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What do you do?
I am a multi-client lobbyist with a Michigan lobbying firm. The firm has roughly 90 clients, and my primary responsibility is the City of Detroit. In short, I'm a lobbyist for Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. I also represent the Detroit Medical Center, the Michigan Neurological Association and the City of Highland Park. Specifically, I engage state lawmakers on behalf of clients and try to persuade them to vote favorably on the clients' legislative needs. It's a multi-faceted job that depends on relationship-building, fund-raising and political acuity.

How did you get your job?
I got my job after working nearly eight years as a political correspondent for The Detroit News in Lansing, Mich. and Washington, D.C. In Lansing, I covered the Michigan Legislature and in D.C., the politics of the auto industry (crash standards, environmental regulations, CAFÉ, etc.). I was sitting in my D.C. office at the National Press Building, when I got a call from a partner in the lobbying firm. I'd worked well with him during my tenure in Lansing; he was frequently a great source of information for legislative stories. He wanted to know if I'd consider joining the firm as a lobbyist. I balked at first because lobbyists' reputations rank right up there with journalists. After a three-month courtship, I agreed to come on board and have been doing this for five years. There are a host of similarities between the two jobs. The primary one is both professions depend on building relationships. Additionally, you have to grasp highly technical and complex issues quickly.

Best professional lesson learned at the J-School?
The best professional lesson I learned at J-School was - and this will sound simple, but it's true - to work hard and maintain integrity in all you do. You do those two things, and everything else seems to take care of itself.