Alumni
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Q&A with Paige Akin Mudd '96
Share a little about your career and what you've done since completing school.
I interned as a reporter at the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Richmond, Virginia, before my last semester at Syracuse University. Richmond is a fabulous city, and I wanted to get back here. After about a year reporting for the Syracuse daily newspaper, I got a call to come back to the RTD and I’ve been here ever since (December 2000). I rose from a local school district reporter to crime reporter, then breaking news editor, metro editor, senior editor, managing editor and now executive editor for the past few years. I’m proud to say I’m the RTD’s first female executive editor in its 169-year history.
Why do you do what you do?
I discovered newspaper work in high school working with then-English teacher David Marshall at The Dial and I fell in love with news and writing. The work we do as part of a daily newspaper team is important and influences our readers and decision-makers here across the state. We hold people accountable, we serve as a watchdog for government and others, we follow how taxpayer money is spent. And we also write fun and touching and entertaining stories about people in our community. Every day is different – in the news industry, you never know how each day will unfold. So it’s exciting.
What are you passionate about at work?
Working with reporters, photographers, editors, designers and web staff to provide news every day that’s fresh and engaging. It’s not always easy, but it’s always rewarding.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
Outside work, I spend almost all of my time with my family. I’m married to a native Richmonder, Brian Mudd, and we have three kids – Beau (10), Whitney (8) and Campbell (4). They keep us on our toes, as anyone watching my feed on Facebook knows! I also love cooking and food of all kinds, music and sitting on a beach, any beach.
What was your experience like at Tower Hill?
Tower Hill is a truly special place that prepares kids so well for their college life and life after that. It’s such a rigorous learning environment that I got to Syracuse and thought, “Wow, this isn’t hard at all” because THS had challenged me so much for 14 years. Those who get to attend Tower Hill are very lucky; I’m proud and lucky that my parents committed the resources to send my brother Tyler (Class of 2002, now a successful chef with multiple restaurants in Philadelphia) to THS for 14 years each.
How do you feel that Tower Hill influenced your life and career?
I was uber-prepared for college and life, and I look back on my years, my friends and my teachers with love and fond memories.
