. Of course, right now a lot of tech and AI.
[00:02:04] BB: Yes.
[00:02:05] CC: The whole gamut, we're here for all of it.
[00:02:07] BB: We're here for all of it. There's other section – you have awards. There's DEI. There’s all these things, so yes. And there's a handful of newsletters, so I want to give a shout-out for that for everybody. I'm going to sign up right now, in fact, for it. Okay, Cloey. How is your inbox?
[00:02:23] CC: Yes. My inbox is crazy. I will say I was off for a couple days last week for extended weekend. When I came back, I had, I think, probably 500-plus emails through just a couple of days of being off. It is definitely hectic in there, and I'm always trying to sort through it.
[00:02:46] BB: What is your mechanism currently to do such?
[00:02:50] CC: Yes. How I usually sort through my inbox is just using that star method on Gmail where I'm reading through everything.
But if there's something that really stands out to me, I'm just going to start it and go back to that folder later on when it's time to pitch my editor and figure out what stories I'm writing that week. That's really my go-to.
Then sometimes, if I'm working on special projects, I'll assign folders and sort things that way, but for the most part storing it. Then later on, I use the search method all the time.
If I don't answer to your pitch right now, you might get an answer later when I find you, when I am searching a keyword that I'm writing an article on.
[00:03:26] BB: I'm so glad you mentioned that because so many people do this, journalists. You save it. You just put it somewhere. Five months later, you're looking for something. You pull it up.
Tell me a little bit more on when you mean later. You're talking like months. Have you reached out to someone like eight months later?
[00:03:44] CC: I have. I have. I think sometimes people are maybe confused. But I always try to prep. It's like, “Sorry. This is from so long ago, but actually I'm working on it right now.”
Sometimes, people get back to me, and they're like, “Oh, that person actually isn't working for us anymore,” or whatever. But a lot of the times, they will help figure something out and give me someone to talk to and it's super helpful. I think it's probably a delightful surprise for them, too.
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What to Know from Cloey About Inbox SEO
[00:05:04] CC: Yes. But I think it's just being intentional about the word choice that you use when you pitch. It's the same thing. When you think about SEO, right? You just want to make sure it's easy to find. I think it’s okay within —
[00:05:13] BB: Exactly.
[00:05:14] CC: In your inbox, so just being really smart about the language. Obviously, if you're doing something on artificial intelligence, it's like, “Okay are you going to use AI, artificial intelligence, gen AI, maybe all of them so that I can hit everything when I'm searching?” It really runs the gamut, but I think that it is helpful to be smart with your word choice.
[00:05:36] BB: Okay. Now, you aspire for inbox zero. Do you click open every email?
[00:05:44] CC: I do. I click open –
[00:05:45] BB: Oh, my God. This is like superstar status, I think, when you open every email and you’re inbox zero. How do you survive that?
[00:05:55] CC: Yes. I mean, it is hard. But I wrote an article about this actually about team inbox zero. Is it performative, or does it help productivity?
Maybe it wastes productivity if you're spending so much time in your inbox and not doing actual work. There was a lot of people I talked to for this one.
[00:06:12] BB: You kind of have a meta thing here because you write about work, and email is work. Therefore, you – you know what I mean?
[00:06:17] CC: Exactly.
[00:06:18] BB: I mean, on a side note, a lot of my story ideas are from my own experiences and also my friends into like over dinner, and they're complaining about work.
I'm like same and then that's an article. But anyways, about the inbox zero thing, a lot of people I talked for the article I interviewed said it's really out of an anxiety thing, which I think that's where I'm more in line where I'm the anxious overachiever where I just hate seeing a bunch of emails that are just sitting there and not being opened.
I'm very much someone who's like I just do it for that. I just want these all opened. I want the notification to go away. I want to have a clear docket, so I have a more, I guess, approachful to-do list, that sort of thing.
[00:07:03] BB: Okay. I feel you on the anxiety. By the way, since you went down the little path like dinner with friends, and they're complaining about something, and you're doing that, I love that that's how you seek your stories. Do your friends know this about you like, “If I go to dinner with Cloey, she might write an article.”?
[00:07:20] CC: I think there's a little bit of that. Honestly, my friends are – they support me and appreciate it. I can't interview my friends, so it’s like –
[00:07:28] BB: No, no. There’s no quotes. Yes.
[00:07:30] CC: Yes, now quotes there. But it gives me direction of like, “Okay. Now, maybe what they said, I'll see if other people are in that boat.”
There might be a little bit of that. But at the end of the day, I think they're happy to give me what's going on in their lives.
Rapid Fire Pitching Preferences
[00:19:21] BB: Oh, man. Okay. Yes. That's another good tip. You're so full of them, Cloey. I appreciate this so much. Okay. We have a rapid-fire-question section that we can get into right now. Video or phone interview?
[00:19:35] CC: I'll say video. I guess.
[00:19:37] BB: Okay, video. Video. Okay. But not if you're a publicist staring into the abyss.
[00:19:40] CC: Exactly. I do like to have the actual connection with whoever I'm interviewing. Overall, video, but yes.
[00:19:47] BB: Okay. This is good to know. Bullet points or paragraphs in a pitch?
[00:19:51] CC: I like paragraphs. I guess I don't mind. But give me a couple bullet points in there, so I know what the key takeaway is. Tell me what I need to know.
If I'm doing a too long didn't read, give me that. Give me something that I can get the quick. If I'm interested in the quick, then I'm going to go dive into the paragraphs that you sent.
[00:20:11] BB: Okay. Then we already talked about short or long pitches. Images attached or Dropbox zip file?
[00:20:17] CC: Images attached.
[00:20:19] BB: Okay. Email or a DM to wherever they could go?
[00:20:23] CC: Email. But if you DM me, I'm not going to be super upset.
[00:20:27] BB: Okay. Some people are like, “You will be trashed, and I'll never speak to you again.” Yes, yes. One follow-up or multiple?
[00:20:36] CC: I think just one is best.
[00:20:38] BB: One and done. I like it. Press release or media kit?
[00:20:41] CC: I'll go with media kit. I kind of like a kit myself. I want to click to the thing. But, oh, that's a good clarification, though. I just want to hear your take.
But what I don't want to do is sign up and then send an email and then check my email, too. If the link to the media kit, because I do like travel writing stuff, is a 13-step process to get to the Wii transfer thing, no.
[00:21:07] CC: Yes. That's how –
[00:21:08] BB: No. Then it expires. I just had that today. I was trying to get some assets from this hotel, and I'm like, “And now I got to ask you to –”
[00:21:15] CC: Oh, my God.
[00:21:16] BB: Because the link expired. Okay.
[00:21:18] CC: Yes. It has to be easy if it's going to be that way.
[00:21:20] BB: Yes. Is there a time you usually read pitches? Or is it all the time because you want to get to that inbox zero?
[00:21:26] CC: Yes. I would say it's all the time, except when I'm not writing. When I’m finally writing my article for the day, I'm definitely not looking at my inbox for those couple of hours. But other than that, for sure in the morning, right when I sign off, but throughout the day.
[00:21:42] BB: Okay. Then are there any sources you were really wishing you had in your inbox?
[00:21:48] CC: I guess right now we are really looking for some HR experts. I would say we have a big push where we want to focus a little bit more on HR and what's going on in their world. I just want a little bit more of those folks who are HR people themselves or people [inaudible 00:22:06] folks or employee engagement.
Anything like that of just people who have been in the industry for a long time who can share some insights on how things have evolved and how things are shaping up this year and some of their challenges. That is definitely on my radar right now. I won't say like there's, oh, a specific person I have in mind, but for sure some HR folks.
[00:22:28] BB: Okay. HR folks who I'm sure never are talking to media often, so wonderful. Cloey, is there anything else we can highlight, promote, tout for you, the newsletter, for example, anything else?
[00:22:44] CC: Yes. Over at WorkLife, we have a lot going on. But one of the most recent things, for sure, since you're listening to this podcast, check that The Return Season 3 is out.
We focus all on middle managers in the podcast and their [inaudible 00:22:59] and how they make everything work. We spoke to people from Microsoft and all these different people.
It was a great listen. It's a quick six-episode podcast series all about middle managers and their challenges today with the modern work.
[00:23:12] BB: Oh, yes. Then you also have two to The Return, an eight-episode podcast about Gen Z entering the workforce.
[00:23:20] CC: Yes.
[00:23:20] BB: There you go.
[00:23:21] CC: That one was my baby. That was my first time hosting a podcast, and it was super exciting. I am a Gen Zer myself.
[00:23:29] BB: There you go.
[00:23:30] CC: On that for a narrative podcast, so that one is really highly recommend. Head over there. Listen to that one, too.
The middle manager one is a little bit quicker, Q&A format, but really a deep dive for season two of The Return about Gen Zers in the workforce.
[00:23:46] BB: Okay. Cloey Callahan, thank you for being on today. She is the senior reporter at Digiday Media's WorkLife.
Read her newsletters, people, and be on video but not in a creepy way. There you go. There you go. Thank you, Cloey.
[00:24:01] CC: Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it.
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