After an "accidental" start to his journalism career, Simon White has covered news in Kalgoorlie, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

Growing up in Perth as the eldest of three girls, Marnie spent her first job filling out six minute time sheets in a chartered accounting firm, before being seduced by the bright lights of the advertising world and the promise of the legendary "six-hour" lunch.

After completing what he realised was a pretty pointless politics degree David eventually found his niche in a news room.

Brendan became interested in a career in journalism after reading Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas in my early 20s.

Emma is a self described "nerd journo", with passions for subjects such as waste management, town planning and chemicals regulation.

Ray became a journalist through an unusual route. He was a soldier, who joined the Army as an ordinary recruit (a very ordinary recruit, he recalls), but managed to avoid the more dangerous occupations, involving weapons or artillery shells, to qualify as a "pencil pusher".

James, like many in the media, says he could have played professional football - just a few things got in the way, talent being one of them.

Former fancy dress shop assistant and dating agency consultant, Pip took the long way into the media industry.

Fran originally hails from Germany but in 2003 she decided to swap the hectic Munich lifestyle and the long German winters for the sunny laid-back lifestyle of Perth.

David always loved the media, a desire probably hastened from playing Winnie the Pooh and other crazy characters as a young tacker at the Johnnie Young Talent Time school in Perth.