Siddharth Cavale: The pressure of writing headlines, what it takes to get into Reuters, and what is Summerween

From his early days writing headlines in India to his current role as US e-commerce and retail correspondent at Reuters, reporting on big business in the U.S. Siddharth Cavale puts into context the global trends that bring goods to your stores.

In the latest episode of Cogcast, Siddharth shares his career journey at Thomson Reuters with Account Director and former reporter Larissa Padden, as well as how he prefers to work with sources and what it takes to be included in his stories.

Siddharth also discusses the global impacts that dictate what appears in stores and when items hit the shelves.

Transcript for podcast

Larissa Padden: 0:06

Hello and welcome to Cogcast, Cognito’s podcast where we talk to journalists and media pros on everything that’s happening in the world of media and PR. I’m Larissa Padden, your host this episode and a former journalist turned PR professional. For today’s episode, we’re joined by Siddharth Cavale, US e-commerce and retail correspondent at Reuters for a fascinating conversation about his journey as a reporter, the global drivers that impact when products hit your store shelves, and what the heck is Summerween. Please enjoy this truly fun chat. Hi, Siddharth. Thank you for being here.

Siddharth Cavale: 0:41

Thank you for having me.

Larissa Padden: 0:03

Great. So can we start by having you give us a little bit about your background as a reporter and then your current role and focus at Reuters?

Siddharth Cavale: 0:50

Yeah, sure. So Reuters is my first job, my first and only job that I’ve actually done.

Larissa Padden: 0:57

How long have you been there?

Siddharth Cavale: 1:00

My journey started, yeah, way back, 14 years back in India. Yeah, so I was recruited off-campus from journalism school. Then I joined Reuters in Bangalore, initially, and the Bangalore operation does something that’s very key to Reuters’ business, which is called headline reporting. So I don’t know if you’ve seen the Fox building here on 6th Ave, but you see a ticker running across that building, right? So what feeds that ticker? It comes from Reuters. So it’s basically, we call them snaps, snapping the most key information from say a press release.

So my first job was doing that for two years. At the same time, I was also a tech reporter. I used to cover a very niche field called data center operations, which now are huge. And you know, there were companies called, there was a company called Rackspace that I used to cover that Amazon and all use. And so it was a very niche part. After covering tech and the snapping, I moved to retail where I became like a team lead of the retail team.

It’s there we cover like a whole gamut of consumer and retail companies, and we would do mostly breaking news related stuff. So I covered, I became a team leader there. So that was 2014. And then in 2014, I became the editor in charge of the consumer and retail team. And at its max, I was managing seven people. Then around the pandemic, my editor asked me to cover Europe, Middle East and Asian CPG companies, CPG standing for consumer product makers.

And so I covered big companies like Unilever, Reckitt Benckiser, British American Tobacco, those that were FTSE listed. And then I worked out of the London Bureau for some time during that stint. And then I came back and then she asked me to move to cover US CPG companies.

So I then started covering Procter & Gamble and Kimberly Clark and, you know, Colgate Palmolive and stuff like that. At that point, it was still during the pandemic, so I was still covering it remotely. And then eventually in 2022, I made the move to New York.

So I’m literally fresh off the boat, just been here two years. And now my focus is US retail. And I cover the big mass merchandisers. So I cover Walmart. That’s my main focus, really. Target, Costco, Kroger and Albertsons. And once in a while, sprinkling off Amazon here and there. But generally, it’s focused on the big box guys. So that’s my current role. My title is US e-commerce and retail correspondent.

Larissa Padden: 3:13

That’s great that you’ve been able to have such a long and like varied career at one company.

Siddharth Cavale: 3:18

Yeah.

Larissa Padden: 3:19

Yeah.

Siddharth Cavale: 3:20

When I was back there in India, what was unique about that place was that it was a growing bureau. And so they needed people to do multiple things at one time.

So I got a lot of opportunities to move teams and learn new things from different teams. While I was with the consumer team, I had also temporarily taken on being the editor for the manufacturing team. So basically the team that covered airlines, for example.

And at the same time, I also covered financial news. So I got opportunities to do these things. At the same time, I did high pressure job, which is called snapping.

And then I also got to move around within Reuters. I also worked in London. I had worked in New York before. And I also worked out of Sydney for about two or three weeks. So it gave me a lot of opportunities, a lot of growth. I think that really helped me build a foundation to make the leap here. And so that was unique. And that was really a very exciting time to be at Reuters. It still is. But that was when I was really learning a lot of things.

Larissa Padden: 4:12

Does doing what you do make you a more conscious consumer or make it harder to shop in any way, like kind of peeking behind the curtain?

Siddharth Cavale: 4:20

When you know things that go on in the background, it makes you a lot more conscious about what you’re spending. You notice a lot more things. You notice packaging. You notice what’s on the labels. You notice what the price is. You start tracking how stores are laid out. You start tracking how services. All these things were things that I would never notice when I went in.

My mission used to be, OK, go and buy milk and bread and walk out. And that would literally be it. But now I go in to buy four items. But I end up coming back with 40, just because I’m spending so much more time in the aisles looking at everything. And everything is so exciting. And I want to try everything. So definitely, it takes me a lot more time to shop. My wife hates it. But yes, it has made me more conscious.

But at the same time, it also has given me an appreciation of how all these things come together. Speaking with executives, speaking with supply chain people, what you see in the store is 1% of what really goes on in the background. The amount of effort that it takes to bring these things together and put them on the shelf is, you need to give some credit to the companies who do this, who have been doing this for decades. So that’s really the appreciation that I have got from reporting this beat.

Larissa Padden: 5:32

Yeah. Well, that does lead to my next question. And you mentioned Walmart. I was just reading that they actually had a really great quarter. And just overall, retail sales have exceeded expectations. So what you cover really speaks to the overall health of the US consumer. So how do you, as a reporter, balance what you hear about recession fears and inflation and Americans are hurting versus inventory and sales?

Siddharth Cavale: 5:57

It’s a very good question and a very hard question to answer. It’s very difficult. And it depends on who you’re talking and what’s their angle? But as a reporter, what you can do for your readers is provide the most context. You don’t have to tell them to think one way. You have to give them multiple sides, multiple opinions, and as much context as possible so they make the decision. It’s not up to you. So what I try to do is, in those cases, for example, I give you a contextual thing. You were just talking about how retail sales are high. You’ve got to look at the context. What I would note in my story is, sales are high because products have gone through three rounds of price hikes over the past two, three years.

So, what sales number you see is actually reflecting the amount of price that’s included over the past three years. So that’s one example. And then healthy inventories, for example, is another issue. Because prices are so high, they’re not people just flocking to stores. So, it makes it easier for retailers to manage inventories. So that’s why they call them healthy inventories. And at the same time, there has always been this overarching theme of a recession or a soft landing or a hard landing. So, retailers themselves have been very prudent in the way they order stuff. So, they manage healthy inventories by not ordering discretionary items, for example, apparel, shoes, etc. that people are not spending on. They’re just buying more of the essentials and stocking them. So, what other thing to note to tell our readers at that point is, hey, just don’t look at the sales, look at the unit sales, right? So, sales is just what we call a top line number. But unit sales actually tell you if people are buying more or not. So now you can tie that to other economic factors like, you know, balance sheets. You can tie it to like, you know, recessionary concerns.

You can talk about the wage market. You can say that these are the factors that are affecting unit sales. And these are the factors that are affecting sales because of the price hike. So, it’s you kind of provide that sort of context.

Larissa Padden: 7:45

Right.

Siddharth Cavale: 7:46

Also, then there are things to note, like, for example, is that is this is this a is this just a snapshot in time or is this, you know, is it an anomaly or is it like a long-term trend? And how do you do that? You look at historical trends. So say, OK, were sales and inventories pretty healthy going into the previous recession? So, I would look back at data going back to 2008, 2009 and the answer is, yes, they were. But then everything turned around. Right. So, you can bring about you can bring about some historical context there to provide to the readers. Then I also look at, you know, timing.

Sometimes inventories are higher ahead of the holiday season. That doesn’t mean the company is struggling. It’s just that they buy in more stock to sell at a later point.

Right. Right. So, these are things that you consider.

Then you also talk from both viewpoints. One is, you know, you talk to economists, you talk to industry watchers who basically will tell you more to give you more detail about what’s going on with the wage rates, what’s going on with unemployment. You know, why is recession imminent? And then on the flip side, you talk to analysts who cover the companies and they will be like, oh, no health inventories and sales are great because of yada yada yada.

Larissa Padden: 8:53

Right.

Siddharth Cavale: 8:54

So you offer both perspectives. But one of my favorite sources to always speak with is the investor in the company who’s got meat in the company. He’s looking at both economic data and he’s looking at the inventory and sales data. And so he’s trying to make the math in his head of whether you should invest in the stock. So they provide a much better sort of they’re a better source and they provide much more context. So these are kind of some factors that you need to note while you are writing. It’s pretty hard. Every day things change. Every new report brings up, you know, different fears. So it’s just about bringing as much context as possible to the reader.

Larissa Padden: 9:21

Interesting. Well, I learned a fun term recently, which is Summerween, which has kind of driven these summer Halloween themed festivals and celebrations. But really, it’s because retailers are debuting their Halloween line in the summer. So, can you give some insight into why we see holiday gifts appearing on shelves as soon as late summer, August and September? And what drives this kind of front loading?

Siddharth Cavale: 9:45

I mean, Summerween has been going on for since June, I think. I’ve seen Halloween products on shelves. I think I saw it. And was it a target where I saw the skeleton lamp or something that was targeted to a Halloween customer? And, you know, I saw those costumes. So what’s happening is we’ll have to like sort of step back a little bit and go back to when the war in the Middle East started. What that led to was these attacks in the Red Sea. So that kind of disrupted the global supply chain a bit. A lot of the merchandise that comes into the U.S. comes from China. And a lot of the merchandise sometimes takes the route of the Red Sea to get here, mostly on the East Coast. But because there were some attacks on cargo vessels there, ships have had to take a longer time to reach the states.

At the same time, this has also raised costs. Like if you had to go to the Red Sea, it would cut short your journey by 12 days. Now that you are going around the south of Africa, it’s now adding one million to two million to each cargo vessel. So that’s really expensive when you think about the amount of merchandise coming in. So that’s one factor. At the same time, the same attacks have raised cargo rates generally because it takes longer for the ship to reach the U.S. It takes longer for it to go back. So, the containers are just stuck in limbo on ships, sometimes without goods. So, what’s happened is this has raised the rates of containers also. So, retailers are looking at all these factors.

And they’ve also seen what they’ve seen is the consumer, in general, has been spreading his shopping pattern. So, for example, they are shopping for like last year. The holiday season literally started in October. Generally, the traditional start is Black Friday in November. But we saw retailers seeing consumers shop in the first week of October. So what retailers are trying to do right now is, OK, we’ve seen the Red Sea attacks is taking a long time for our goods to come.

At the same time, the cargo rates are really high. They might go even higher if things in the Middle East don’t sort themselves out soon. Plus, the consumer just looks like they want Halloween gifts right now and they’re ready to buy. Right. So why not? I just buy in all that merchandise and keep it in the U.S. and sort of have more resilience for any disruptions in the future. So these are sort of the factors that are driving this front loading that we call or front loading of orders.

Front loading basically means what you would order in Q3, which is quarter three. You would order in Q2. What you would order in Q2, you would order in Q1. So what’s happening right now with front loading is what would have been ordered in Q3 is now being ordered in Q2. So we’re seeing that a lot. And at some point, your inventory, the warehouse space that you have also diminishes. So you start putting them out on shelves and that’s where you see the Halloween gifts. In fact, the holiday season might start next month. So, you know, it’s just it’s just the consumer shopping earlier and earlier.

Retailers are just mindful of supply chain disruptions, especially with what happened during the pandemic. Another factor driving this so-called front loading has been tariffs. So Biden recently slapped China with tariffs on EVs, semiconductors, medical equipment, batteries, etc. So that is also driving a little bit of this front loading from industries that that we’re working at. For example, car industries, chip makers have also been seen front-loading orders. So it’s not just the retailers. And then at the same time, there’s also fear that potential Trump presidency would end up with more tariffs on China-made products, on a broader swath of products. And so some of the retailers who are heavily dependent on products that are made in China also front-loaded orders. But since, I guess, Kamala Harris’s nomination, things have sort of tempered down. But the other factors like the Red Sea still exists. The cargo rates being high exists. And also the consumer buying things earlier, for Summerween, for example, is still in play. So that’s why we are seeing Summerween happen right now.

Larissa Padden: 13:33

That’s so fascinating. You know, myself included, so many people I’m sure don’t realize that there’s so many of these macro global drivers that are impacting what’s on your shelf when. And you’re not thinking about that when you’re shopping and you’re just kind of complaining. Christmas season already, we haven’t even had Thanksgiving.

Siddharth Cavale: 13:50

Yeah, not just that. I mean, one of the biggest impacts right now is the chocolate that you eat has been so tough to source over the last one and a half years. So, for example, many of the big chocolate companies like Mars, Federal Raw Share, everyone are struggling to get cocoa bean supplies just because in Ghana, there has been illegal mining of gold happening that is clearing out cocoa plantations. And so the stocks are really low.

And this is also driving prices really high. So this is another way in which chocolate companies may be bringing on more product earlier. And at the same time, you know, they are trying to substitute chocolate with other things like nuts and caramel, you know, stuff to make sure that what supplies they have go for longer.

So these are things like you buy that chocolate. It has taken pretty it has been an effort to get that on the shelf. Wow. It’s just a small example of things that go on within the retail store.

Larissa Padden: 14:40

Yeah, that’s fascinating. And I’m envious because it sounds like you really enjoy reporting on what you report on. But I do want to switch gears a little bit and talk about kind of the inner workings of how you do things and how you work with PR. So I’m interested in how you work with PR individuals. Do you accept a lot of pitches? Do you find your own stories? And what gets your attention or response in a pitch?

Siddharth Cavale: 15:01

Honestly, it’s my editor who tells me what I need to report. OK. OK. So generally, we have editorial hurdles and meetings where we talk about what we want and what stories we want to follow up on, what stories we want to write. Then I go scouting my inbox for PR pitches to see if they match those angles. And then I see, you know, that I find data when I find, you know, something that matches the story that I’m working on. I engage with the PR person.

That being said, it does not mean that I don’t read my pitches. I get hundreds of pitches. I do read them. But we’re also simultaneously working on so many stories that it’s hard to like process many of those pitches at one time. And also some of them are very badly written. Some of them, you know, they’re not even industry-related. They don’t know what your reporting is about. And so you don’t feel like you need to respond and that you don’t need to reply. And so I know that you know, PR will get a little bit upset about that.

But it is hard because we’re also dealing with, you know, a hundred other emails at the same time. What I do is my strategy is to go in and see whose data will help steer my story ahead and then reach out. So it’s more of an engagement from my side. So what I look for in PR emails is clarity. And like they say, what is the most important point that you’re trying to make and trying to provide to me? Put it right up top, right? Because everybody is pressed for time in the social media age, especially attention spans are so low. So be clear with what you’re trying to say.

The person that you’re offering should not talk about a trend that has already happened or talk about a story that has been written by my rival. You know, I don’t want to talk about that. I want to talk about something that you can tell me is currently happening, not will happen. So I’m not looking for trends. This is 2024. This is what people are going to do based on a survey of 5000 people. Or, you know, tell me what you’re seeing right now. Like is a company doing, say, for example, is a company actually moving trucks from diesel to EVs, for example? And is that retailer? Is it a retailer? And does it does it matter to me? And can you provide me the executive who is doing that? Or maybe provide me someone who has inside details about this. Talk to me about stuff that is new and exclusive and is credible. The source is credible, not just a not just a talking head from some firm who has some AI-generated data. So I guess I look at that. I look at what’s on the subject.

I look at how they also respond to you and how quickly they respond to you. And in Reuters, the major thing that we say our deadlines are ASAP all the time because our stories, you know, they have just have a – they usually have a lifeline of just like one day. So we want to like update our stories as quickly as possible.

So if someone can get back to me and ask me whether also the option to be asked whether written commentary is preferred or a call is preferred or Zoom call is preferred or phone is preferred would be really helpful, right? Because sometimes they will we spend about two hours just figuring out when we should set up a call. And I’ve lost time just trying to report my story. So if if they can be, you know, upfront that we will provide you a written commentary about this right now.

Is that OK? That’d be great. Or he’s ready to come on to the call in five minutes. Can you speak? That’d be great. So anything that’s quick is a quick turnaround would be is really helpful. What else do I look from firms? I try to meet them, but nobody really seems to want to meet. It’s just mostly on emails.

And also nobody seems to pick up the phone and call anymore. Like, you know, if someone gives me like this elevator pitch saying that, hey, Sid, I have this data about Walmart’s prices being low 20 percent and Amazon’s were up 10 percent. Boom, you got my attention. Right. Tell me more about this data. There’s a story out there. What are the you know, what is the context? Tell me everything. So if they just call to say that much instead of writing an email, it’s super helpful, saves my time, saves their time. So these are some of the things I like to I like some of the best peers I work with and we’re building networks with generally will text me and say, hey, Sid, are you busy? I have this guy who’s willing to talk to you.

You might have some extra information to provide about the story you did. I would say, yes, please. And then they’ll be like, OK, let me set up a call. And they’ll be like, OK, can you talk in five minutes? We can do that. So it’s it’s obviously on a case-by-case basis. Sometimes there are stories that we take time to report out. You know, I understand some of this data takes time to collect. But yeah, if you grab my attention with a really small blurb of what you’re proposing, that’s really helpful.

Larissa Padden: 19:16

Yeah, there’s so much in there I relate to as a former reporter. But I never think about that picking up the phone and reaching out is easier on us as PR as well. Instead of we spend so much time trying to craft the perfect pitch that’s going to get someone’s attention when we could just pick up the phone and say we’ve got so-and-so that’s ready to talk about so-and-so.

Siddharth Cavale: 19:33

Absolutely. So obviously picking up the phone is great. Also, instantly giving me responses or email in case you cannot set up a call is super helpful. Sometimes some of the greatest flags that I work with know that I’m covering Target tomorrow. And they’ll be like, hey, I’ve got three people who can say something on this. I’m just going to send it to you. Use it or don’t use it doesn’t matter. But I’m just going to send it to you. And it’s so helpful because sometimes I’m digging and then I look at, oh, wow, this comment is right here. There’s a great quote here. let’s use it.

So it saves us a lot of time. So that’s another one thing that really pisses me off, though, about the whole about this, especially covering retail, is that you get so many surveys about consumer spending behavior, about when they are going to spend for the holidays, what they’re going to spend on. And it’s based on a very small sample set. So they say that they survey basically 2000 people and they say, oh, the whole of America is going to do exactly this because these 2000 people said so. So those surveys are something that my data hates, like, especially when it’s a small sample set.

So that’s something that we are trying to move away from survey-related data. If you can give us real customers, real people on the ground and show us how they’re changing their shopping patterns over a period of time, that’s more helpful than telling us, you know, 2000 people somewhere are doing this because of x, x, x reason. So these are some sort of things that I like that I appreciate when that PRs do and don’t appreciate when they do. And the last one is they ask us to link us back to their website. That is a complete no, no, because we’re not an aggregator. So we just don’t do that.

So if you have your name in the story, that’s the marketing we can provide. But we just cannot do these links, etc. And also, please explain to us in three words what that company does or how it’s come to collect that data. Very simple. Call me and tell me. It’s much easier to explain.

Larissa Padden: 21:25

We do get a lot of clients that have these really interesting big-picture stories they want to pitch, but you’re not doing it right now. And so that’s what it sounds like. That wouldn’t fly. Like you got to tell me something that’s actually happening right now. Otherwise –

Siddharth Cavale: 21:38

it’s called reporting for a reason. You’re reporting what is happening. You’re not reporting the future. Nobody can report the future. You don’t have a crystal ball in front of you. So tell us what’s going on right now within a company. Tell us what’s going on right now within one part of the country and how you have noticed that. That’s even key.

How did you come to this analysis or how did you understand that this is a trend would be helpful? Sometimes we need to be fed information. We need to be given a whack on the head and say, hey, dude, this is happening. Why aren’t you looking at it? So we appreciate some of that hand-holding sometimes and also brevity.

Larissa Padden: 22:13

So I always like to end with a couple of fun questions. And it sounds like you get a lot of pitches. And I would guess that based on what you cover and so many big retailer names, you get some way off-base pitches. So I’m curious, what’s the worst pitch you’ve ever received? If there’s one or any kind of thing that sticks out in your brain?

Siddharth Cavale: 22:29

Wow, it’s like I can make a book of the 100 worst pitches I’ve ever received.

Larissa Padden: 22:33

Oh, please put it together and we can actually pass it around to people here.

Siddharth Cavale: 22:37

I mean, I’ve been covering this for 14 years, so I’ve come across some. But one of the more recent ones and, you know, I’m a retail reporter was this. This is just in my inbox about, I guess, about six months ago. So it starts with this is the headline revealed.

Cardi B receives over 200,000 follower boost following offset cheating rumors. And then there’s a quote that says, if you want to speak to a spokesperson from XXX Place, he can comment on these findings. He says, although fans of Cardi B had already suspected that her relationship with Offset had ended, it’s interesting to analyze her follower count after her official announcement.

Fans may be following in support of the rapper, especially after Offset’s denied cheating allegations. This has nothing to do with what I report or what I have to do. But I get mails like this. The other one was what is the nation’s favorite Super Bowl foods? Pizza reigns supreme, followed by chili and deviled eggs, buffalo chicken dip, guacamole. And then there’s an amazing expert quote. The findings highlight the dynamic and inclusive nature of Super Bowl food culture, showcasing the various tastes and traditions that contribute to the overall game day experience. Would you be interested in speaking with this person right now? And so these are like some of the funny ones. There is also I get multiple pitches about writing about the hottest holiday items. And then some of them will be like the 10 favorite shoes that women are buying during the holiday.

Would you like to try one? I’m a guy. So, you know, just kind of when you are sending out these, you’re making these email blasts, just make sure you’re at least filtering some of that.

Larissa Padden: 24:13

Right. I was going to say, too, it’s laughable just given all the very interesting and serious conversation that we had today about all these global macroeconomic trends that those pitches are so far off base. But also, I think maybe the best examples we have ever had about why it’s important to know what a reporter covers when you’re pitching them.

Siddharth Cavale: 24:33

Exactly. This is really important. Just do a simple Google search. It’ll tell you a lot. I mean, all of the reporters, you just put in my name and you will see the column of all my articles. It’s just I just think that some people don’t put enough effort. It’s fine. I guess everyone is pressed for time, but some of them are so off base, like you said. And these are like I said, I get hundreds of emails a week. I think 30 percent are completely not to do with my beat, nothing to do with my reporting. So that’s kind of and that’s where you get frustrated. So sometimes the good pitches get lost in that.

Larissa Padden: 25:03

Right. Yeah.

Siddharth Cavale: 25:05

there is a danger. You know, there’s a big danger of that. And many times I have when somebody then pops it back in my inbox, I’ll be like, hey, why did I miss this? And that’s because it was it came in the middle of the day between Cardi B. Right.

Larissa Padden: 25:20

Well, my last question, candidly, was going to ask if you could cover anything that you’re not covering or topic or beat, what would it be? But it sounds like you love covering what you cover and you’ve been doing it for a long time. So I actually wanted to go back to something you mentioned at the top, which is you started writing these snaps, which are very short headlines getting to the point. Is that almost more difficult than writing longer-form stories? Because definitely writing brief versus long is hard for me. And I can’t imagine summing up a story in one sentence.

Siddharth Cavale: 25:49

100 percent, 100 percent. And you also have to do that within 10 seconds. Like it’s that’s how fast. Because nowadays investors are trading on algos. So they reflect to the to the number on the snap. And they need to do that. They need to be faster than someone else. So we were under immense pressure to put out what I think it was 64 characters. I think it was then we just expanded it to slightly more characters, but 64 characters to say, OK, Walmart’s sales rose X percent and beat estimates is hard. Like, you know, that did help me in writing eventually. Keep it keep it short and simple and then keep it, you know, be quick.

You know, this whole impatience with some of the pitches and stuff is because in snaps, everything would have to happen so quickly. And here now I’m just it’s hard to unlearn that. And you want everything being done very quickly. So it’s very interesting, you know, that that really was a big learning curve. And I’m great that I’m grateful that I started there. And then if I had to cover anything, I think soccer is soccer here or football in the UK is something I follow. I’ve been following religiously for some time. Arsenal is my is my favorite club, but it’s not them that I want to cover. There is this one reporter called Fabrizio Romano. He is a big breaker of transfer deals between in clubs about who they are, you know, who they’re bringing on, how much money they’re going to pay. And he’s become such an expert at it that he’s he enjoys like almost the footballer life. And he’s become like such a confident and a pal of so many of the soccer stars.

I think Neymar, for example, that they tell him news first about where they are going and telling their own managers. My interest in covering this beat and why I wanted to cover it came from when Arsenal recruited this Real Madrid player called Mesut Ozil. At that point, Arsenal was really struggling and we didn’t have a star. And I think it was Fabrizio who broke it. And we were elated that we were getting a superstar in our team. And I know how chuffed or, you know, how everyone who supported Arsenal was so happy about it. And if I can bring that joy in somebody’s life by just telling them that, you know, there’s a transfer deal that’s happened, it’s interesting. I just think that, you know, I don’t know how he does it. He apparently stalks players in hotel lobbies and then he sits in hotel lobbies and he just sees players coming and going out. And so then he writes. And most of the times he’s right with his predictions. So that’s something I’m interested in covering.

But I also like airlines. And obviously, who doesn’t like to cover travel? But I like just airlines and like Airbus and Boeing, what planes they fly, where they fly. It’s just something else I would do.

Larissa Padden: 28:24

Yeah. One question we sometimes ask is, what is your dream interview? And it sounds like that’s yours.

Siddharth Cavale: 28:29

Yeah. Yeah. It’s possibly that. I mean, I don’t know who would be interesting to dream interview. Oh God, that’s a good question. If I had to, it would be Michael Jackson. It’s just that I realized I just grew up on his songs and it would be he’s just an interesting character. I just think it would be like a it would be great if it was alive to interview him. But second, it would be someone from Arsenal, maybe some maybe the manager itself, Mikel Arteta. So that could be one of the most things. Yeah, my ambitions are pretty low. It’s not like the U.S. president or anything. But, you know, definitely someone in the soccer field.

Larissa Padden: 29:04

Well, this has been great. And behind the scenes story for another time, soccer game is how we actually met you and how you came to be on this podcast. So it’s good to come full circle.

Siddharth Cavale: 29:13

Exactly. Thank you for having me.

Larissa Padden: 29:15

Thank you for being here.

Larissa Padden

Vice President / United States

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