I'm the type of person that questions ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING. I constantly ponder on the "what if?" "why?" mentality which can be quite dangerous, but at the same time it's the only way I can actually relax. Over the last 3/4 years (especially during college), I've been listing down all the possible professions I could be. Funny enough, most of them have been scribbled out, and I'm left with:

- Broadcast Journalist
- News Reporter/ Broadcaster
- Presenter

A Broadcast Journalist because...
A lot of people that know me well know that I am a very confident and enthusiastic individual never afraid to show my personality and interact well with others. I believe that this job role expresses just that; talking to people from a different age, ethnic, and gender group and generally having good communication.

A News Reporter/ Broadcaster because...
As well as having a good presence in front of people, I believe that I am very articulate, projective and well-mannered. A lot of news reporters that we see these days often have these traits. Trevor McDonald is a very well known news reporter that has worked for ITV for over 10 years. Although he left in 2007, a reporter like him will always be remembered for his fantastic reporting skills, articulation and manners:



I really do like to broaden my horizon and trust me, this is definitely within deep thought. People may not see my passion but I definitely do. I'm 18 and decisive that I want to be a Journalist. How many people can say that? I want to travel the world, go to different countries with different customs, norms, values, beliefs; and deliver that to the world through documentaries, shows, programs, radio shows, websites etc.. this is what I want and I'm definitely going to strive for it.

I know that when I graduate and enter the world of Journalism, it definitely won't be the best job in the world at the beginning. I learnt a lot about this at a lot of workshops that I've visited. The most recent being a workshop at Kings College London, where I spoke to a lovely postgrad at City (and also attended Kings) Sophie Charara. She was so kind and really straight-up about the whole industry. I found this very helpful gaining an insight to someone who is going through what I will be going through in a couple of years. She gave us details of many employers that could be hiring and generally telling us her own experience. The 'horrors' of working as an intern at places that you wouldn't even categorise the word Journalism in didn't even scare me,it somewhat inspired me. I left the meeting with a bubbly happy feeling in my stomach. This is what I want and I'm going to do nothing but work hard for it. Yes it is a competitive industry, but yes I am capable of getting into that industry! Nothing has ever been easy for me so I'm going to drive onto this road of (hopefully) success and see where it leads me....

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Okay well I hope to purchase an A3 book soon which will also be known as my portfolio! The only two things I can imagine being put in there right now is:

[not really in order]

1) When I was in Year 10, I and a lucky few got the chance to visit The Newspaper Education Trust, looked around the huge building located in Blackfriers, saw how newspapers were made there, and were even given the chance to produce our own news stories. We were allocated different roles, my role was entertainment which I really enjoyed. This was more of a task as we were given only a little amount of time to do so but I was proud of my finished piece of work, even got the article in a little keychain!


2) My college magazine; La Mag. It was originally an enrichment course that me and fellow peers in my year group decided to construct a magazine reaching out to all students in La Swap (name of college) where each page of the magazine included exciting and intriguing features of interest for all to read. I did most of the interviewing for te magazine, for example, interviewing students about their time at La Swap. I really enjoyed doing these 'tasks' as I would say I'm definitely a people person, I like interacting and interviewing people, as well as networking.


3) Vox News at Battersea Studios...

I went to Vox News sometime in Summer 2010 with my mentor Claudia. It was very interesting gaining that inside look with the news aspect of journalism and also watching Claudia at work! It was a very relaxed and focus atmosphere and I enjoyed looking at different job roles taken place within the office and how they go about their roles. Vox Africa is a news channel which airs in many part of Africa and is also in French. I even got the chance to partake in one of the oh so many activities by having the opportunity to practice doing a voice-over in the sound room which was very exciting.
I watched Claudia as she made a news report, filmed by the camera team in the studio, full of a countless amount of monitors and camera equipment. It was just kind of how I'd imagine it to be, I even tested the ropes myself and found it exciting, yet something that would definitely need skill! I remember Claudia telling me once she was doing a live news report and when reading along with the subtitles on a screen in front of her, she had to use a foot peddle to scroll the words!

Vox was a very nice environment and a generally good experience

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I think it all started with the motivation of my year 8-10 English teacher, Miss Kierney, who always gave me props for how interested I was in her lessons and my excitement to do homeworks on reading/analysing texts, and even writing essays. She made me enjoy English more than any other subject and got me into reading a lot. She was such a great motivator as she always wanted me to achieve highest, even though I always obtained great grades in her class. I even felt a bigger push when she moved me up to a higher group when the GCSE years began, which definitely boosted my confidence in English.

Also, over conversations with Claudia, during secondary school I realised that my future aspiration would definitely include writing/media-related, so Claudia advised a few workshops to attend. I think the next blog post is where the portfolio begins! Relief!

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Right, so before/soon after I graduate, I hope to have done bits and bobs of work experience, and hopefully; a big opportunity to work at a firm or somewhere! So I'm thinking...when creating my portfolio to show to employers, do I include my personal statement but not necessarily call it a personal statement? Hmmm.. Afterall, it does have a lot to do with my future aspirations.

This is it anyway:


"My passion is to study to become a Journalist by studying this degree to develop useful and diverse skills including critical analysis of presentation skills, writing skills and most importantly, practical media skills. After studying to become a Broadcast journalist, I would love to strengthen my ability to have strong writing skills, strong social networking skills whether it be freelance or office-based.
At the age of 14 I focused on gaining these skills as a young aspiring journalist which is a head start to this profession. When selecting my A Level subjects, I seemed drawn to practical/debated based courses which were Sociology and Media Studies. I have a passion for practical work such as interviewing, travelling and reporting, as well as writing. In year 12 I was required to make a music magazine cover in Media, which was amazing and a great challenge as it increased my interest in Broadcast Journalism. Media Studies in particular relates a lot to my future role as it is an academic discipline and field of study that deals with the content, history and effects of various media; in particular, the 'mass media'.
As soon as I became clear about the career path I want to follow I was keen to gain work experience in related areas so I attended workshops such as ‘ekho!’ in Islington Town Hall In 2008. We discussed as a group the production of a magazine for the Islington community covering the range of topics you would expect to find in a magazine such as fashion, gossip, music and real life stories. This was a useful and valuable experience because I was part of the team voicing opinions and producing a publication to share with residents of the Islington borough. In 2010, I attended another workshop called ‘So you want to be a Journalist?’ in Kings Place, Kings Cross, where a group of well known Journalists held a Q + A and those aspiring to be in this industry, like myself, got to ask them questions about their career and how liberating it is. I believe they all reached this level of success as they had a thorough understanding and knowledge of the news and interpreted it in very creative, yet imaginative ways, which is what I hope to do.
Another exciting experience I had was in Year 12, where as a group, we produced my college magazine, ‘La Mag’ which was fascinating seeing sheets of planning eventually transform into what looked like a magazine publication. A lot of the sixth form students enjoyed the challenge of creating a school magazine and it also proved extremely useful for future decision making and preparations for university life, as it contained valuable advice and information.
My hobbies include watching documentaries, especially on channel 4 where I watch Journalists reporting on a range of real-life stories that have a huge impact on society. As an example, documentaries by Mark Nolan explore extraordinary case studies that are of particular interest to me. News like this, besides the daily news really intrigues me. I have always imagined myself in that position interviewing people of interest, and being successful in this due to my strong social skills.
Studying Performing Arts for A level is definitely developing these skills and building my character due to the exciting challenges and performance/ workshop opportunities it presents me due to the character building and stage confidence whilst studying.
Commitment, determination and communication are one of the key skills I have accomplished during time in sixth form. I’m a very hardworking individual who is passionate about Journalism and would love to gain a better understanding of the society we live in surrounded by the media. I handle pressure well and like researching ideas for the latest story and therefore I hope I can bring a lot to this industry. I’m a sociable person, confident in public speaking and enjoy taking on new experiences increasing my knowledge of the media. I really look forward to studying this degree at university."

(Don't worry, I WILL change bits of it when actually putting this in a CV etc. - just thought I'd share the personal statement that I slaved over and what won me 5/5 university offers! :D)

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"You need to be clear in your mind about the career path you wish to follow, carry out your research and select the course which suits you, your pocket - or your parents' pocket - and where you want to study.

Any subject you learn at school can prove to be useful for journalism. However, try to select subjects that you are good at, enjoy and will do well at. The same applies when choosing your degree."

^ along the lines of this, is what I've always been told when in doubt of subject choices! I definitely made sure that when it came to choosing a degree, I would choose one that I genuinely would enjoy and achieve great marks in. I am now studying Social and Cultural Studies (BA)

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When I was advised to do this by my mentor Claudia, I honestly didn't know what this even meant! But I knew if I did have an interview for a newspaper, tv show or firm; I would need some type of proof of (some) work that I have done and also bits and bobs expressing my interest in a profession. If I hopefully get that job (hypothetically speaking) then it would be great as that would be another job added to the portfolio! So far I can honestly say that I've done about 3/4? Wahhh I'll talk about those in a bit :-) wow! This blog is suprisingly going okay considering I made this 10 mins ago lol!

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"Why a journalist?" "Aren't they the annoying people that pap celebrities all the time?!" "Omg so you're gunna be writing for sleezy mags like OK!"

To be honest, and what came to my acknowledgement is that to be the kind of Journalist I would like to be is NOT easy. After the help of visiting various workshops and seminars I found out the best and only way to actually get there, is to WORK YOUR WAY UP! And thats what I intend on doing. Even working where I wouldn't call ideal Journalist jobs such as working for "OK!" is STILL working your way up! As (I think) the saying goes; "you've got to kiss a couple frogs to find your prince!"

So I will continue to work hard and grab every opportunity as possible to work my way up and become as successful as possible!

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