The Cafecito Series, No. 1: Steve Sebelius

As part of the educational/mentoring component of the first-ever NAHJ/RJ/El Tiempo internship, we're planning a series of summertime "cafecitos" -- casual chats over coffee with some of the most respected journalists in town.

Our first special guest was Steve Sebelius, a columnist for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Steve regaled us on his career path, which included some early successes at a scrappy Sacramento paper and articles that shined light on corruption in the highest ranks of the state school system. He shared with us about his news diet -- which includes reading his own publication cover-to-cover -- and offered tips on how to build sources without getting problematically cozy with them.

Overall, we gathered a lot of great advice and beat the heat with iced coffee and smoothies on a 117-degree Saturday. A morning well-spent!

NAHJ Nevada Member of the Week Questionnaire

1. Where do you currently work and what's your role there?

2. When did you come to Las Vegas? Where were you before? Where did you go to school?

3. What's your dream job or big career goal?

4. Tell us a little about your ethnic background.

5. What inspired you to become a journalist or public relations professional?

6. What is the most difficult story you've had to cover (or for PR, the most challenging situation you've dealt with)? What did you learn from the experience?

7. Of all the stories you've covered, which is your favorite and why?

8. If you could interview any person, dead or alive, who would it be and why?

9. What do you see as the biggest challenge facing journalism or PR today?

10. Why did you join NAHJ Nevada and what do you hope to get out of it?

11. If you were going to introduce us to the most important people in your life, who would they be?

12. Tell us a fun fact we probably don't know about you.