Lexie Smith
Danielle C. Belton is the current editor-in-chief of HuffPost where she led the Pulitzer Prize-winning newsroom to profitability in 2021, after her first year in leadership. In her three-year tenure, she has improved overall newsroom diversity and relaunched HuffPost's legacy Voices brands, including adding a new vertical, Indigenous Voices — one of the first mainstream, digital media offerings for Indigenous people.
Prior to joining HuffPost, she was editor-in-chief of the leading Black digital publication, The Root. Belton grew the award-winning site's traffic by 300 percent within her first year leading its newsroom. A 20-year-veteran of journalism, blogging, and writing, Belton is also known for being one of the first black women to lead a writer's room in late night when she was head writer for BET's talk show, "Don't Sleep" in 2012. She was also the creator and author of the popular, former politics and pop culture weblog, The Black Snob.
Danielle, I am truly truly honored to have the opportunity to host this conversation today. And I know I speak on behalf of all of the listeners in this community. Thank you for your time. With that said, I always start the show with something a little less serious. And that's, what do you like to do outside of work for fun?
Danielle Belton
Oh, sure. So I mean, there's a lot of I have a lot of interests beyond journalism. You know, I used to sing in a jazz band back when I was a reporter in California. So I love music. I used to play the piano as a kid, I can't play anymore, but I still enjoy music immensely. I love art. I originally wanted to be a cartoonist as a kid. And I draw in my free time as well. I always wanted to be an illustrator. I always wanted to have like a cartoon strip at a newspaper, but the newspapers decided to go away on me. So that didn't happen.
Danielle Belton
And I also really enjoy dancing. I'm not good at choreography, though. Which is why I'd never did it professionally or even attempted. It takes me at least a week to pick up choreography. And it's like most dancers, you need to pick it up in like five minutes. And I just am not capable. And I also love cooking. I even have a little food Insta called comfortkitchen_by_db. And I post the end results of recipes that I find online of different things that I enjoy cooking. I really love food. So yeah,
Lexie Smith
My team's gonna be very excited. The producer of the show and my account manager are huge foodies. I think they actually both have their own little foodie Instagrams to put that in the show notes. Guys, go go give it a follow. You're a woman of all the arts, you have food scene, literal art, and all the things I love that were some base.
Danielle Belton
I live in Brooklyn, New York,
Lexie Smith
you're in Brooklyn, New York. So that's a great hub for all those things for sure. And but you were in California when you were in California, where were you at?
Danielle Belton
I was in Bakersfield in Kern County, in the desert. And it's about two hours outside of Los Angeles. Gotcha.
Lexie Smith
I am I'm in Ventura. Did you ever hear of Ventura?
Danielle Belton
I am familiar with Ventura. But I've never been.
Lexie Smith
Yeah. Okay. So I mean, people who listen to the show, we're about an hour north of LA. That's how I have to describe it. But I'm familiar with Bakersfield. Mostly through just driving through it to get to other places, but
Danielle Belton
There’s an In and Out Burger that's just right off the highway.
Lexie Smith
That's true. Which miraculously? Is there still always maybe not miraculously, a massive line even though you
Danielle Belton
I've never been to an in and out that had a short line.
Lexie Smith
Very true. Very true. They did they do something right. Okay. Okay, so guys, I read a condensed version of Danielle’s bio at the top of show. But Danielle, what I'd like to do now is provide a bit more color and review what I call your career cliffnotes. So whatever you want to focus on is fine here. But walk us through what came before today. How did you become the editor in chief of the HuffPost?
Danielle Belton
Well, I always preface this with I basically chose the hardest path possible to get here. It's very non traditional, but it's non traditional, because all traditional means of getting here kind of like fell apart when I graduated from college. So around the time that I finished getting my degree in mass communications in Southern Illinois, was when the web really blew up. And so it was like so many publications were trying to adapt to this new online environment. And my school called itself prepare me for it by giving me a degree in electronic journalism, which is what they called it back then. But it was really backpack journalism where it's like, you learn how to shoot and you learn video and you learn how to write, you basically learn how to do everything, so you just don't know where you're gonna get your job. So I went into local newspapers, one because it was the one of the few journalism jobs that I could get where I could still, like, take care of myself, though, this won't come as a surprise to journalism doesn't pay very much. And it pays almost nothing in the very beginning. And so a job with benefits is great. And local newspapers had that. And so I went into newspapers, even though initially I wanted to go into television. And I really flourished there on my first job was in Midland, Texas, at the Midland Reporter Telegram. And then my second job I was at for over four years in the Central Valley at the Bakersfield Californian Newspaper, which I loved and I did literally every job you could possibly have with a Californian and I was educated reporter, a general assignment reporter, a columnist, a blogger, I took photos for them, I drew illustrations for them, I was entertainment reporter and a features writer. So in those five years, I was really aggressive.
Lexie Smith
All the hats.
Danielle Belton
And then around 2007, I left the newspaper just for it started massive downsizing, because Craigslist came to town and destroyed all the local newspapers, that was pretty much the end of my local newspaper career because too many outlets had to slash their budgets and get rid of huge swaths of their staff just to survive. And so I moved back home to St. Louis, Missouri, to try to figure out what to do next with my life. At the same time, I was dealing with mental health issues. And so I didn't even know if I was gonna stay in journalism, I ended up like working at a Macy's folding sweaters in a dying ball for a little while there. Um, out of all that I decided to start my own website, The Black Snob. This was around 2007. And in January 2008, Barack Obama, who was then a senator won Iowa and his pursuit of the presidency, and I was so inspired. And I was like, why really miss my old column, and I was like, wait, I have a blog, I'll just publish something on there. And it really took off, it really resonated with people and it blew up rather quickly. I think in like a year and a half, like I had over like 2 million visitors to my, my little website, talking about my little ideas, and my thoughts about politics, and entertainment and culture, and all that fun stuff. And so it really blew up for me, I could not figure out how to make money off of it. I'm not good at that. But I am good at writing. And so I was able to build quite an audience. And from there, I was able to get so many different jobs. I was a social media editor for a racial justice nonprofit, a social media editor for an anti-war nonprofit. I ran a now defunct website that doesn't exist anymore, but I got to its most traffic. And I forgotten the history of that website, by writing about a congressman that was caught up in a sex scandal. And from there, I moved to New York briefly in 2012. That's when I was the late night talk show writer on Don’t Sleep, which was a TV show that BET had created to kind of like compete in the late night market. And its host was T.J. Holmes, at the time. And that was a lot of fun. Unfortunately, the show only lasted four months. So I was back on the hunt for a job again, I moved back home to St. Louis briefly. And I forgot to mention somewhere in there, I moved to Washington, DC, I left Missouri, around 2009 and moved to Washington, DC. And then from DC, I went to New York, and then from New York back to St. Louis and from St. Louis, I moved back to DC where I worked as a freelancer and had multiple different jobs until the most productive of those jobs. I was freelancing for The Root. And lo and behold, after I got sick of freelancing, I called up the then managing editor of The Root Lynn Pitts and said, Hey, I really enjoy writing for you. Can I have a job I just straight up ask for a job. So I'm tired of freelancing, I need health insurance. And so she was like, Sure now, um, long story short. While the long story long in this case. I've been trying to get a job with the route since 2009. And so at this point, this is like around 2014 2015 was 2015 when I called her up that spring and asked for a job. And so she said, Well, you know, we're making some changes, you know, let me call you back in like a month or so. She calls me back two days later, their associate editor just quit to take a job with the Washington Post. And she asked me if I would like the job. And I said, Yes. I loved that job, I hit the ground running pretty hard. I did a huge, like a five part series on Black Lives Matter. And I hired a bunch of different writers. And by the end of my first year there, though, like I was dealing with depression at the time, so I just, I thought I was doing a terrible job. You know, it didn't matter. Like what I accomplished, I was so miserable, that I just felt like nothing mattered. And so when my bosses said, they wanted to meet with me, I just assumed that I was being fired. And then they told me, they wanted to promote me, and make me the new managing editor. And I was just like, oh, this is shocking. I have no idea. And they tell me all about the job. They give me the big sell. And they explained to me that the managing editor is leaving, because well, she was tired one. And the job was really, really stressful and very labor intensive. And I only had one question, which was, Is there money, because at the time I was broke, and I think I was only making like, I don't know, 60 grand living in Washington, DC, which I still don't know how I lived off of, but I did it. And lo and behold, there was money. And so therefore, I took the job. Now, I had always wanted to be editor in chief of The Root, I had no idea what the job was going to entail. It was it was a dream job for me. And so I really threw my all into it. I became editor in chief around 2016, well I became managing editor in 2016, and I got promoted to editor in chief in 2017. But in 2017, we radically changed the direction of the site, we changed the voice and style, the attitude and just became much more irreverent and funny and in your face, but still with really strong journalistic principles and values. And it took off the traffic grew by 300%. The site got a lot of notoriety, like we're a joke on SNL, we were a crossword puzzle answer and the New York Times crossword, like we did it, we made it ever worn by and we hit over like 20 million visitors unique visitors, which was huge for a black website. And so, or any website really these days, but um, yeah, it was a miraculous time and love that job immensely. I did it for about six years, and then the opportunity of HuffPost came along. And by that point, I built a pretty solid reputation for myself. I went through about 15, 16 rounds of interviews with Buzzfeed to get the role because they had just acquired HuffPost. And lo and behold, I was the last woman standing. So they made me Editor in Chief.
Lexie Smith
I'm really having to rein myself in right now. Because I have so many micro questions throughout that entire journey. For like, pause for another day in theory, because let's do this. What okay, you're now the editor in chief at HuffPost. This is a very convoluted, big question. What is the average day look like for you in this role?
Danielle Belton
Oh, my day is mostly spent in meetings. Alas, that's the the the truth about management. It is all meetings. It is meetings about the content meetings about the staff meetings about budgets, meetings about HR, meetings about the future of the organization, meet meetings about revenue, meetings, of better preparation for more meetings, they have check ins, I do a lot of check ins on a daily basis. And every now and then when I'm lucky, I have time to actually write something. And I'm always really excited to do actual journalism because I really don't get to do that very much anymore. But I get up mad early, like I probably wake up most mornings around 5:30. I immediately make coffee after I brush my teeth and wash my face. And I usually start work around like seven. Yeah,
Lexie Smith
yeah. When are you done? Are you ever done? Do you sleep?
Danielle Belton
I do sleep. I usually try to wrap things up by four or 5pm. Okay, okay. I do sleep.
Lexie Smith
You do sleep. That is good. I highly suggest people do so. Okay, so, again, you know, clearly everyone listening probably has 5000 questions when I was sitting today, not today earlier preparing for what we were going to talk about. It's hard, like where do we want to go? And so I turned to a question that I think a lot of journalists resonate too with what am I listeners want to hear and this is where we're headed. Okay. So a lot of people who listen to this show, we have a lot of people in the PR industry we have a lot of people in the media industry. overly simplified, are scared about the state of the industry. So I did my research and I was reading through your substack, which will also guys will provide a link to that in the show note highly suggest signing up. And also major shout out to your use of gifts and memes. You're a girl after my own heart there. But I do, I pulled out some quotes from one of your articles that we're going to dive into. So for everyone's reference, if you want to go look at it and read the whole thing, which I highly suggest you do, it's titled, “every year in journalism is a marathon, where towards the end, I can barely walk.” Which side note, thank you, for your honesty in your heart and your humor throughout the piece really appreciated that. So bear with me, this is what we're going to do. I've pulled three quotes and they're going to lead us to give us context to my question. So first quote, and this is quote from Daniel, not from me. So from the from the substack. Quote, “you could argue the revenue model for journalism has been in shambles since the mid 2000s, when magazines and other print publications started collapsing.” Next quote, “I feel like the entire media news entertainment industry is riding deep on the struggle bus after a tough 2023.” Next, “I'm looking forward to 2024 journalism, even if the industry is in shambles.” So here's where I want to start. From your point of view, what is most big question, again, negatively impacting our industry in recent years, and we can go as high level or deep as you want here?
Danielle Belton
Oh, the biggest problem in journalism are greedy people who buy media companies and don't know what they're doing.
Lexie Smith
Hmm. Okay, care to elaborate.
Danielle Belton
Sure, so the big problem with media is that it's not like I always tell writers and editors and people who actually do the work. It's not you, there's nothing you are doing wrong. As a reporter and editor and audience, editor, social media expert, graphic artists photographer, you're not this, you're not the problem. You're creating wonderful content, that stellar journalism that people need and want to read. The problem is you have management structures, who believe that they should be billionaires based off of journalism, that journalism does not make people rich, and it you know, it just doesn't. Historically, it's always been a public good to own a media company, where you understand the news might not always make money, but you have another business that basically pays for the news. And so it really wasn't until the advent of CNN, where people decided that, oh, the news division needs to make money now. And a lot of people don't realize this. But like in print media, advertising was not the primary source of revenue for most print. Like for most newspapers, it was the classified section. Because there was no other place to post jobs, sell all your stuff, or sell a house or whatever. Like if you wanted to see that you got your local newspaper. And once Craigslist came around the internet, everything just be posted online for free. That's what murdered your local newspaper. Because they no longer had that regular revenue from the classified section, which was the real business of the newspaper was selling those classified ads. And that was paying for everything else. And the digital model is even more fraught. Because we never even had a classified section, we just have been totally just living off of ads, whether it's programmatic, or direct sales or whatever. Now you can make enough money in programmatic and direct sales and partnerships or whatever, to basically cover your costs. Like you can cover your costs. You can pay people a decent wage, you can pay people a living wage, you can keep the lights on it's doable, people do it every day. The problem is you have something like the people like who owned Vice for example, who decide they want to make a ton of money, and they want their investors that make a ton of money and it's not really about the product or the staff or the brand anymore. It's just about a bust down model where we're trying to get as much money out of this thing as possible to reward ourselves and give ourselves big corporate bonuses and live this jet set lifestyle and then when we can't get any more money out of it because we've abused it so much and it was overvalued in the first place because Why is a digital news site worth a billion dollars you know, it's not and then they just walk away from it you just fire the staff or there's no less no money left to like pull out of it. And say like, oh, journalism doesn't work. Well, no, it doesn't work if you're greedy. It works perfectly fine. Like you can pay yourself a decent wage. You can pay your people a decent wage with programmatic and advertising revenue, the problem is people get greedy. They want to be Jeff Bezos, you're not going to be Jeff Bezos selling a newspaper. You're just not.
Lexie Smith
Okay, so are we all screwed? Or is there a solution or call to action here that that this, you know us, not at the top can do to kind of help combat this?
Danielle Belton
Well, there's a few options, One, people who lead news organizations need to actually care about news, they can't just be revenue, people who only care about money and making themselves rich. So there has to be a rethinking, and who ends up in the C suite at these companies. And that's all media companies. That's just that's not just digital publications, that is Paramount Global, that is Netflix. And it's everybody in their grandmother. Because there's this idea that somehow DEI or diversity is like the problem, which is like ludicrous because almost all these organizations are run by white men. And it was all of them are going through layoffs right now. And almost all of them they've like, trashed their entire business model. And so for me, it's just like, maybe this isn't working, like maybe we should, like promote from the lower ranks of people who actually know how things work, who deal with the day in day out of the audience, and the writers and the editors and the producers and someone who's actually made content themselves before. And maybe those people should be in charge because they actually understand how the business works and what works and what doesn't. Because that's what I am like, I was a reporter, I was a social media editor. I was a photographer and a graphic artist, and a copy editor and pretty much every job you could have in journalism. And so I'm not operating on the mindset of like that I'm expecting to be a billionaire out of this, like, I'm expecting to create a thriving newsroom that supports its staff, and pays people enough money that they can live their lives. Like I'm not in it for the glory of the shareholder. So we need more people in leadership who understand what is at stake and actually value journalism. So that's number one. The other option is we need more models of news companies that are led by the people who make the news. So like, for example, when I was at The Root, one of our sister websites websites was Deadspin and Deadspin staff all quit in moss, in protest of the leadership at the time of the company that owned us. And those staffers created their own publication called Defector. And it's a staff run publication. It's led and run by the journalists. And they managed to become profitable, I think, like within like a year or two. And it was from the subscriber model, because they had so many readers who respected and loved what they did when they read Deadspin, and those leader readers literally follow them to Defector and continue to support their journalism to this day. So that is, the other option is just for like employee run media outlets, where the it is the journalists themselves, who are running the organization. Because again, you can totally make enough money to pay your staff. If you're done crazy. Like it's not, it's just not rocket science.
Lexie Smith
Yeah. Kind of follow up question on to the first point first that I have. So BuzzFeed clearly did something right. In terms of this, because you're sitting in a position of Editor in Chief, why do you think like they got it through their head? Like how do we? It's such a big question, right? But how do we reach the people who are making those decisions to like, HuffPost, do that affect the change?
Danielle Belton
Well, Buzzfeed is kind of unique in the sense that the CEO is the founder. So he has his heart and his skin and his finances in this game. He helped build this. And so therefore he wants to see it survive, and live on and thrive and be successful. And so, for better or for worse, he's all in. So this isn't somebody who is going to be like, I'm just looking to flip this thing and make a billion dollars he could have done that years ago. He BuzzFeed could have been bought by Disney years ago. And he could have made a big payday and walked away from all of it. But he didn't do that. Because he does truly believe in what he's trying to create. And in the mission, so because it's such a mission driven company, and because the CEO is the founder and is the one who began all this and believes in it. He's less inclined to just purely make Just purely ego driven decisions, like he wants his business to be successful. And so he knew that, you know, I gotta go outside of my network to find people. And I have to be open to new ideas. And I have to be able to pivot and not get so married to one idea or another idea that I can't make a decision that's best for my organization. So, like Busbee was a natural fit for me, um, I've worked in a lot of places, as my resume can attest, I think at one point, I think I changed jobs like every year to two years. And most places in media are kind of terrible. You know, like, either the management doesn't care about the workers, or they've got private equity involved, and they just want to make a bunch of money. And they also don't care about the workers. And I feel really privileged in that. The last two work environments of the two biggest jobs ever had. I was working for primarily people who do genuinely like give a crap, right, like, do really care about being a good media company, like prior to the current ownership at the root. We were owned by Univision, and so I mean, a lot of people had their jokes about Univision, or whatever. And Univision was a great steward, like they totally invested in the room, the staff grew to the size and grew under Univision. I was able to get my riders paid. They supported my ideas. And in return, I liked that I grew traffic by 300%. So it's just I felt lucky to work for a place that like actually cared. And the thing is with Univision at the time, we were Gawker, the old Gawker websites had been purchased by Univision, and so we were all folded underneath them. Like the former Gawker sites used to write like critical articles about Univision, they will go in on our parent company, and other companies couldn't have survived that, you know, and Univision just kind of looked at it like, Well, yeah, we'd rather you not write about us. But you know, like, blogging and doing your jobs, and no one got fired. Like, it wasn't the end of the world. We all survived it, and we thrived in it to a certain extent. And you know, then they sold it to private equity. And then that became a whole different ball game. But um, so I say all this to say, there are people who genuinely do care. And so it's important to do your research, when you're looking for a job in media, to know the difference between a company that's going to treat you like a cog in a wheel, and a company that's going to value the work that you do, because it's mission driven.
Lexie Smith
Okay, I think that's a fantastic call out and call to action we have, you know, we kind of have two layers here, right? There's a greater system and industry call to action for greater leadership, we also have some other layers for those within the media industry. What about consumers? Is there any the readers is there anything readers can do to support the industry at large, in your opinion?
Danielle Belton
Oh yeah, there’s tons of things readers can do, the most important is to actually read so I greatly value all of those clicks. Every time you read a article, like it helps that publication, because almost all of us have programmatic ads, and all our ads are counted against our traffic. So by reading you are already you're great. You're wonderful. Now, if you want to go beyond reading, other ways you could help you could share the articles with your friends. HuffPost, just like The Guardian and a few other publications, we do encourage readers that if they have some pocket change, and they want to help out and support our journalism, you can donate, you can give money to our publication, so we can continue to offer free journalism for all. And so that means a lot and you don't even have to give a lot. Like if you just want to give like $2 a month, you're a rock star, we love you. We'll take it um, because it's necessary for us to do our jobs. Other things that you can do, um, you know, write a journalist like if you really liked something that someone produced, we're so used to getting hate mail, like a matter of fact, negativity, it's like 90% of our public encounters. And so it's nice when someone if you're actually touched by the work that you have seen that you have read that you have watched to if you actually take the time to seek out that writer or producer on their social media or via their email like you will make their life like they they will be so happy because it gets so much heat and very little praise from the public. So that means a lot. And I would also say Just that, when you see a news outlet that is doing the work, that means they're being responsible when there's an error, they correct it. They're being faithful stewards of journalism and doing their best to get the news out to the best of their ability. You know, it's important that not only do you read that publication and share that publication, and maybe once a year, write a nice note to a writer, or even donate. What's even more important is to support policies, laws, and politicians who believe in a free press. Okay, so if you like having a free press, and you enjoy the work that journalists do, show your true dedication to it by showing your dedication to our constitutional right to be able to disseminate this information. There are a lot of people who seem to have endless money, who enjoys suing news organizations with the hopes of suing them out of existence, because they don't like that we're critical. They don't like that we might say something that's not good about them. And you know, they're always accusing other people of being snowflakes, but I think that's a real snowflake behavior to like, spend your like billions of dollars to try to put newspapers out of business, because they might write something mean about you. And so that's what we're up against. Yeah, we're up against a concerted, organized effort to just wrap countless publications up in lawsuits, in hopes that eventually we just run out of money. So yeah, It's really a
Lexie Smith
Small hill to climb is what I'm hearing very small, minor minor things, minor hurdles, right.
Danielle Belton
So that's why it's just really important for people to be vocal about their support of the free press. So
Lexie Smith
and thank you for taking the time to share to share your point of view. Personally, I feel like the only thing that I've been looking for ways to to figure out how to get involved in in saving even though I'm on the the PR side moreso I, I started my undergrad in journalism, and that's a huge part of my heart. And so hearing ways that from whatever seat you're sitting in, you can help has become like one of my little missions this year with the show. So thank you, thank you for offering offering your perspective. I'm going to do two quick shifts here meaning like pivot change, and it's gonna feel abrupt because here we are. So the next abrupt pivot I want to take us back to your role as editor in chief, now, an editor in chief's role is going to be different based on the size of the outlet, right? So an editor in chief at a local paper with a staff of fours probably very different than than you you already shared. You spend much of your day in meeting meetings, at your role do you still get pitched?
Danielle Belton
Oh, all the time?
Lexie Smith
You do? Okay. So, then you qualify for what I like to do in the show with any member of the media who gets pitched which is like a rapid fire preferential section. So no right or wrong answer. This is just highlighting you and what you prefer. So here we go. All right. First question. Is there a day of the week you prefer to be pitched?
Danielle Belton
Monday.
Lexie Smith
Monday, time of day?
Danielle Belton
Morning?
Lexie Smith
Morning. Are you pro pleasantries or just get straight to the point?
Danielle Belton
Straight to the point?
Lexie Smith
Are you okay with follow ups?
Danielle Belton
Yes, if you are sure that what you have has true value to our readers, it is annoying to get 15 follow ups about something that obviously you don't read my publication, you're just blindly pitching.
Lexie Smith
Okay, what about this is because this is continuing to trend and I've actually had very different responses to this social media DMS, are you open to being pitched in the DMS?
Danielle Belton
No.
Lexie Smith
Okay. And then assets How important are assets for you upfront? So photos, videos, affiliate links, or is that something that can be handled down the line?
Danielle Belton
It just kind of depends, but with a lot of things, you know, this might be your one shot so you should have everything already put together.
Lexie Smith
Okay. And then as Editor in Chief, do you have like a beat? Or are you just all the beats for the whole paper?
Danielle Belton
I am all the beats all the big ol all the things? I get it all.
Lexie Smith
Okay, now, last question. Besides you. Is there a title you would most suggest people pitch at an outlet like the HuffPost?
Danielle Belton
Oh, I would suggest you stick along like specific editors in the senior editor ranks to cover specific beats. So like if you have entertainment and culture content You should pitch the entertainment and culture editor, you should only pitch me if you can't find who this editor is. And in that case, you should just email me and ask me who is the entertainment and culture editor, I would like to pitch them. And I will more than likely just connect you to them and allow you to do whatever you need to do. Part of the problem, I think, with a lot of PR people, they don't actually pay attention to who they're pitching. Because they just get a list. And once your name is on that list they just like blindly send you things. So they don't even realize they're sending the editor in chief of the publication. Like, stuff that I can't cover this. Yeah. But I can kick it down to somebody else. And so everybody's update their list that is like, please check your list, and know who you're pitching. There's nothing more annoying to me when people send me pitches and they'll say, Danielle, can The Root cover this? And I'm like, I’m at Huff Post now, update your list. I mean, clearly you update it because you got my HuffPost email. So paying attention to detail means a lot. I can overlook some things but like other things like that goes directly to trash.
Lexie Smith
It's funny. I'm clearly like small potatoes, but because I have a show, right? somewhere, somehow I got on some sort of lists. So I get pitched alcohol and cannabis products, I think because of pitching and sipping so freaking much. And I like kindly just want to because I'm pro publicist, right. I'm like, can you like slow down and realize how on like this, there's not even one ounce of this was not worth your time. Anyways, I've started to get that in recent years. And I have a newfound empathy from from this seat like, Wow, you're so off. Um speaking of the name of the show. We always wrap up with this signature question. So we've talked pitching, what can we find you sipping? So what's your favorite beverage? It can be alcoholic or non alcoholic?
Danielle Belton
Oh, oh, that's such a good question. Um, because I'm always on a diet like my main drink is water. But that's boring. Probably my favorite drink in the whole entire world is limonade. I will drink any kind of limonade. Limonade infused with another fruit sounds absolutely amazing. limonade with tequila is just basically a margarita like I love, I love limonade.
Lexie Smith
My father is famous for his Margarita recipe. And like the key ingredient is one of those frozen, concentrated Limeade pans, which are actually very hard to find, at least where I live. I have gone to multiple grocery stores in search of these before. So that's funny when you say that I immediately thought of margaritas,
Danielle Belton
It’s easier to find in the south in the Midwest. When you get to the west coast and the East Coast. There's just tons of types of foods that just don't exist here.
Lexie Smith
Yeah, yeah, it becomes more sparse. So Danielle, if people want to connect with you further, where should they go? Should it be your substack? Should it be a LinkedIn? Should it be an Instagram? Where do you prefer we send listeners?
Danielle Belton
Um, you can hit me up on Instagram. My Instagram is my last name first it is Belton Danielle, That is the same on threads because I gave up on Twitter slash x. And so you can be see me on threads at Belton Danielle, and I'm on LinkedIn. I respond to emails on LinkedIn. So feel free to hit me up there. I'm Danielle Belton, there. And yeah, follow my substack you can email me at HuffPost so yeah, all the things.
Lexie Smith
All her food foodie and stuff, right? Well, I'll include all the links, guys. Danielle, thank you so much for your time. I know this is one of probably 500 meetings you have today. So I will cut this short and be respectful of your time. But you guys thank you for listening to the Pitchin’ and Sippin’ podcast.