Donna Tam

Donna Tam is Marketplace's executive editor and the former director of on-demand. I connect our editorial side to our enterprise side, and lead planning and execution. (I make people talk to each other and bug them about to sticking deadlines).

What was your first job?

I had two. I worked as tutor and a pizzeria hostess/cashier. I kind of sucked at the pizzeria job, but I had a great attitude.

What do you think is the hardest part of your job that no one knows?

Balancing my need to fix things myself with offering people the right tools to help themselves.

What advice do you wish someone had given you before you started this career?

Define your worth early and then make a plan.

In your next life, what would your career be?

Hippie farmer. I not-so-secretly want to live off the grid with a vegetable patch and some chickens.

Fill in the blank: Money can’t buy you happiness, but it can buy you ______.

Stability.

What is something that everyone should own, no matter how much it costs?

I don't know. I have a hard time with consumerism (see hippie farmer comment).

What’s something that you thought you knew but later found out you were wrong about?

I used to think that the little tab on the rearview mirror of a car was for hanging good-luck talismans and air fresheners but later found out it was for adjusting your mirror for driving at night.

What’s your most memorable Marketplace moment?

When I admitted to our senior vice president that I like to yell about the importance of raising the economic intelligence of the country while drinking at bars.

What’s the favorite item in your workspace and why?

I have a paper pulp sample (like a piece of card stock) on my desk from the Evergreen Pulp Mill. It was given to me by one of the senior reporters at my first official newspaper job. I've used it as a coaster ever since, so it's covered with coffee stains and pen markings, but every time I look at it, I'm reminded of all the lessons I learned as a cub reporter and how much I've grown.