IN A year when the property market moved at a frenetic pace, Ms Fiona Chan's role as the property reporter for The Straits Times' Money Desk was one of the most watched in the newspaper.

It is a position that the slender and pint-sized reporter enjoys.

A former student of Raffles Girls' School (Secondary) and Hwa Chong Junior College, Ms Chan, 25, relishes the challenge of getting not just stories, but exclusives.

"Journalism is for adrenaline junkies," she says. "You're always on a high because you rush to meet deadlines every day. That constant stress-relief cycle is very addictive."

Apart from getting exclusive stories from corporate bigwigs, she says the most memorable ones are those she gets from the ground.

"I once did a story about Far East Organisation raising the prices of all its projects across the board - after a tip-off from a property agent and several calls to Far East sales offices," she says.

Another one was about how tenants at a newly opened mall were unhappy that traffic at the mall was very thin.

She spent a whole day speaking to every tenant there until the management kicked her out.

Ms Chan also has a knack for quirky stories, like how new condominiums are named.

For instance, she found that the authorities refused to let the owners of a three-tower condo in Kim Seng Road name it "Trinity" because of "religious" connotations.

Instead, it was named "Trillium" after a three-petal flower.

Her stories have got her named as the Most Promising Financial Journalist by the Securities Investors' Association of Singapore in October last year.

Ms Chan's love for writing started when she was a child, when she created her own homemade newsletters with stories that featured family members and stuffed toys.

She took up the Singapore Press Holdings (SPH) scholarship after she first interned at the Life! section of the newspaper.

"That was when I realised I enjoyed writing enough to want to make it a serious career," she says.

She started working as a journalist full time at The Straits Times in July 2005.

She had obtained a Bachelor of Arts in international studies and a Bachelor of Science in economics at the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. She then earned her Master of Arts in East Asian studies
at Harvard.

During her study breaks, she interned at The Straits Times' News and Money Desks. It was during the last stint that she decided to do business journalism.

The biggest challenge she has faced since working full-time is newsmakers who were initially sceptical of her youthfulness.

"I always make sure I do the necessary research before I go into an interview," she elaborates.

"It's important to dress the part as well, and not to ask stupid questions. After you've broken a few stories, you earn credibility. And from that point on, it's much easier."

The real perk of her job, she says, is working with stimulating people.

"Journalists are smart and ambitious and driven, but they also know when to be laid-back," she says.

The best way to find out if you like journalism, she advises, is to take on an internship at SPH, as you get to try different kinds of writing.

She says: "It was only after three separate internships at SPH that I realised I wanted to do business journalism because I could see how a story had an impact."

This article was first published in The Straits Times on Jan 19, 2008