People often talk about certain professions as "callings." There are doctors, lawyers, firefighters—the sorts of jobs that aren't just a 9-to-5 but something deep-seated and meaningful. Well, today's interview makes a pretty great argument for why journalism falls into that category, too.

Anna Palmer, a Senior Washington Correspondent at POLITICO spends her days on deadline, covering some of the most important political news in the U.S. She also co-authors Playbook, a popular political newsletter that POLITICO delivers to Washington insiders' inboxes each morning. That comes with a daily 3:30am start time, which means that this woman knows the news long before anyone else.

That's not all that surprising given that (to reappropriate one of our favorite male-dominated industry clichés) this isn't Palmer's first rodeo. She has more than 14 years of experience in the field, which is impressive enough, but her path actually began long before that. 

Growing up, Palmer was what you might rightly call "precocious"—a kid who was less interested in Sunday cartoons than she was in watching, reading, and generally idolizing female reporters. Now, as a successful journalist in her own right, she wants her legacy to be simply this: "She worked hard, told great stories and helped those who came after her be successful." With a perspective like that, we'd say she's well on her way to becoming a household name. Here's Anna:

I wanted to be a journalist since I was in the second grade. I used to read a columnist Tammy Swift in the Fargo Forum and watch the nightly news and reporters like Barbara Walters and Katie Couric and want to be like them when I grew up.

While I went to a liberal arts school, I always kept my eye on wanting to be a reporter. I spent summers interning across the country at different news outlets and my junior year semester in Washington at Roll Call, a Capitol Hill newspaper. After that, it was my mission to return to Washington, D.C. after college.

On Landing the Job at POLITICO

My interview process was a bit unique. I knew many of the POLITICO reporters on Capitol Hill as friends and competitors. They recommended me for a job, and I went in to talk to a series of editors and reporters and landed a gig writing for their recently started newsletter on lobbying. It still felt like a start-up. There wasn't any week or two of corporate training. The morning I started, I sat down with my then-co-author and we typed up a newsletter for that day. It was off to the races!

On Her Job Description

As co-author of Playbook, I am one of the most outward facing employees at POLITICO—the job entails doing all the journalism of getting scoops, writing analysis about what's happening every day in Washington. But it also includes focusing on audience and product development. We serve as ambassadors of Playbook, but also POLITICO writ large.

On Media’s Responsibility and Being a Woman in Journalism

Readers look to Playbook for us to help them understand what is happening in Washington. We try to call balls and strikes as they come and provide analysis based on our years of experience reporting on the Hill and continued conversations with sources about what will likely happen. I'm the first woman to co-write Playbook in Washington. One of my goals coming into the job was to make sure that the sources we quote are reflective of the current power structure in Washington. That includes more women in places of power on Capitol Hill, K Street and across professional Washington.

On What Sets POLITICO Apart

The great thing about POLITICO (and Playbook in particular) is we know exactly what we are—we are a publication for and about Washington. We bring readers behind the scenes into how decisions are made. While so much of the news industry is in a self-examination phase, POLITICO can move forward with that purpose.

On What She Wants Her Legacy to Look LIke

She worked hard, told great stories and helped those who came after her be successful.