Meet Tajha Chappellet-Lanier: an interview with our Technical.ly Lead Reporter, DC
This month, we have Tajha Chappellet-Lanier for our internal Slack AMA series. On our private team message service, we conduct a Q & A session with one member of our team each month to learn more about our teammates inside and outside of the office.
Q: Where are you from, and how did you end up living in DC?
A: Iâm from California (Big Sur) originally, lived in San Francisco for a while as a child and then the Big Sur area until I was 18. After graduating HS, I took a gap year during which I studied Spanish language and history in Spain. I ended up liking Spain so much I stayed there for a year of university, and then transferred to a school in the Netherlands to finish my degree. I ended up in DC because I got my first journalism internship offer here!
Q: What is the best doughnut in DC?
A: District Doughnutâs dulce de leche doughnut is THE BOMB!
Q: What is your favorite song to sing when no one is listening?
A: So, at the moment Iâm in a bit of a K-Pop spiral. I listened to that Radiolab episode about K-Pop and Iâm hooked but I try not to subject my boyfriend to my endless repeat of Aileeâs U&I video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4_rwTytAOs
Q: What did you want to be when you were growing up?
A: I wanted to work with the sea otters at the Monterey Bay Aquarium! #dreamjob
Q: If you could have been a travel journalist on any election campaign trial in history, which one would you have picked and what would one of your headlines be?
A: Ok, still thinking about it. I think itâd be interesting to cover someone from history who actually ended up losing but got surprisingly far on a crazy platform. Unfortunately, not enough of a US history buff to have many names coming to mind right now. Anyone else have suggestions?
Q: So DC media, is there literally any topic that is missed with the 4.5 billion reporters in town? What do you want to cover that you haven't?
A: I mean, yes. There are so many journalists. But in the rush to cover all the national-level stories I canât help but feel that there are interesting stories in this city being overlooked every day. Thatâs definitely part of what I like about writing on tech here. Personally Iâd love to talk with more people who have lived here for decades/their whole lives. I find those people occasionally, and itâs always fascinating.
Q: Whatâs the most interesting thing going on in DC tech?
A: Lots of interesting stuff here in #DCTech, but hereâs just one thing Iâm excited to see evolve: the city/industryâs interest in diversity. There is a HUGE amount of focus on that right now in DC, and Iâm curious whether itâs reactionary or whether it will, in fact, lead to big/meaningful/interesting changes. I canât tell yet whether itâll just be a lot of talk or action as well.
Q: Is there a person who has heavily influenced you (journalist, etc.)? What about them made a difference in your life?
A: I had a history teacher in high school who was a big influence on me. Heâs one of those people who has done basically everything, sometimes in ways/orders that didnât make a lot of sense at the time. I think he gave me a lot of confidence to pursue difficult/random things, because at the very least I hoped Iâd (like him) have interesting stories to tell at the end.
Q: I feel like we should have done this AMA via snapchat. Thatâs not a question but I just have heard you got snapchat game. Oh, hereâs a question: what social platform do you like the most?
A: Yes! I do love Snapchat. I love how limited it is and how creative you need to be. But for the access to the world it gives me, I love Twitter, too. My social platform for relaxing is Instagram.
Q: What do you see as one advantage Snapchat has as a storytelling platform and one disadvantage?
A: For me, its intimacy is its strength. Disadvantage, at least in some ways, is that it's all self-contained and so it's hard to link out to other content.
