It’s Wednesday. I’m exhausted of politics so I thought instead I’d share about an awesome woman I recently fell down a rabbit hole learning about, Nellie Bly. Just the introductory paragraph of her life from her biography from the National Women’s History Museum is pretty enthralling:

Nellie Bly became a star journalist by going undercover as a patient at a New York City mental health asylum in 1887 and exposing its terrible conditions in the New York World. Her reporting not only raised awareness about mental health treatment and led to improvements in institutional conditions, it also ushered in an age of investigative journalism. Her illustrious career also included a headline-making journey around the world, running an oil manufacturing firm, and reporting on World War I from Europe.

But digging further is even more impressive:

Wanting to write pieces that addressed both men and women, Bly began looking for a newspaper that would allow her to write on more serious topics. She moved to New York City in 1886, but found it extremely difficult to find work as a female reporter in the male-dominated field. In 1887, Bly stormed into the office of the New York World, one of the leading newspapers in the country. She wanted to write a story on the immigrant experience in the United States. The editor, Joseph Pulitzer, declined that story, but he challenged Bly to investigate one of New York’s most notorious mental asylums, Blackwell’s Island. Bly not only accepted the challenge, she decided to feign mental illness to gain admission and expose firsthand how patients were treated. With her courageous and bold act, she cemented her legacy as one of the most notable journalists in history.

Bly’s six-part series on her experience in the asylum was called Ten Days in the Madhouse and quickly made Bly one of the most famous journalists in the country. Her reporting on life in the asylum shocked the public and led to increased funding to improve conditions in the institution. Furthermore, her hands-on approach to reporting developed into a practice now called investigative journalism. Bly continued to produce regular exposés on New York’s ills, such as corruption in the state legislature, unscrupulous employment agencies for domestic workers, and the black market for buying infants. Her straightforward yet compassionate approach to these issues captivated audiences.

Bly’s successful career reached new heights in 1889 when she decided to travel around the world after reading the popular book by Jules Verne, Around the World in 80 Days. The New York World published daily updates on her journey and the entire country followed her story. Her trip only took 72 days, which set a world record. But Bly held the record for only a few months before it was broken by businessman George Francis Train who completed the journey in 67 days.

I’m currently about 50 pages into a 500 page biography about her life, Nellie Bly: Daredevil, Reporter, Feminist by Brooke Kroeger where I hope to learn more about her work and her race around the world. And where I hopefully won’t learn she was also actually a terrible person.

So yeah, give a shoutout today to past or present people who do incredible work. And be kind and thoughtful today. Cheers.