Jodi Kantor’s groundbreaking reporting has toppled media magnates and sparked justice in the workplace worldwide. But before all of this, Kantor was kicked off her college newspaper. Society expects perfection, but Kantor knows those first professional steps are often rocky. She also knows that today’s graduates are facing a new and frightening playing field.  

In a post-pandemic world rife with political upheaval, the unknowns of AI, and the general uncertainty of coming-of-age, Kantor casts aside platitudes and false hope to offer something tangible. There is a difference between realism and cynicism, she says. Work is how we spend much of our time. It’s our engine of progress: how vaccines are made, political campaigns won, television crafted for our pleasure. Instead of letting cynicism win, Kantor rolls up her sleeves and identifies three principles to help young people discover their life’s work: craft, need, and money.

Powerful and provocative, How to Start is a statement of faith for young people to keep in their back pocket as they make their way through uncertain times. To face the challenges ahead, Kantor offers inspired wisdom, strategy, and a set of aspirations to launch their careers and last their whole lives.

Jodi Kantor began her journalism career by dropping out of Harvard Law School to join Slate.com in 1998. Four years later, she became the Arts & Leisure editor of the New York Times. For six years, she wrote about former president Barack Obama and Michelle Obama. Her book The Obamas chronicles their behind-the-scenes adjustment to the roles of president and first lady. Kantor’s reporting with Meghan Twohey on Harvey Weinstein won the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. She has recently turned her attention to the US Supreme Court and joined the Washington bureau's reporting team full-time. Kantor lives in Brooklyn, NY, with her husband and two children.