Who Was Nellie Bly?By: Margaret Gurevich, Who HQ Illustrator: Laurie A. Conley Series: Who Was? Get ready to journey around the world with Nellie Bly one of America's first investigative journalists. Elizabeth Cochrane Seaman had no idea that the open letter she'd written to a local newspaper in Pittsburgh in 1885 would change her life forever. The editor of the paper was so impressed with her writing, that he offered her a job! She'd later change her name to Nellie Bly