Susan Saulny launched her reporting career while still an undergraduate at Yale University, working for her hometown New Orleans newspaper, the Times-Picayune. After graduating from Yale with a degree in Political Science, Saulny worked for the Washington Post as a feature writer and also earned a graduate degree from the London School of Economics. She spent most of her reporting career as a national correspondent for the New York Times, where she covered the 9/11 terrorist attacks from Ground Zero, Hurricane Katrina from New Orleans, and multiple presidential campaigns on the road all around the country.