- Business Insider is taking you behind the scenes of our best stories with our new series "The Inside Story."
- We'll provide readers with an in-depth look of how these stories came together and a peek inside the reporter's notebook.
- This week, Insider's Sarah Belle Lin spoke to columnist Linette Lopez about pivoting from politics into journalism and when Elon Musk ranted about her on Twitter.
- You can read Lopez's reporting for Insider here.
Sarah Belle Lin: You're a columnist who regularly takes on the most powerful people on Wall Street. How did you get started in journalism?
Linette Lopez: I never thought I would be a journalist. My first jobs out of college were in politics. But I found that I was always consuming the news in my free time, so I applied to Columbia Journalism School and got in. I was recruited to Business Insider from there. It was a time when people were wondering about The End of Journalism, and I thought BI had the right idea about how news is distributed on the internet. That was 2011.
Lin: What has your experience been like writing about some of the biggest names in business and politics, such as this dive into Musk's tantrums, calling former president Donald Trump the "anti-Spiderman," or pointing out CCP President Xi Jinping for threatening global security? Have you ever received any follow up from the high profile subjects you write about?
Lopez: People sometimes threaten to sue you, like this guy. Elon Musk ranted about me on Twitter for a while once, and targeted my sources at Tesla. I have always assumed that some people would not like what I have to say. Most of the time powerful people are doing whatever they can to control the narrative around themselves and their money, especially in the stock market. They can get upset when you try to take it away from them.
Lin: Who or what have been some of the most challenging topics to report on? How did you navigate them?
Lopez: It's difficult to write about any company where employees are scared of retaliation. I've reported on a number of those in the past, and that includes Tesla. These companies always tend to have high turnover too, so you're always losing sources and having to start all over again. The only way to navigate that is to keep at it — keep writing, and keep making calls/sending emails.
Lin: Walk us through a typical workday for you.
Lopez: There is no typical work day, that's why I like my job. Some days I meet up with sources, other days I appear on television or radio, and there are days when I just need to do a lot of reading.
Lin: I'd love to know more about your creative process as you dive into controversial topics. What skills have you fine-tuned over time?
Lopez: My stories come from either conversations with my sources, or questions I feel like people are asking in the general zeitgeist of market conversation. I guess that second part is more intuitive. If I don't feel strongly like a story is asking to be written, I move on.
Lin: Who is in your burn book that you haven't written about yet, but readers can expect next?
Lopez: I'm not going to answer that. Ruins the fun.
Lin: You said in a 2016 interview that "being a female in this industry is dangerous." We're post #MeToo era on Wall Street. Do you still think that's the case?
I don't think #MeToo had much of an impact on Wall Street. Female leadership is still very low, and yes, it can still be dangerous for women. Just ask the ladies over at Goldman Sachs.