A few weeks back, Ideastream Public Media invited some Lakewood High School students to the newsroom to speak with a few of our reporters, including me.
They mostly asked questions about the business, but one directed a question specifically at me, one that I wasn't prepared for. He asked: “How has working in journalism affected how you see your future?”
“Wow, oh my god. Great question,” I said, buying time to think.
I honestly don’t remember the answer I gave (I hope it was inspiring). But the question remains with me.
Although he asked about my future, I spent the following weekend thinking back to my beginnings as a journalist. I could’ve never predicted where I am now when I was his age. In fact, I was almost out of college when I started to see journalism as a viable career.
It was my second semester of junior year in college. I was working toward a communications degree, but had no plans after graduation. I remember sitting in class, at a table with some of my friends during our internship class. We had gotten an assignment: Find someone who you admire in your dream career, interview them and write an essay on what you’ve discovered.
I slumped into my seat, threw my head over the back of the chair, and stared at the ceiling. “Ugh, I don’t know what I want to do,” I complained to my friend sitting next to me.
Without looking up from her phone, my friend said, “I don’t know, I think you’d make a really good journalist.”
My ears perked up. I wouldn’t even know where to start. My high school, unlike Lakewood High, didn’t have a newspaper or blog. I didn’t have a journalism internship lined up. The most experience I had had with journalism was working at the campus radio station, and, truthfully, that was just a weather update between playing the music.
But, if she thinks I can do it, then why not? I do love talking and asking questions.
On a whim, I decided to become a journalist. I was an outsider, but in the span of a year, I joined my college paper, wrote a few freelance articles, and secured an internship at that radio station.
I worked hard to get where I am. But, the beginning is so fragile. Without an off-the-cuff complaint to a friend, where would I be? Would I find my way to journalism without that comment? How many potential journalists never came to the realization that this was a profession worth pursuing?
I believe that stories like mine are important. My story shows the disparity in opportunities for upcoming Black journalists. My high school didn’t have a newspaper club. Journalists didn’t show up for our career fairs. We didn't visit the local public media operation and didn't talk to any of its young journalists.
So, while my white counterparts had years' worth of print, audio and video stories, I was just getting started with no real resources. And my experience isn’t an outlier. Only 6 percent of journalists today are Black, according to a Pew Research survey. I, like many other potential Black journalists, just wasn’t aware of the profession.
Next week, it will be five years since I earned my undergraduate degree. I couldn’t have imagined how my life has played out so far. I’ve produced stories with politicians, entrepreneurs, activists, musicians — people from all walks of life. I worked in Los Angeles, then moved to Cleveland to be part of Ideastream's engaged journalism team, where I tell the stories of Northeast Ohioans in their own words.
Journalism has made me connect with others in ways I couldn’t fathom.
Now that I’ve had a few weeks to think it over, I think I have an answer to that student's question, “How has working in journalism affected how you see your future?”
Journalism has given my life a broader sense of purpose. I want to make sure that others have an opportunity to tell their stories, whether that’s in front of the microphone or behind it. That’s what my future looks like.
Also, to the young Black student who asked the question: You definitely have a future in this industry. Let me know if you need anything. I’m just trying to pay it forward.
"The Cut" is featured in Ideastream Public Media's weekly newsletter, The Frequency Week in Review. To get The Frequency Week in Review, The Daily Frequency or any of our newsletters, sign up on Ideastream's newsletter subscription page.
