Carly Schwartz, 36

Editor-in-chief, San Francisco Examiner San Francisco, Calif.

Carly Schwartz joined the San Francisco Examiner in April from Google, where she served as editor-in-chief of Google Insider, an internal news organization that she launched four years ago. During her time at the company, she also co-founded Trix magazine, a publication whose goal is to advance the quality of women’s lives

around the world. She served as editor-inchief for three years.

Prior to her time at Google, Schwartz worked for the Huffington Post on both coasts, serving as deputy national editor in New York City and as the founding editor of the site’s San Francisco bureau.

What are you most excited about in the news industry today?

I am most excited about the potential to reinvent the way we approach local news. As we emerge from the pandemic, I truly believe this is the most interesting moment for local news in my lifetime. How we choose to document history will help shape how our society recovers. We’ll do this at the Examiner by bringing a wide array of voices to life, from disenfranchised communities to spheres of power circles and everything in between. If we are the stories we tell ourselves, then let’s use the power of storytelling in service of building a better place to live and work.

What is your advice for aspiring women journalists?

Don’t be afraid to be brutally honest in your storytelling. The best stories are about human beings, and human beings connect through shared universal experiences. Not every woman has a public platform, but women journalists do. Share your story, and share it loud, and allow yourself to be a role model for other women. I have shared my most raw and personal stories about overcoming depression and addiction, and I hear from women all over the world who have advanced the quality of their own lives as a result of reading something they can relate to.