I had the privilege of attending the Conference and Career Fair for the National Association of Black Journalists in Aventura, Florida (near Miami, but NOT Miami)! From the workshops to the free food to the celebrities, the experience was simply unforgettable. Here are some of my takeaways from the week's events:
Worries & Uncertainty
After finishing my summer season working at Universal just days before, I came to the NABJ Conference feeling nervous and unprepared. I had to quickly fix my resume, learn about the companies I wanted to talk to and anticipate packing the proper clothes for my trip. Although I wish I gave myself more time to get ready, all the stress seemed to fade away when I arrived.
I didn't talk to many recruiters at the Career Fair because a lot of the internships were meant for juniors, seniors or recent graduates. I thought I knew what I wanted to achieve in my career, but as more people asked me, I felt that my career goals seemed confusing. Whereas the older UF J-school students seemed to have lots of friends and have more success talking to recruiters, I felt discouraged. The Career Fair made me feel like the work I did my first year wasn't enough and that my efforts were futile. However, it also reminded me not to compare myself to others and to realize that I am only 25% done. I just need to take more journalism courses and get more clips and reels to be a competitive applicant.
Investigative Journalism
When people ask me what I want to do, I don't really know what to tell them. I'm interested in magazine writing, radio and podcasting, television production and documentaries. Basically everything. I have been exploring as much as I can at UF, but I feel like I need to keep learning more about the journalism industry to figure out which specific jobs I could see myself doing.
One thing I definitely want to pursue is investigative journalism. I learned so much about it through the workshops they had at the conference. I have always loved reading mystery books, and I think that being an investigative journalist is just like being a detective because you have to think critically and creatively to complete a puzzle of what's going on in our world. It's about questioning everything that is out of the ordinary and uncovering corrupt people and institutions. It may be
Being Politically Aware
Journalism and politics are closely related topics. They seem to oversee each other. So it makes sense that many of the journalism events were tied to politics.
In the very crowded 2020 presidential race, it was nice to see Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders in person at the NABJ Presidential Forum to hear their stances. Buttigieg was very well spoken and mainly tried to fix his reputation in the African American community after firing his city's first black police chief. Bernie Sanders definitely brought the fire that he is well known for. He is undeniably passionate about what he believes in, as he is running on the exact same platform that he did in the past, but his ideas did not seem to be agreeable or convincing for the audience.
For those wondering, Michael B. Jordan was at the NABJ Conference because he portrays Bryan Stevenson in the upcoming movie, "Just Mercy" (which I got to see sneak peek clips from, hehe). Stevenson, who was also in attendance, is a black lawyer who fought to get innocent people off of death row. The disproportionate incarceration of black men and WarnerMedia's commitment to creating more diverse content with more diverse creative teams were among the topics discussed.
I also got to watch the Amazon documentary, "Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook," and it truly opened my eyes to how insignificant voter fraud is and how much of a problem voter suppression is. I knew that some eligible voters were discouraged from trying to go to the polls because they couldn't afford a driver's license or an ID, but there are so many more hurdles, from the long lines and excessive documentation needed at DMVs to people who want to unregister inactive voters. At the same time, voter fraud has been found less than 0.000001% of the time in over a decade. Why make voting so hard? The documentary claims that mostly Republicans are trying to decrease and diminish the votes of people of color through voter suppression tactics.
Black Culture
There truly is something special about the black journalist community. It is hard enough trying to make connections and advance your career as a journalist, but NABJ is a big family, ready to help. We all know the struggles of being black, but it's great to have older peers and professionals to look up to. I'm so grateful to be part of this organization.
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