The Human Story Behind the Business & Brand - Global Human Stories Author Rachel Hartigan
The Human Story Behind the Business & Brand - Global Human Stories Author Rachel Hartigan  
Podcast: The Human Behind the Career Brand
Published On: Sat Mar 07 2026
Description: My next guest for this podcast series is globally focused writer, editor, reporter and human-narrative storyteller Rachel Hartigan from the USA. Born and raised in the unassuming tourist town of Reno in Nevada, Rachel’s expansive career journey includes as a journalist at the Washington Post as well as US News, and as a long-term senior editor and reporter for National Geographic. She also previously worked for Nevada State’s lawmakers, Harpers Magazine, Editorial Projects in Education, as well as the ‘Range’ magazine targeting cowboys. Across the past several decades, she’s expertly navigated the bumps, grinds and continual shifts within the world of publishing to explore a range of themes and theories. Whether writing about persimmon tree genetics or reporting on the struggle for women's suffrage. And Rachel’s new book ‘Lost’, written after leaving National Geographic, investigates the three competing perspectives on female aviation pioneer Amelia Earhart’s disappearance.Rachel identifies herself in Earhart, in terms of resilience, unconventional choices and career pivots, as well as a curiosity that has taken her across multiple continents and human and societal contexts. Her background editing at the Washington Post's Book World and her reporting on education and culture for US News have cultivated a storyteller who appreciates and celebrates multidimensional lives. Rachel has spent years probing not just what someone did, but why they did it, and how personal obsessions, values and relationships shape what we do and who we become. She delves deeply without intruding or overstepping, to deliver insights that inform, inspire and possibly reshape existing views.