Jeffrey Zaslow is a columnist for The Wall Street Journal and co-author of the current international bestseller The Last Lecture.

His column, Moving On, focuses on life transitions and often attracts wide media interest. That was certainly the case in September 2007, after Zaslow attended the final lecture of dying Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch. Zaslow’s column about the talk sparked a worldwide phenomenon. Tens of millions of people have since viewed footage of the lecture on the Internet and on TV.

The new book by Pausch and Zaslow, now being translated into 27 languages, is a #1 New York Times best-seller and has topped best-seller lists around the world. There are 2.3 million copies in print in the U.S. alone, with countless people saying the lessons in the book have changed their lives. Intense media coverage of the book included The Oprah Winfrey Show and an hour-long ABC prime-time special hosted by Diane Sawyer.

Zaslow was drawn to the story of Randy Pausch because he has created a beat unlike almost any other in journalism. While The Wall Street Journal covers the heart of the financial world, Zaslow tends to the hearts of its readers. There are a thousand emotionally charged transitions that people face in their lives, and most come without a roadmap. That’s the territory of his column -- from finding a spouse to losing a job, from a child’s first crush to an old person’s last wishes.