With the aid of Skype, Matt Liebowitz’s journalism class spoke to Kate Nocera ’01, from her Washington, D.C., office where she’s managing editor of BuzzFeed News. Last Friday, as Republicans in Congress were about to invoke the “nuclear option” to facilitate the confirmation of Pres. Donald Trump’s Supreme Court nominee Neil Gorsuch, Nocera took a break from the hectic day to answer questions from students.

Ava Yates ’17 asked Nocera about her involvement in journalism while she was a student at Williston. Nocera answered that she was more about fiction writing then. Ellie Wolfe ’19 asked if sources took BuzzFeed seriously. Cat jokes aside, Nocera responded, readers respect the award-winning international coverage BuzzFeed provides (this year the site was nominated for a Pulitzer for international reporting). Mr. Liebowitz asked how she got her start. Nocera described her beginnings in journalism as a beat reporter for the New York Daily News covering cops, courts, and school committee meetings.

As her career progressed, she worked for Politico, and in 2013, moved to BuzzFeed. Nocera is a recipient of the National Press Foundation’s 2014 Dirksen Award for distinguished reporting on Congress.

Her favorite part of the job? Access. “I can walk up to any member of Congress and ask them anything I want.”