Introduction :
- Astead Wesley Herndon is a political reporter and journalist.
- Currently, he works as a National Political Reporter for The New York Times.
Personal Life, Parents and Family Details :
- Astead was born on March 31, 1992, in Brooklyn, New York.
- Astead is currently single and does not have any children.
Education : Qualifications, High School & College Info
- Astead attended Homewood-Flossmoor High School in Chicago, Illinois. His mother, Myrna Herndon, encouraged him to write for the school paper The Voyager.
- After completing his high-school studies in 2010, he went on to college. During his first year in college, he thought he would be going into a career in politics and even helped in some campaigns. However, this only made him realize that he didn’t really want to go into politics.
- In 2015, Astead earned a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Political Science from Marquette University, a Catholic Jesuit university located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
- While completing his university studies, Astead worked as a McBeth Fellow and was allowed to write articles for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinal. During this time, he also took a year off and joined AmeriCorps. Through that organization, he taught children in the inner city.
Career, Income, Salary and Net Worth :
- Astead credits his work for his school paper in Homewood as the stepping stone into journalism. Growing up in a suburban neighborhood south of Chicago, he also developed an understanding of how policy can impact people, particularly middle-class Black families.
- At the beginning of his career, he worked for the Marquette Tribune and other publications.
- The news reporter once worked as a City Hall and General Assignment Reporter for the Boston Globe’s Metro Section.
- He then worked as a political reporter for the Globe’s Washington Bureau.
- In 2018, it was announced that Astead would be joining The New York Times as a national politics reporter, a job that he continues to hold today.
Interesting Facts, Height and Trivia :
- Astead loves all types of music, including musical theatre and Kanye West.
- He had a column in his high school newspaper called “Get in Astead’s Head.”
- Before his current successful career as a political journalist, Herndon worked at Jimmy John’s sub shop.
- He is a fan of Game of Thrones. During the pandemic, he watched various TV shows and movies, including “The Sopranos,” “Harry Potter,” and “Boardwalk Empire.”
- Astead is a sports enthusiast, loving soccer and basketball. His favorite soccer team is a London-based team: Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, of which he is a die-hard fan. His friends, who are also fans of the team, have a message group called “Moussa Sissoko.”
- The NY Times reporter has reported on and written all types of stories, not just those that involve politics.
- Astead was once offered a bribe of 5,000 dollars while writing a crime story in Boston. He declined the offer but continued with his story. For another story, he decided to eat all the food sold at a county fair.
- In 2018, he returned to his old high school, Homewood-Flossmoor High, to talk about journalism to the students.
- He has said that he prefers print journalism due to the ability to do more investigative reporting.
