Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist

That was “Nellie Bly,” the “stunt reporting” woman who made her name in the late 1800s, mostly for traveling around the world in 72 days, beating the fictional account of Jules Vern’s hero, Phileas Fogg, from the book that then was a world-wide best seller: “Around the World in 80 Days.”

This East Coast reporter–real name, Elizabeth Cochrane—did so much more that was much more valuable: She went to Mexico and so exposed the corruption of President Diaz, she was banned from the country; she spent 10 days in a New York insane asylum to write about the horrible conditions; she posed as a criminal to spend time inside a woman’s prison. She is lauded by the National Women’s Hall of Fame as a “trail-blazing journalist considered to be the ‘best reporter in America’ who pioneered investigative journalism.”

Nellie herself had a formula for success: “Determine Right. Decide Fast. Apply Energy. Act with Conviction. Fight to the Finish. Accept the Consequences. Move On.”