ELIZABETH SPIERS
Birthplace: Montgomery, Alabama
Education: B.A., Public Policy Studies/Political Science, Duke University
Profession: Editor/Publisher/Writer
Current Position: Editor and Publisher, DealBreaker.com;
Author, "And They All Die in the End" (a satirical novel about Wall Street, to be published by Penguin/Riverhead in 2007)
Previous Position(s): editor-in-chief at mediabistro.com, contributing writer and editor at New York Magazine, founding editor of Gawker.com and previously, buy-side equity analyst
Questions
When did you start doing what it is you’re doing? How did you get into it?
I started working in online media in December of ’02 with the launch of Gawker.com. Nick Denton was a friend of mine socially and he wanted to create a New York-focused blog for commercial purposes. I thought it was a good idea and wanted to do more writing and less number crunching, so when he approached me about writing it, I was happy to do it. I’ve been in and out of online media and writing full-time ever since.
What was your best day on the job?
No single day stands out, but there are a lot of instances where I realized that whatever I was working on at the time was really taking off. At Gawker, I think it was when things we were doing first started migrating into mainstream media—Howard Stern reading it and mentioning it; William Safire quoting it in his column, etc. At mediabistro, it was getting the first blogger/reporter into the White House briefing room.
Your worst?
I hate firing people. Fortunately, I haven’t had to do it much, but every time I have, it’s been painful.
If you could change one aspect of your job, what would it be?
All of the administrative things that come with running a small business would disappear. I’m not detail-oriented, and overhead-related minutiae drive me crazy.
What quality has most enabled your success?
A healthy obliviousness to the odds of failure.
What did you spend your first bonus on?
Taxes. I wish I could say I spent it all on hookers and blow, but no. Taxes.
Most memorable encounter with ageism?
I’m not sure if it was more ageism or sexism, but the CEO of a distressed public company I was supposed to be analyzing on behalf of its largest shareholder kept dismissively comparing me to his little granddaughter, which I thought was merely obnoxious until he told said shareholder that a report I turned in was “badly written,”—a critique I haven’t gotten before or since. He thought it would discredit my analysis, which was not optimistic about the prospect of a turnaround. When pressed by the shareholder, he admitted that he hadn’t read it at all. I suggested that his behavior was probably indicative of why the company was distressed in the first place.
Whats on your iPod right now?
A lot of random stuff with no coherent theme. 1980s country music (Alabama, Waylon Jennings, etc), the Allman Brothers, The Killers, The Clash, NPR podcasts, some random dance/hip hop mashups.
Are you reading anything?
I just finished George Saunders’ new book, "Persuasion Nation" (fantastic), and just started Dan Reingold’s "Confessions of a Wall Street Analyst."
What do you hope to be doing in ten years? Twenty?
10 years - Running the same company, only it’s bigger and more successful. And I’d still be writing, but getting paid better to do it. 20 – As long as it’s still fun, the same thing.
Sushi or burgers?
Burgers. (I’m a Southern girl. I like red meat.)
