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Janet Clayton
Janet in
the color
guard of the
USC Trojan
marching
band.
video extra Watch
Janet talk about where she got
her appetite for news and answer
our lightning round questions at
http://inside.edison.com/q113.
Janet with her son Aaron, husband Michael and daughter
Jocelyn.
This month, Inside Edison interviews
Edison International
Senior Vice President of Corporate
Communications Janet Clayton.
QWhat was it like growing up in L.A. in
the 1960s?
I grew up with a great sense of security and happiness.
My dad was an elevator operator, and I
thought he was very important because he had the
coolest uniform I’d ever seen. I never knew my mom
worked until later because she was there when I
went to bed and there when I got up. But she was a
nurse who worked the 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. shift.
My parents and my sister and I had a little
house on 75th Street, near Crenshaw. It was very
safe and quiet. I went to the park
until dark, rode my bike. People
actually obeyed the traffic laws,
and we were free, much freer
than my kids have been because
it was a different place then.
Q
Did
you always know what you wanted to do
for a career?
No. When I was a kid, I was asthmatic and sick a
lot, so I would read and draw. I thought I wanted
to be an artist until I finally took an art class in
high school. After an aptitude test in high school
suggested journalism, I joined the high school paper,
and I realized people would tell me the things
that were going on and I could get paid for it.
QYou have a degree in journalism from the
University of Southern California. What are
some of the highlights from your time there?
I met my husband at USC, who was also studying
journalism. I was also in the marching band.
Musicians are crazy people, and they know how to
have a good time!
QYou’ve worked at Edison for a year and
a half. What’s one of the biggest changes
you’ve seen?
I see employees reaching out more to top management,
and top management reaching back, a lot
more than when I first arrived. It’s amazing to hear
and see employees talk directly with Ted and Ron
at the monthly roundtables about things they’d
heard, but weren’t sure were true. The directness
and conversations are a very positive thing.
QWhat kinds of experiences at other places
you’ve worked, such as the L.A. Times, have
shaped you as a person?
Telling the truth as you know it is an important
part of journalism, but it’s something I’ve always
carried with me. I try to bring it into the work I do
now because the reality is that most people want
you to be straight with them, even if the answer is
“I don’t know.”
18 insideedison • http://inside.edison.com