The university welcomed Wall Street Journal reporter and author Keach Hagey to speak about her new book, her work in the journalism sphere, life beyond Evansville and many other topics in Carter Hall on Oct. 18.

Hagey spoke at two different sessions. The first session was focused on talking directly to students about her path from Evansville to New York. She also spoke on her new book, her journalistic career and all that came with it.

Some students attended this session for extra credit in a class, such as freshman education major Alexis Stockdale and junior undecided major Trent Thompson, but left the session more satisfied than they expected to be.

“I kind of forgot what this was about when I came in, but I really enjoyed it. It was actually pretty cool,” Thompson said.

Stockdale said she enjoyed the format in particular.

“It was definitely more question-based than I expected,” Stockdale said. “People were asking questions rather than her just talking, which was kind of interesting to see because you think that it’d be different than that.”

Thompson and Stockdale said they were impressed by Hagey’s “inspiring” story of her journey.

An Evansville native, Hagey studied English and French at Stanford, and was a self-described “radio nerd” in college.

She moved to New York immediately following college and worked a job outside of journalism for a few years, before moving on to her first job at a newspaper, the Queens Chronicle.

“It wasn’t a straight line. I just followed things I sort of was curious about, and a lot of my friends were that way,” Hagey said.

Stockdale said that as someone from a small town, she found Hagey’s words to be “very inspiring.”

Hagey also advised students to build relationships with their professors, to follow their own curiosities and to build their writing skills.

“It gave hope to ideas of going somewhere bigger than just, you know, somewhere local. It makes it believable like it’s an actual opportunity,” Thompson said.

The second session was open to the public and focused more on her book and the media itself.

Hagey’s recent book, “The King of Content,” focuses on the life and cultural impacts of Sumner Redstone who Hagey describes as “one of the greatest media moguls of the 21st century.”