When I sit down with a subject for a story, it’s usually to talk about the worst thing they’ve ever been through.

I first grasped the power of journalism from a young age, when I saw the film “All the President’s Men.” Woodward and Bernstein’s sources risked their lives and careers to help them expose the truth, with only faith that they would keep their identity a secret.

As a reporter and producer, I try to stay humble and sober about that power that journalists wield. When an interview subject agrees to work with me, they are entrusting me with their life story. My reputation rides on the relationships and trust I build with the people whose stories I tell.

Those stories have taken me to the remote bush of Zambia and the snowy plains of Idaho. I cover the big crime stories that attract a cultural obsession. You will usually find me in the courtroom for every moment of a trial, and interviewing the key characters in the aftermath.

My adventures have brought me face to face (often quite literally in an interview chair) with some of the darkest corners of humanity. I do take some of that home with me. But I also carry with me all the remarkable people I meet, the kindness and generosity they show me even under the most traumatic of circumstances.