Gawker: valleywag, vauhini vara

Wall Street Journal reporter writes up colleague's Harvard boyfriend

Owen Thomas — Tue, 20 May 2008 13:20:00 EDT

Vauhini Vara, who covers Facebook for the Wall Street Journal, is leaving the newspaper to go back to school. Why not write up a friend on the way out the door? In a profile of Harvard graduates inspired by — or jealous of — Mark Zuckerberg's startup success, she includes Sam Lessin, cofounder of Drop.io. A file-sharing startup which has raised only $3.9 million wouldn't normally rate a mention in the Journal, one would think. But Lessin is also the boyfriend of Jessica Vascellaro, the Journal reporter who's moving to Silicon Valley to cover Yahoo and Google.

Lucky Lessin. He's also the son of Bob Lessin, a former vice chairman of Smith Barney and Jefferies & Co. turned angel investor. Both are Harvard graduates, and the Lessins have given generously to Harvard.

There's absolutely no reason to believe Vascellaro influenced Vara to write about Lessin. Indeed, there's no reason for higher-ups at the Journal to look askance at the relationship, and shame on them if they do. But it's hard to imagine Lessin came to Vara's attention otherwise. Vascellaro, too, is a Harvard graduate. And gaining connections in influential places is what going to a school like Harvard is all about. Vara's article didn't mention that.

Valleywag retracts false allegation about Journal reporter

Owen Thomas — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 17:12:19 EDT

We have learned that our recent description of San Francisco-based Wall Street Journal reporter Vauhini Vara as an "ostensibly sober type" was wholly incorrect. Several reliable sources have informed us that we should not have used the word "sober" in the same sentence as Vara's name. Vauhini, please accept Valleywag's heartfelt apologies for the unforgivable error.

Facebook drives the Valley to drink

Megan McCarthy — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 15:56:54 EDT

Facebook has been called "the Brangelina of tech" for its ability to mesmerize the Valley's press corps. Insiders at the red-hot social network don't want to believe it. But it's true. At last night's Lunch 2.0 event — a periodic gathering where Silicon Valley companies take turns serving up free food — Facebook showed off its inability to cope with its newfound popularity. Even the timing reflected the crush of interest in the event: Facebook's caterers declared themselves unable to accommodate the lunch crowd, so Facebook turned it into a happy-hour event instead. Facebook's undersized cafeteria was filled with developers, Facebook execs, and assorted hangers-on who packed themselves in like college freshmen at a kegger. Even ostensibly sober types like the Wall Street Journal's Vauhini Vara, shown here double-fisting beers, found themselves caught up in the frat-party atmosphere.

There was even a rush, of sorts, as Facebook platform evangelist Meagan Marks grabbed a microphone to point out all the Facebook recruiters in the audience, followed by several other execs imploring people to join the team, especially, they noted, database administrators. (Too bad they couldn't find any of them a few days ago, when Facebook's servers started spraying users' private data all over the Web.)

For Vara, the Journal reporter, what better way to celebrate your 25th birthday and drown your sorrows over the News Corp. buyout of Dow Jones than a free happy hour in one of Silicon Valley's hottest companies? That's exactly what she did, noting that, at her advanced age, she'd gone from young prodigy to seasoned reporter. Happy birthday, Vauhini, and congratulations on being able to rent a car.