My life: Kristie Lu Stout

I was born in Philadelphia to a European-American father and Taiwanese mother but spent most of my time growing up in Silicon Valley. It was during my time at Stanford University that I decided to become a journalist. As an undergraduate I worked for The Stanford Daily newspaper and KZSU [Stanford University's FM radio station] and I was also freelancing for 10 cents a word. I was 17 years old and pitching to every magazine I could think of so I could put together a portfolio. I'm not precious about my age - I'm 38 - so this was in the early 1990s, a time when the internet was taking off. My first real job was with Wired magazine. It was 1996 and I was an editorial intern when the first ad banner went online … I compare the time to working at the Andy Warhol Factory: there was Stereolab playing; people would bring their dogs to work; there was a masseuse, a gourmet chef … this was a cool place to be and a real game-changing event to see the rise of online media.

In 2000, I gave a speech at the Hong Kong Foreign Correspondents' Club about the internet in China. A senior producer from CNN was in the audience and invited me to be a guest, and later asked if I would consider a career in television. I started at CNN in 2001 as a television and dotcom reporter - the learning curve was really steep. I remember [foreign correspondent] Mike Chinoy literally throwing a book on my desk about how to write for television. I remembered him from when he covered Tiananmen in 1989, so I thought I had better read up.