From the White House to your house, ABC News Reporter Elizabeth Schulze loves taking apart a story and breaking down what you need to know.
“I’m just incredibly passionate about trying to take things that are complicated, whether that’s here in DC or in the business world, and finding a way to translate those so that people can understand,” Schulze told Barrett News Media over a Zoom call.
Originally from Minnesota, Schulze recalled, “I have wanted to be a journalist for as long as I can remember. I went to Northwestern to journalism school, and I went through boot camp there and quickly learned how to be a good journalist, from pretty much day one in school.”
She added, “What it was is a love of public speaking, a love of writing, a love of communicating. It kind of was the career that combined it all.”
Shortly after college, Elizabeth Schulze got a job at CNBC. She recalled, “My first gig was on the Larry Kudlow Report, which is no longer a show, but I was a news associate doing the teleprompter and making the graphics and just really being in the room.” Schulze added, “I was drawn to business news and the fact that that show also had politics. I was drawn to that show because it combined both politics and business, and I was really interested in finding a way to tell stories that were both kind of the policy side of things, but also involved people.”
She called working at CNBC, “a crash course in business” and where she fell in love covering economics. Schulze added, “Both my parents were traders and it just felt like this great fit to be able to be in that world at CNBC. I learned so much there. I was a producer that was behind the scenes and covering the markets and then the Federal Reserve and the producing side, and it just was I loved it.”
CNBC gave her the opportunity to move to London where she began reporting on camera doing digital videos.
During the pandemic, Elizabeth Schulze joined ABC News.
“No one was in the office. You were sort of just it was the middle of the presidential campaign and it was a crazy news cycle.” She went on to say, “There were so many great stories just sort of right away that touched on both politics and business. So in a way that did feel like a full circle moment to kind of be back and then be able to be reporting for the general news audience.”
Elizabeth Schulze noted a lot of good stories need good visual elements, however. “For a lot of what I cover, [having good visuals] is not the case. If you think about the Federal Reserve, that is not something that looks really great in video. So part of what makes it a good story is obviously finding the people who are affected by it. So if you have something if there is this policy, a lot of it is just picking up the phone and making calls, finding people on social media and going out in the street asking around and like figuring out the people who are directly affected by some of these stories.”
She added, “So the challenge is finding how to always make those accessible because while those are obviously — for financial news, print outlets — that would make sense for TV. It is a little bit more of a challenge sometimes.”
One story that Elizabeth Schulze holds fond memories of is from her producing days at CNBC.
“A while back I was producing an interview with Christine Lagarde, who is the head of the European Central Bank. At the time she was the head of the IMF, and it was before the interview, and there was just a little bit of kind of banter and it felt like we needed to sort of break the ice a little bit.
“So I decided to just start speaking in French to Christine Lagarde, and she so was not expecting this from this Minnesota girl who was producing this interview at the time. We had a whole conversation in French and she loved it. Everyone was laughing by the time the interview started, everyone was more at ease. And I think those are some of the moments you can’t completely prepare for, but you do find yourself just making the most of it when it comes up.”
Her advice for those looking to follow in her footsteps is the old adage, “Hard work pays off.”
“You have to seek [opportunities] out and you have to prove that you are the best person to take that opportunity. And one of the ways that you can prove that is if you have the work to back it up,” Schulze said. “If you put in the time and if you’ve done it with a great attitude, I think that that goes a really long way.”
She went on to say, “A lot of what we do is not humane by a lot of standards. I mean, you wake up at the crack of dawn and you work through the night and you never know when something’s going to bubble up. But being excited about the opportunities [which come your way], having a good attitude I think conveys both in the people you work with behind the scenes, but also on camera.”
Looking toward her future and the future of the industry she sees one thing being clear.
“In our industry, you have to be able to do multiple platforms. It’s not just doing one TV package in a day and moving on to the next. It’s being able to do analysis on streaming. It’s being able to do podcasts. It’s being able to ask questions in briefings. You really have to be multifaceted.
“So for me, it’s making sure that that continues to be the case in my career. And, obviously, ABC’s got all of those options, all of the places to do that. So that’s sort of I think where I’m focused.”
Of her time at ABC News, Elizabeth Schulze said, “It’s been really rewarding to have digital series like we have a digital and we have a series on ABC News Live called Cashing In, where we get to where we explain financial concepts to try to make them more accessible for people on social media. Continuing to do stories like that where you’re teaching. You’re not just doing journalism, but you’re also using that opportunity to teach people. I hope to continue to do that.”
Krystina Alarcon Carroll is a news media columnist and features writer for Barrett Media. She has experience in almost every facet of the industry including: digital and print news; live, streamed, and syndicated TV; documentary and film productions. Her prior employers have included NY1 and Fox News Digital and the Law & Crime Network. You can find Krystina on X (formerly twitter) @KrystinaAlaCarr.
