From odd jobs to T.V. news anchor

From the FOX Business Network studio in New York, Dagen McDowell has interviewed both Hillary Clinton and Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO who now advises John McCain’s economic policy.

She’s also questioned a range of experts on dozens of topics: Will more banks fail? How are the financial markets affecting the overall economy? What’s the future of the auto industry?

And she’s done all that with a Campbell County accent and a degree in Art History.

A Brookneal native, McDowell has built a name in financial journalism in New York City. She co-anchors FOX Business Network two hours a day.

She sees her job as helping average viewers understand financial news.

“This is the most interesting history and time for finance. … It’s also incredibly complicated,” McDowell said. “The thing about covering business and finance … is it is incredibly fascinating and it affects everybody’s life.”

In a phone interview in July, McDowell said she was lucky to grow up in a small, supportive southern town. “It gives you a firm foundation forever. Looking back, that’s one of the things I cherish the most,” she said.

She attended elementary and middle school in Brookneal and high school in Richmond. After majoring in Art History at Wake Forest University, she went to Colorado for a series of odd jobs.

After two years, “I decided I needed a career,” McDowell said. “I just packed my bags and moved to New York.”

McDowell’s job search took her to Institutional Investor, an international finance publisher. It wasn’t the usual path for an Art History major, but she passed a reporting test and got a job offer.

She said her career has required a lot of learning on the job. “I’ve always worked for people who gave me a chance,” she said. “I haven’t always had the perfect résumé. (But) if you step up and work hard and do a good job, I’ve always been able to move up that way.”

She worked her way through several financial writing jobs. In 2003, after appearing regularly on FOX’s “Your World” with Neil Cavuto, she got a job with FOX.

Life has continued in the fast lane since then.

McDowell and her husband live a five-minute walk from the studio, so she can race to work for breaking news.

She’s on the air from 10 a.m. to noon on weekdays, but she spends 10 hours per day researching issues. “Part of anchoring is being up on everything that you could possibly have to talk about,” she said.

On Thursday, McDowell facilitated a debate between Ayn Rand Institute president Yaron Brook and former House Committee on Aging chief of staff Bob Weiner, as they discussed whether Social Security should be dispensed of.

The debate became heated, and McDowell fired hard questions to both sides, like she already knew the answers and just had to draw them out.

She’s combined the art of speaking fast with the art of the southern drawl.

“I’ve still got an accent, for Pete’s sake,” she said in the July interview. “And they’ve never given me a word about the accent, about getting rid of it.”

McDowell’s parents, Joyce and Charles McDowell, still live in Brookneal.