In today’s episode, I’m sitting down with Karen K. Ho, a highly respected journalist, my favorite follow on Twitter, and the godmother of doomscrolling. She’s currently a Sr. Writer at ARTnews, and has written for GQ, the New York Times, The Cut, Quartz, Time, and more. We chat through her journey to get to where she is, how she battles imposter syndrome, some of the lessons she’s learned along the way, and why she wouldn’t consider it a moral failure if she doesn’t retire as a journalist.

This is Part 1 of our conversation. Part II will drop tomorrow where we’ll get into her thoughts on Twitter, doomscrolling, burnout, layoffs, and a wild interaction she once had with Bob Woodward.

In the Coda, I share some personal news.

Read some of Karen’s pieces we discussed

• How Crazy Rich Asians is going to change Hollywood. It’s about time (Time)


• BD Wong doesn’t want fame — he wants success (GQ)


• The best $6,160 I ever spent: A US work visa (Vox)


• Alex Wagner is ready for anything (The Cut)

Connect with Karen

• Twitter: https://twitter.com/karenkho


• Doomscrolling Twitter: https://twitter.com/doomscroll_bot


• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/heykarenho/


• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/heykarenho/


• Substack: https://karenkho.substack.com/


• ARTnews: https://www.artnews.com/author/karen-k-ho/

About Connection Request

Connection Request is a podcast about career journeys. Hosted by Joel Leeman, a producer and strategist who has spent the past 10 years making media for the Internet, the show profiles a variety of fascinating people, digging into how they spend their waking hours, what they’ve learned along the way, how they make decisions, and why they do what they do. In Season 1 we hear from a drummer turned coffee entrepreneur, a journalist who popularized the term “doomscrolling,” an executive who’s plotting her next chapter, and much more. Listen wherever you get your podcasts: https://pod.link/connection

Connect with the show on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, or drop a line to connect@shrugcontent.com.