This week was a humbling and affirming experience wrapped into one, and the excitement began even before the start of the week. I applied for the USC Next Generation Radio project after remembering my old classmates from my senior year of college trying the program out and really speaking highly of it. During the pandemic, I started to drift away from journalism and segwaying into PR communications, and it wasn’t until last year that I got in touch with my former boss from CNN who started a social media news platform, Zivvy News. Fostering that relationship instilled my belief in myself to produce compelling and engaging news content on subjects that I am passionate about.
Through this project and the subject that I chose, I have gained a sense of deep respect for Los Angeles. I also gained a lot of respect for myself and an unwavering sense of respect for all of the other reporters. We all seemed to pick stories that were important to our core identity and our journey to self-actualization.
That’s what I love about journalism and storytelling, it can help you answer unanswered questions about yourself by listening and learning about somebody else. It was such a privilege to find Fabian as a source.Through this work, I have grown a deeper sensitivity for a population of humans that may be underrepresented in the media. I will look for more opportunities in the future to seek out stories about justice-impacted individuals.
Through this program I feel I have been locked into a network of supportive journalists. I am extremely grateful for my mentor’s support and all the knowledge he shared. The audio mixers for their engineering magic and the illustrators for all of their beautiful work. I am incredibly proud and humbled to be part of such a talented set of cohorts. I look forward to all of the fantastic things that we will all achieve in the future.