“Never take no for an answer.”
It’s a piece of advice Whitney English swears by, and she’s living proof that the squeaky wheel does get the oil. Growing up in Tucson, Ariz., Whitney spent many days admiring the hosts of “E! News”, imagining the day that she, too, would hold the microphone in front of millions of viewers and interview celebrities we all know and love. But being an Arizona girl with no entertainment connections, she applied to work at “E!” the way any of us would: she found the name of a human resources staffer and submitted her resume. After numerous “no’s” from the network, Whitney decided it was time to take the matter further into her hands and initiate a face-to-face meeting. So, she flew to L.A., met with the staffer and after yet another “no” felt beyond deflated.
One hour later her career was off and running as she received a life-changing phone call from that very staffer asking, “We had a last-minute opening to intern for Ryan Seacrest. Do you want it?”
Now the same perseverance that helped Whitney land her first job in the entertainment industry gives her the confidence to interview celebrities from Jennifer Aniston and George Clooney to Matt Damon as senior entertainment editor and correspondent for leading female website SheKnows.com. She also spends her off-hours sharpening her journalistic skills further, writing and interviewing health experts for To Live & Diet in L.A., a blog chronicling her “life as a celebrity journalist and the ongoing struggle to stay happy and healthy in a sea of model bodies.”