Short questions with Dana Perino for Claudia Cowan

You’ve seen us on display screen, however have you ever ever questioned what we’re like off-camera? 

For the previous few months, I’ve loved checking in with a few of your favourite Fox personalities to study extra about who they’re behind the scenes. 

What’s the one factor Jesse Watters couldn’t stay with out? What’s Bill Hemmer’s favourite Halloween costume? And what’s sitting on Greg Gutfeld’s nightstand? 

But that is not all! The enjoyable is simply getting began.

This week, we’re excited to shine the highlight on Claudia Cowan. She’s served as Fox News Channel’s San Francisco-based senior correspondent for greater than 20 years. She joined the community as a San Francisco correspondent in 1998.

Among many different tales, she lined the 2022 San Francisco faculty board’s recall election and COVID-19 insurance policies. In addition, she has extensively reported on the crime wave surging all through California — and in 2020, she offered stay protection from Seattle’s Capitol Hill Organized Protest (CHOP) zone. She has additionally offered vital protection surrounding the deadly California wildfires which have impacted the West Coast lately.

P.S. We have a lot extra in retailer for you. Stay tuned every week for new editions of “Short Questions with Dana Perino” — and if there’s a query you need solutions to or a suggestion for the particular person I ought to interview subsequent, go away a notice within the feedback part under. 

This week, California-based Claudia Cowan solutions an array of Dana Perino’s “Short questions” — sharing of her work, “My favorite story is my next one.” She additionally reveals her favourite films, the most effective recommendation she’s ever acquired — and her alternative of biggest innovation from Silicon Valley. (Fox News/Claudia Cowan)

Q: Let’s begin with just a little background. Where are you from? Where’d you go to high school? And what native markets did you’re employed in previous to becoming a member of Fox?

CC: I grew up in Beverly Hills, California, with mother and father who labored within the leisure trade. 

My father, Warren Cowan, based Rogers & Cowan, the preeminent public relations agency in Hollywood, and my mom is veteran actress of stage and display screen Barbara Rush. 

I went to boarding faculty in Colorado Springs for my 4 years of highschool, then spent a yr at UC Santa Barbara earlier than transferring and graduating with a BA in English from UCLA in 1985. 

“I’ve been very blessed to have worked my whole life in my home state of California.” 

Prior to working at Fox, my first job was as a messenger at KTTV in Los Angeles, then as an task desk editor, reporter and anchor at KMST in Monterey, reporter and anchor for seven years at KOVR in Sacramento, and reporter and anchor at KRON in San Francisco.  

I’ve been very blessed to have labored my complete life in my residence state of California.  

Q: You’ve lined quite a lot of large tales at Fox. Which one stands out to you as your favourite task up to now and why? 

CC: My greatest and longest operating task is the Scott Peterson case. It started as a lacking particular person story on Christmas Eve 2002, when Laci Peterson vanished and not using a hint from Modesto, California, and continued into final yr with a decide’s denial of Peterson’s attraction for a brand new trial based mostly on allegations of a stealth juror who was out to punish him. 

This story gripped the nation, and I used to be glad to inform the numerous angles: protection lawyer Mark Geragos with his radical theories about what may need occurred to Laci, Sharon Rocha’s emotional attraction for her daughter to be returned, after which her gut-wrenching assertion in court docket about how Laci and Conner have been buried collectively — then the authorized twists and turns as Scott tried to overturn his conviction. 

My favourite story is my subsequent one. 

Q: I’m curious: What’s your absolute favourite film of all time? 

CC: Gosh, that’s a tough one, however I really like the classics like “My Fair Lady,” “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir” and “The Bishop’s Wife.” 

One favourite starred my mother, “Magnificent Obsession.” It’s about serving to others with out wanting any credit score, or something in return. I really like the message of that film, that this sort of nameless generosity can grow to be an obsession. 

Q: If you possibly can be a personality in any movie, who would you select to be and why?

CC: I’d be Sherlock Holmes, the model fantastically performed by Benedict Cumberbatch, as a result of he seemingly is aware of tips on how to take the smallest clues and remedy any thriller with swagger and aptitude. 

“I would love the ability to find missing people and bring peace to their families.”

Given all of the tragic tales I’ve lined, I’d love the power to seek out lacking folks and convey peace to their households. 

Q: If you possibly can invite any three musicians, lifeless or alive, to a cocktail party the place you’ll collaborate collectively on a tune, who would you select?

CC: I feel I’d have Burt Bacharach, a very outstanding songwriter, plus Ella Fitzgerald, top-of-the-line singers ever, and Quincy Jones to provide what I feel can be one hell of a ballad.  

Q: What is the most effective recommendation you have ever been given?

CC: I used to get nervous doing stay photographs, and my mother would inform me to simply “talk to me, Claudia.” She would inform me to overlook in regards to the tens of millions of viewers tuning in and simply inform the story to her alone, and I’d attempt to image her face behind the digicam. 

That actually did assist settle my nerves and assist me concentrate on telling the story as if I used to be speaking to my favourite particular person.

Q: Let’s pivot to expertise and innovation. In your view, what stands out as the best invention to emerge from Silicon Valley? 

CC: I’d need to say the laptop computer laptop, just like the MacBook Pro on which I’m working proper now. 

“Innovators in Silicon Valley continue to make upgrades, so my favorite invention will keep getting better.”

My laptop computer is my transportable workplace, organizer, photograph gallery and mode of communication through textual content, e-mail and prime line. It makes my life a lot simpler than again within the days once I wrote the whole lot out longhand in spiral notebooks. 

The better part is, these innovators in Silicon Valley proceed to make upgrades, so my favourite invention will preserve getting higher. 

Q: Follow: What is one app in your telephone that you simply swear by, nevertheless it may not be on mine? 

CC: DiscoverMy. I’ve two grown youngsters who stay miles away and we don’t discuss each day. 

But once I miss them, I can see the place they (or no less than their telephones) are on the DiscoverMy app, and really feel a small measure of consolation. 

Q: Who is your favourite particular person you comply with on X, previously referred to as Twitter?

CC: Before my Twitter account was suspended final yr, I loved following James Woods, the actor who’s a voice of purpose for the center-right, and who calls out hypocrites and bias and downright lies. He additionally praises the heroes on the market who do the proper factor, and I really like his posts that give nods to Hollywood legends, too. 

For apparent causes, I don’t need folks to overlook veteran stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age. 

Q: When you have been just a little child, what did you need to be while you grew up?

CC: Initially, I wished to be an actress, following in my mom’s footsteps, after which once I found I didn’t need that life badly sufficient to take a seat by numerous auditions to no avail, I attempted my hand at my father’s profession and frolicked working at his public relations agency. 

That didn’t resonate both, so I made a decision to grow to be a journey author. While I used to be wanting for a job at a journey journal, I labored as a messenger at KTTV in Los Angeles, and on my first day walked into the newsroom. The midday newscast was underway, telephones have been ringing, wire machines have been churning, and all hell was breaking free behind the anchors — who maintained a cool composure amid the managed chaos. 

“I don’t cook, but I do make a mean bread pudding.”

When they winked at me throughout a business break, I knew I’d discovered my calling. To at the present time, I’m combining the most effective of what my mother and father did — I’m on TV and promoting a narrative — and pinch myself once I consider the way it all turned out. 

Q: If you have been a contestant on a cooking present, what signature dish would you put together to impress the judges?

CC: I don’t cook dinner, however I do make a imply bread pudding utilizing croissants, thinly sliced apples, cinnamon and raisins, topped off with a Grand Marnier sauce that slays each time. I feel they’d be impressed. 

Q: What do you like most about working for Fox News?

CC: So many issues, together with the corporate’s loyalty to — and religion in — longtime workers who get to inform tales you received’t see wherever else. 

But on a private degree, Fox has employed my daughter, Sabrina, and is giving her a route to success in the identical method it gave one to me. My daughter grew up seeing a mother blissful to rise up at midnight to cowl breaking information, fires and court docket circumstances, a mother thrilled to be requested to anchor on Christmas, and each day, she sees an instance of somebody who finds confidence and power in doing onerous work nicely. 

When folks speak about being a part of the Fox household, that is what it means. 

I’m so blessed to have labored at Fox for the reason that begin, to have lined so many necessary tales, to work with so many great folks, and now, to see my daughter develop right here as nicely (Sabrina is an affiliate producer at Fox Nation). 

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To learn all of Dana Perino’s earlier “Short Questions” interviews for Fox News Digital, take a look at this (lengthy) checklist!

For her interview with Max Gorden, click on right here. 

For her interview with Jared Cohen, click on right here. 

For her interview with William La Jeunesse, click on right here.

For her interview with Matt Finn, click on right here.

For her interview with Rich Edson, click on right here.

For her interview with Gov. Chris Sununu, click on right here. 

For her interview with Ross Rayburn, click on right here. 

For her interview with Mark Meredith, click on right here. 

For her interview with Emily Compagno, click on right here.

For her interview with Chad Pergram, click on right here. 

For her interview with Mike Emanuel, click on right here. 

For her interview with Gillian Turner, click on right here. 

For her interview with Madison Alworth, click on right here. 

For her interview with Nate Foy, click on right here.

For her interview with Laura Ingraham, click on right here. 

For her interview with 5 New York FOX reporters, click on right here. 

For her interview with Katie Pavlich, click on right here.

For her interview with Guy Benson, click on right here. 

For her interview with Pete Hegseth, click on right here. 

For her interview with Sandra Smith, click on right here. 

For her interview with Nicolas Yannicelli, click on right here. 

For her interview with Abby Hornacek, click on right here. 

For her interview with Elise Bitter, click on right here. 

For her interview with Brian Kilmeade, click on right here.

For her interview with Kennedy, click on right here. 

For her interview with John Roberts, click on right here. 

For her interview with Janice Dean, click on right here. 

For her interview with Charles Payne, click on right here. 

For her interview with Trey Gowdy, click on right here. 

For her interview with Johnny “Joey” Jones, click on right here. 

For her interview with Bill Melugin, click on right here. 

For her interview with Jimmy Failla, click on right here. 

For her interview with Tyrus, click on right here. 

For her interview with Ainsley Earhardt, click on right here. 

For her interview with Lawrence Jones, click on right here. 

For her interview with Dr. Arash Akhavan, click on right here. 

For her interview with Martha MacCallum, click on right here. 

For her interview with Bret Baier, click on right here. 

For her interview with Kayleigh McEnany, click on right here.

For her interview with Harold Ford Jr., click on right here. 

For her interview with Shannon Bream, click on right here. 

For her interview with Jessica Tarlov, click on right here.

For her interview with Leo Terrell, click on right here.

For her interview with Geraldo Rivera, click on right here. 

For her interview with Clay Travis, click on right here

For her interview with Bill Hemmer, click on right here. 

For her interview with Greg Gutfeld, click on right here.

For her interview with Benjamin Hall, click on right here. 

For her interview with Judge Jeanine Pirro, click on right here.

For her interview with Jesse Watters, click on right here.