It’s an interesting exercise to think about how people catch their “big break.” Usually we think of “big breaks” as cases of pure luck. It’s easy to think that a person only begins to “make it” after being in the right place at the right time.

But that’s hardly the case as MediaBistro’s series, My First Big Break, illustrates.  Success isn’t simply built on luck, it’s built on hard work, tenacity, and humility.

The series asks six big names in journalism how they “made it” and their stories are interesting, exciting, and illuminating.

Luck plays a role in a lot of these examples, but each person profiled worked hard to capitalize on their good fortune. Luck fell into the their laps, but they did something with it.

Catching a “big break” is more about the work you put into it–not the luck.