cogcast – Details, episodes & analysis

In this episode of Cogcast, host Larissa Padden speaks with financial reporter Mallika Mitra about her journey in journalism and transition to freelancing. Mallika shares insights from her career path through CNBC, Bloomberg, and Money.com before becoming a freelance writer for publications like Barron's, Kiplinger, and Business Insider. She discusses how freelancing has paradoxically provided more job security in today's volatile media landscape, her process for building stories, and her relationship with PR professionals. Mallika also explores her passion for reporting on generational trends in finance, particularly how younger generations approach money differently than their predecessors and the increasing openness about financial matters among Gen Z and millennials. 

In this episode of Cogcast, Larissa Padden sits down with Michael Thrasher, a seasoned journalist who has spent over a decade covering wealth and asset management. Thrasher shares his journey from working at Institutional Investor magazine to founding Modus News, a newsletter dedicated to family office professionals. Michael sat down to talk about the decision to strike out on his own, how he works with PR as a founder versus a reporter, and how media has changed since his days at a daily print newspaper in Ohio.

Tech PR specialist Vanja Lakic spoke with her Cogcast co-host Larissa Padden about what she’s expecting to see at this year’s Collision conference, one of the biggest tech events in the world, Vanja talks about the opportunities for firms looking to make a splash, differences between the US and Canadian media landscapes and what you need to know about pitching Canadian journalists. Listen to Vanja’s take in the latest episode of Cogcast. 

From her days reporting on Capital Hill, North and South Carolina, communications professional Liz Wellinghorst witnessed the comms evolution first-hand.

In the latest episode of Cogcast, Liz shares her career journey with Account Director, Larissa Padden including the struggles she faced as an up-and-coming TV news reporter and the invaluable lessons from journalism she’s taken into her current role as the Director, Regional Integrated Marketing at the American Cancer Society.

“There should be more objectivity where you’re looking at both sides of an issue and there’s just not enough of that.” Journalist and Postcast Host of Foundry’s ‘Today in Tech,’ Keith Shaw joins Account Director Vanja Lakic to speak about his career as a journalist and podcast host and his thoughts on the future of podcasts.  

From how to start a podcast, AI in journalism to the lack of objectivity when exploring topics, Keith offers his expertise in the latest episode of Cogcast. 

The secret sauce to creating a pitch that will land with journalists? You need to know the people you’re pitching to. Jean-Paul Salamanca, Towns Reporter at Newsday Media Group, joined Vanja Lakic on the latest Cogcast to share what makes the difference between a pitch that goes nowhere and landing an opportunity for your spokespeople. This is one you won’t want to miss! 

Freelance Journalist and founder of W Insight, Joanna Socha joins Cognito NY Account Director, Larissa Padden to discuss her career journey, her relationship with PR organizations, and her upcoming book on Gen Y’s relationship with money. Tune into this episode to find out from Joanna how she says PR pros should be approaching freelancers.  

With COP28 UAE underway, we’re looking forward to the hot topics and announcements to come. Vartan Badalian, director of transportation at GreenBiz joined Larissa Padden to discuss the topics he’s focused on for COP, what he thinks transport companies are focused on in 2024 and his career as a transportation analyst at GreenBiz.  

Events and conferences are back to their post-pandemic activity levels, which means a resurgence of in-person media engagements and brand promotion. Account Director, Larissa Padden shared her observations, insights and outlook for event marketing in 2024, from being on the ground at this year’s Money20/20 USA in a discussion with Account Director, Vanja Lakic. Listen to this month’s episode which features a special Cogcast announcement.

Charlie Morrow, Cognito’s Global Head of Sustainability Communications joined Account Director, Vanja Lakic live in our New York office during Climate Week NYC to share his views on this year's Climate Week events and what he is hearing from business leaders, trends he’s seeing in sustainable finance and ESG investing and the important role communications professionals play in the fight against climate change.