Meet Elahe Izadi.
Influence Alley reporter by day, stand-up comedian by night, Elahe Izadi wend to the University of Maryland and got her start in the District covering local news. Eventually she made her way to Capitol Hill. FamousDC was lucky enough to catch up with Izadi for a few minutes.
1. Why don’t we start with a little bit about National Journal Influence and what a typical day working there looks like?
I’m part of the three-person Influence Alley team (along with Chris Frates and Michael Catalini), and we cover K Street and Congress. I try to focus on the intersection of those two worlds. No two days are alike for me, but I usually start off early from home and try to get a blogpost out the gate before I’m out the door. I head to the Capitol and file blogposts and report throughout the day from there, and while also breaking away to downtown to meet up with folks on K Street. I’m all over the place — I’ll write about a cat super PAC one hour, then foreign lobbying the next.
Oh, and I’m on Twitter all day long. Seriously. All the time.
2. What is the coolest part of your job?
There are many! I get to be funny sometimes, which I love and is important to me. And as cheesy as this may sound, I don’t know if the access us reporters have on the Hill will ever get old to me.
3. How do you think working in journalism in DC is different from other major markets?
I’ve had an interesting ride in journalism, having reported on local and regional news for much of my career. While I’ve covered DC for some time, I’m now learning Washington — two different places. In this town, it’s easy to cover one world and have no clue about the other.
4. We hear you do a stand-up comedy now and again. Tell us how you got started and when is your next show?
I had always wanted to do standup and was sort of a comedy nerd. As a kid, I’d recite SNL skits in their entirety, watched standup specials on repeat and, of course, I have a hilarious family. I finally tried standup during my senior year in college and have been performing, on and off, ever since. I think my next gig will be January 19, but check out my site for more details, elaheizadi.com.
5. If Michelle Obama called Friday morning looking to kick it, what would you guys do?
You want me to say “Go shopping” or “Show me the exercises that would help me achieve perfectly sculpted arms,” right? Wrong. I don’t enjoy either of those activities.
Wine and dine me, Michelle, wine and dine me. Let’s spend our day in D.C. showing each other our respective favorite places — museums, book stores, restaurants (duh), all the while I pepper you with questions from which I glean life advice. We’d Instagram and/or live-tweet our adventures, and tag your friend Beyonce so she can see how much fun we’re having without her, prompting her to want to join us.