Rachel Abrams

I know. That's such a good answer. No. No, no, no. My dad was a screenwriter in L.A. that read comic books, which I read, and I was like, Lois Lane's the coolest person. Like, a reporter is the coolest person you could be. They had to give the man superpowers, but she is saving the world because she's smart and dogged and tenacious to speak truth to power and reveal things and uncover things.

I know. That's such a good answer. No. No, no, no. My dad was a screenwriter in L.A. that read comic books, which I read, and I was like, Lois Lane's the coolest person. Like, a reporter is the coolest person you could be. They had to give the man superpowers, but she is saving the world because she's smart and dogged and tenacious to speak truth to power and reveal things and uncover things.

I just, like, I want to be that. And I don't think there was any more thought. It was just that is how you can— coolest way to do good in the world.

I just, like, I want to be that. And I don't think there was any more thought. It was just that is how you can— coolest way to do good in the world.

Really early in my career at The Times, there was a story I worked on that I think will probably stay with me forever. General Motors was having this issue where their cars were just suddenly shutting off while people were driving them. And obviously, people were crashing. There were a lot of deaths.

Really early in my career at The Times, there was a story I worked on that I think will probably stay with me forever. General Motors was having this issue where their cars were just suddenly shutting off while people were driving them. And obviously, people were crashing. There were a lot of deaths.

Every reporter was trying to figure out who had died, piecing together various federal crash data to find the earliest victims, to notify them or to notify their survivors, their families, to let them know, you didn't just have an accident. Your car malfunctioned.

Every reporter was trying to figure out who had died, piecing together various federal crash data to find the earliest victims, to notify them or to notify their survivors, their families, to let them know, you didn't just have an accident. Your car malfunctioned.

You didn't do anything wrong. And reporters around the country, including a team I was on, we had basically identified all these people. But there was one person in one of the earliest, if not the earliest crash, and nobody could find her name. And everybody was looking for it. And... I was like, I will find this person.

You didn't do anything wrong. And reporters around the country, including a team I was on, we had basically identified all these people. But there was one person in one of the earliest, if not the earliest crash, and nobody could find her name. And everybody was looking for it. And... I was like, I will find this person.

And I probably made 100 phone calls to everybody that might know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody. And eventually, I found someone. It was a woman whose car had driven off the road, and she had crashed into a tree, and she had died. Wow. And I tracked down her family. And up until then, they had no idea. They thought maybe she had a heart attack. It was this lingering mystery.

And I probably made 100 phone calls to everybody that might know somebody who knows somebody who knows somebody. And eventually, I found someone. It was a woman whose car had driven off the road, and she had crashed into a tree, and she had died. Wow. And I tracked down her family. And up until then, they had no idea. They thought maybe she had a heart attack. It was this lingering mystery.

And they finally got some sort of closure. And I know that there was a compensation fund that existed. And by telling them, they actually had a chance to apply for it. So anyway, that was the thing where I was like, if I didn't do that, they would have never known. And that would have been that.

And they finally got some sort of closure. And I know that there was a compensation fund that existed. And by telling them, they actually had a chance to apply for it. So anyway, that was the thing where I was like, if I didn't do that, they would have never known. And that would have been that.

I was really proud of it.

I was really proud of it.

Well, another line of reporting that I did years after the General Motors stuff was I was involved in the paper's coverage of the Me Too movement. And one of the stories involved a woman who lost her law license because she was a source to us. But eventually she reached out to me and said, I kind of want to talk about why I leaked. And we had lunch, and I listened to her, and I eventually said—

Well, another line of reporting that I did years after the General Motors stuff was I was involved in the paper's coverage of the Me Too movement. And one of the stories involved a woman who lost her law license because she was a source to us. But eventually she reached out to me and said, I kind of want to talk about why I leaked. And we had lunch, and I listened to her, and I eventually said—

The daily is where I think your story belongs. I just feel like audio can just do something for the story. And you were right. Yeah, and it was incredible to listen to her, and that's what brought me to the show first. After that, I started guest hosting with you guys.

The daily is where I think your story belongs. I just feel like audio can just do something for the story. And you were right. Yeah, and it was incredible to listen to her, and that's what brought me to the show first. After that, I started guest hosting with you guys.