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You lived in Hawaii until you were 24. What brought you to Iowa?

I transferred within my company. At the time, I was working as a TV producer, reporter and assignment editor at the CBS station in Honolulu, KGMB, and it was owned by Lee Enterprises (Inc.). I looked at Lee’s job postings and had never been to Iowa before, probably didn’t even really realize exactly where it was, and I actually took a pay cut to come to Iowa (to the Ottumwa Courier). So I packed my things up, sold a lot of things, and moved out here to Iowa, and it really did move my career in the right direction. Every year after I moved here, I was pretty much offered a promotion or a new job.

Why journalism?

My dad and my uncle were engineers, so the idea was that I would be an engineer. So I was in high school, taking math classes and mechanical drawing classes. I worked hard, but it didn’t come to me easily. (However), writing and journalism always came to me easily. Anything from being the student council secretary in middle school to being the editor of the high school paper, writing always came (easily) to me. I pretty much made the decision my senior year in high school that I would be a journalist.

What led you to iowapolitics.com?

I worked at The Des Moines Register for 10 years (Note: When she began, her byline was Lynn Okamoto.) and took a year off over the past year to spend with my daughter; it was a wonderful year. I was on part-time status at the Register with the bosses saying they wanted me to come back when I was done with my year off, but when it was time to get back, they were doing layoffs and it wasn’t a good time. So I started to pursue other options.

With the elections near, you must be busy. How are you handling that?

Not too well. Although this week is better than last week. We’ve had the federal $700 billion bailout, so I was busy getting congression-al reaction (in Iowa). Also (Sen.) John McCain has been in the state, so that’s kept me busy. And then iowapolitics does a monthly televised issue forum, and last Tuesday was my first issue forum as bureau chief. That took some energy. So when you compile all of those things, I worked a 21-hour day last Wednesday. So it was a rough week.

How do you feel business and politics interrelate?

I guess the first thought that comes to my mind is that businesses are always viewed on the side of Republicans, whereas unions, the workers, are viewed on the side of Democrats. You know at the Capitol, when you have business interests, they tend to have an ear more for the Republican legislators who are calling for tax breaks and incentives for the businesses. It’s definitely a different mentality between the two.

You work from home. Does that take discipline?

I’ve always been pretty driven, so it’s not hard to work out of (my) home given that my daughter is at preschool, so it’s not like there are any distractions. I actually work harder when I work (at) home (because) you never really get away from it. I mean even in the evening and on the weekends, you’re kind of tempted to do some work because it’s right there.

How would you describe your career path?

I was focused on my career when I was in my 20s, but now here in my 30s, I am looking for more of a balance in life. I am still happy to be in the work force. I’m happy to have a job in this economy, but I think my overall goal is to find a good balance.