Shwanika Narayan is the Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor at The San Francisco Chronicle.
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Nicole Ortiz is a Healthcare Editor at The Morning Brew.
In this episode, Nicole shares insights on her editorial preferences, well-researched pitches that correctly target
her current role at Morning Brew, and tips for crafting standout pitches.
Follow Nicole on her socials below:
Linkedin: Nicole Ortiz
Twitter: Nicole Ortiz (@neco_ornot) / X
Click below to listen to the full conversation and read below for highlights from the interview:
How Nicole Organizes Her Inbox And Pitches She Receives
[0:03:15] BB: Got it. Okay. Yes. So, that's your, your protocol. Now, what do you do with all the other pitches that you get? Do you do mass deleting? Do you do foldering? Do you do anything?
[0:03:23] NO: Yes, I'm a meticulously organized person. So, I have folders for everything and I have a potential source and potential story folder. So, certain things if it's interesting to me, but I don't quite see a fit for it, I'll put it in that folder, and then, periodically, I'll skim that folder to see when I'm looking for story ideas to assign, I'll like go through that and see if there's anything that jumps out at me. Some things I mass delete. Some things, if I really like the pitch, but I don't see it being quite relevant yet, I might respond to them and just give them a heads up, like not at this time, but keep pitching me. And then, others, a lot of times, I honestly don't say anything and I will forward it to my reporters, and I'll assign it to them that way. So, you might not hear directly from me, but if you're hearing from someone on my team and you had emailed me, that's likely why.
[0:04:12] BB: So, you do some deleting, you do some responding. I know you came prepared, Nicole, with some headlines or some subject lines that you really liked. Would you like to share any with us right now?
[0:04:23] NO: Yes. I did a mix of ones that I like and then ones that I don't know that they particularly work. One that I really liked, it was, "Why are hospital gowns so ugly?" I just, immediately, I was like, "Why are they so ugly?"
[0:04:38] BB: Yes. And someone did just do a story on this. It wasn't you guys. I want to say it was like the New York Times or something, but this is a topic that's been discussed.
[0:04:46] NO: Yes. I feel like it's something that immediately would pique a reader's interest. So, I was like, "Oh, that's great. I love that." So, I like the idea of asking a question that really grabs somebody's attention.
[0:04:57] BB: Got it. So, in that subject line, it was kind of written as a headline in a way, and intriguing.
[0:05:03] NO: Yes.
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Types Of Sources The Morning Brew Is Looking For
[0:09:06] BB: Okay, you're doing health care. There's a lot to uncover there. What sources are you looking for?
[0:09:13] NO: Primarily, we look for like payers, pharmaceutical experts, and hospital experts, and then anyone in that realm, like analysts, academics, legal, who can comment on those things. If you could comment on like big news happening that you think is applicable to people working in those fields, like if somebody's working at an insurance company, if somebody's working in a hospital. We don't necessarily focus too much on regional things, so that could get a little niche if you're a specific hospital perspective. Trying to look at it from a national perspective and commenting on recent news always helps.
[0:09:53] BB: Okay, this is good. Further in that, you're talking national, so even I would – like lobbyists or regulatory, anything like that?
[0:10:01] NO: Yes, regulatory for sure. We're definitely looking at how like the election might extend or expire certain things. That's definitely something that's like on our minds and is in our pitch meetings.
[0:10:14] BB: Oh, yeah. God speed on that. Nicole, you also though write about, on occasion, sustainability. Do you want to expand on that?
[0:10:24] NO: Yes. That's something that I kind of started doing when I was freelancing. I was originally writing about it in the marketing space, but now, obviously, being in healthcare, it's something I'd still like to write about. So, if you have specific pitches about sustainability or just ideas, sources, et cetera, you could definitely send those to me as well.
[0:10:42] BB: Okay. So, sustainability. What sparked it in you to start doing that on a freelance level? It was a personal interest. Like in my personal life, I am very sustainability-minded. I'm also very outdoorsy. I really like hiking and biking. When I was working at Adweek, I used to write about the outdoors and recreation industries. Then, when I was like kind of freelancing it on my own, I was like, "Well, actually, there's no parameters. I can kind of write about sustainability in marketing and in these spaces in a different way." So, I did it for a couple outlets when I was freelancing.
[0:11:16] BB: Good to know. Okay. Sustainability pitch is welcomed.
[0:11:20] NO: Thank you.
Rapid Fire Pitching Preferences
[0:13:36] BB: Okay. Then, we want to talk a little bit more on just editing versus the reporting and stuff. So, we'll get to that in a second. So, let me do these rapid-fire questions first. Okay. Video or phone interview?
[0:13:47] NO: Phone.
[0:13:48] BB: Phone. Bullet points or paragraphs in a pitch?
[0:13:51] NO: Paragraphs.
[0:13:52] BB: Oh, paragraphs. How short or long for pitches?
[0:13:55] NO: Short, like two graphs.
[0:13:58] BB: Okay. Images attached or a Dropbox zip?
[0:14:02] NO: Images.
[0:14:03] BB: Email or a DM of some sort? But I think you answered that, email, not your personal email.
[0:14:07] NO: Yes, my work email.
[0:14:08] BB: Yes, yes. Direct or creative subject lines?
[0:14:12] NO: I don't know. I guess, I kind of like both. I think I prefer direct just because it gets to the point quicker.
[0:14:17] BB: Yes, that's usually the preference for people. Okay. Press release or media kit?
[0:14:21] NO: Press release.
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