There once was a girl named Elizabeth Cochran, later known as Nellie Bly. Nellie was born on May 5, 1864 (or 1867). Nellie had five older brothers, one younger brother, and one younger sister. Nellie was much more spirited than her sister was. Nellie liked to ride horses, write stories, read stories and more.

Nellie went to a boarding school in Cochran’s Mills, Pennsylvania. Her father died when Nellie was six. By the time she was 20, her family’s wealth was gone. Her family sold their horse and Nellie had to work as a laundry woman.

She still desperately wanted to be a writer, but that was considered a man’s job in those days. Then a man named Erasmus Wilson wrote an article making fun of women like her trying to get into male jobs. Nellie was very unhappy with this, so she wrote an angry letter to the newspaper saying that women can be as strong as men.

When the editor read this he asked Nellie to come over to introduce herself so she did. When she went there to her surprise, he hired her to work there. Nellie happily accepted. While working for the newspaper, she wrote many articles fighting for women and children’s rights. She went undercover in sweatshops and other places, and wrote about the horrible condition women and children had to go through.

By the age of 21, she was famous for her articles that helped women and children. She traveled all over the world and wrote about what she saw. After this she went to work for a New York newspaper called "The World." Here she did her most dangerous work.

Nellie pretended to be a patient at a mental asylum. She wrote a shocking story about the conditions there. For the next two years, she kept writing "scoops."

The next challenge she took was going around the world in 72 days. She succeeded.

By the time she died in 1922 at age 58, Nellie Bly was one of the best reporters of all time and she had made her life-long dream come true.