Job-Search Tips for Journalists

It’s no news that the journalism job market is tight these days.  So we asked for some job-hunting advice from Sharon Jautz, a senior HR executive whose resume includes Forbes, Playboy Enterprises and Fairchild. She recently found herself on the other side of the desk, as a job hunter and interviewee, before joining Asset International Inc., a New York-based financial publisher. Here are her job-search tips for journalists, gleaned from her experiences as a media HR pro and a job hunter.

Sharon Jautz, HR Expert Shares Job Search Tips

What are the best first steps for job seekers in journalism?

Jautz: Establish a LinkedIn account and make it as robust as you can, building up your profile with experience and references. Do this preferably when you are not looking for a job. If anyone asks you for a reason just state: “I’m building my online presence.”  Add recommendations as you can and and put your LinkedIn URL at the top of your resume with your contact info.

What are some resume tips?

Jautz: Always update your resume, even if you’ve just started a new job. This is a skill-set job market. . . Instead of listing a summary or objective at the top, I used descriptive phrases, for example: Employee relations, staffing & recruiting, crisis management.

Don’t use jargon. Keep it simple. So don’t use “CMS,” for example,  say “Content Management System” instead.

Know your audience. I found my resume was very media heavy, but my profession is in HR. I was not getting calls back from pharma and financial services firms until I tweaked it. For journalists, use “Online Content Provider” or “Budget management and planning,” for example, as these speak to the skills that you have.

Show your resume to as many as six to 10 people, keeping in mind that everyone is an editor. Feedback is important, but go with your gut. Take the feedback that makes sense to you, because this is a document that you have to defend, so use something that makes you feel strong, that is good and true.

Online job search can be daunting. There are so many sites out there. Any suggestions on how to increase the chances of getting your resume in front of the right eyeballs?

Jautz: Post your resume on Mediabistro, LinkedIn, job-aggregator sites like Indeed.com and JournalismJobs.com , as well as Monster.com. Since a lot of job-applicant-tracking systems are tracking key words, respond to ads using the matching terminology/corresponding language.

The first contact so important, how can journalism job applicants maximize their job queries?

Jautz: When I was at Forbes.com, I got letters saying “I always wanted to work in magazines!” Don’t piss us off. Apply the right way, which is wherever they want you to. Fill out the profile sheet, create a password, whatever. Keep it brief.

Go go to LinkedIn, and see who you might know who works at the place you’re applying to. Post that person a note, something like:

“Hey Pat, I’ve attached my resume, can you make sure whoever needs to, gets this?”  You’re in the system, you’ve applied the regular way and now you have someone vouching for you.

Then work Linkedin for more leads. For example: “Who do I know who knows someone at Harper Collins?” Ask that contact to send your resume to their connection. Odds are good that your resume will arrive on the right person’s desk with a compelling endorsement.

Follow up with them — in a professional, meaningful way, not like a stalker — until someone tells you “No.” It’s also OK to send an email, then make a phone call.

Negotiating is also nerve-wracking — what to say, what not to say. It can cause a lot of internal stress.

Jautz: Yes, the people doing the interviewing are driving the bus, not you. Don’t get tripped up on pay. Worry about getting the job first. But if an offer is imminent, and they ask you what are you looking for, say: “Right now I’m at X, however, for the right opportunity and challenge, I’d be willing to talk about it. . . We can make it work.” Remember you’re not negotiable. You’re dealing with a budget.  But you can be incented in all kinds of ways:  Stock options, expense account, extra weeks vacation, working from home, etc. If you change industries, you may need to be prepared to accept a lower offer.

Jautz offers these additional tips:

• Provide timely references from recent past jobs.
• Explain carefully why any difficult or short-term position did not work out. For example: “It became really clear to me that the business plan was not  interpreted the way it was explained to me.”
• To get a sense of the work environment, as part of the interview process ask, “Can I meet a peer?”
• Maintain your confidence and professionalism.
• Be assertive but not aggressive.
• Use this  sales technique: At the end of the interview, ask for the “order. ” . .  . Say: “I want this job” or “I’m so excited about this opportunity.” The answer might be: “You’re never gonna get this job,” but grant yourself permission to be yourself, and stop guessing  about what might happen. You don’t know what they think.
• Don’t forget to cover: “Please tell me the process from here,” and “When do you expect to make a decision?”
• Be relentless and shameless about using your networks and showcasing your abilities. Don’t be high maintenance, but as long it’s not illegal, immoral or uncomfortable, go for it.
• Don’t burn bridges.

– Pattie Simone

Pattie Simone is a columnist for WomenEntrepreneur.com and NewJerseyNewsroom.com.

I Said ‘I Do,’ Do I Change My Byline?

Illustration by Tracey Berglund

The media frenzy over actress Portia de Rossi seeking to change her name to Portia DeGeneres is sure to infuriate long-standing feminists who have fought long and hard for women to keep their maiden names. Or not?

The issue of marital name change can strike near to the hearts of women journalists who often struggle when they marry with whether to give up the bylines that they’ve worked hard at establishing.

De Rossi, 37, recently filed a petition in a Los Angeles court to legally take the last name of her famous same-sex partner, Ellen DeGeneres. California Assemblywoman Fiona Ma introduced a bill that would make California the seventh state to give married spouses and domestic partners equal opportunity to take their surname of choice. Ma says the proposal is really about “equality in relationships.”

But would pioneering feminists like Lucy Stone agree?

As a 19th century women’s rights champion, Stone advocated for women to retain their own names after marriage. The Lucy Stone League carries on her work. Its view: “A wife should no more take her husband’s name than he should hers…my name is my identity and should not be lost.” When women take their spouses names, it is considered “name-abandonment,” but it’s such a big part of U.S. culture, few recognize it for what it is: A powerful instance of sex discrimination that has a major effect on women’s lives and work.

The issue of sex-discrimination is obviously erased when referring to same-sex couples, but it can still be similarly damaging to one’s career.

Journalists, for example, build their careers, reputations and even brands based upon their bylines, so changing one’s name can cause much confusion, particularly in today’s new-media world where content is shared at lightning speed, with little or no time for consumers to read the fine print.

But it doesn’t stop there.

According to the recent European study, “What’s in a Name? 361.708 Euros: The Effects of Marital Name Change,” women who took their partner’s name appear to be different from women who kept their own name on a variety of demographics and beliefs, which are more or less associated with female stereotypes.

A woman who took her partner’s name or a hyphenated name, for example, was judged as more caring, more dependent, less intelligent, more emotional, less competent, and less ambitious compared with a woman who kept her own name.

Ellen DeGeneres and Portia de Rossi

A woman with her own name, in contrast, was judged as less caring, more independent, more ambitious, more intelligent, and more competent. This assessment was similar to how unmarried women and men (married or not) were judged in the study.

Perhaps most significantly, a job applicant who took her partner’s name, in comparison to one with her own name, was less likely to be hired for a job and her monthly salary was estimated €361.708 lower, or $1109.32.

But somehow, for Portia DeGeneres, I don’t think this will necessarily be the case.

– Lori Sokol is president of Jersey City, N.J.-based Sokol Media Inc., publisher of NY Residential, Green Matters and Work Life Matters magazines, and host of the weekly radio show, Juggling Act, on 1490AM WGCH.

– When you said ‘I do,’ did you change your byline? If you aren’t married, do you plan to? What went into your decision? The upshot?

Kickstarting Funding for a Freelance Project

Erin Siegal

Club members Erin Siegal and Erin Arvedlund recently took some time to talk about Siegal’s use of an innovative tool called Kickstarter.com to raise money for her book,  “Finding Fernanda,” due out in 2011. Siegal was a recipient of the club-affiliated Anne O’Hare McCormick Award scholarship in 2008.

Arvedlund: Tell us, why are you using Kickstarter?
Siegal: Last year, I graduated from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, and embarked on a quest to write a book based on my master’s thesis. It just didn’t seem like boiling my project down to a magazine or newspaper piece would do justice to the story. It just felt like a book.

I started querying agents, and signed with Farley Chase at Waxman Literary Agency. This past January, he negotiated a deal with Beacon Press for my book, “Finding Fernanda.” It’s the story of two very brave women, one American and one Guatemalan, whose lives are brought together by the same little girl, Fernanda.

I’ve been working in a timeframe of roughly eight months to finish reporting and write the actual book. Beacon Press is the oldest independent publisher in the U.S., but they’re a small operation with a tight budget. Unfortunately, my advance didn’t come close to covering my reporting and living expenses. It was a confusing and sad reality check: I didn’t have the money I needed to write the book I was so passionate about. It’s a story that needs to be told, both an expose of criminal wrongdoing and a powerful narrative about hope, love, and faith. Naively, I thought getting the book deal would be the hard part. I didn’t anticipate that fundraising would be the tricky part.

If the book was less timely, I could have tried to put in a few months of dedicated full-time fund-raising. Yet the issue, corruption in international adoption, is a pervasive problem. It needs to be talked about. At one point, my agent asked me if I realistically thought I could pull it off, given my small book advance. I told him yes without hesitation. I’m sort of stubborn.

Since then, I’ve been engaged in the process of fundraising, reporting, writing chapters, and trying to freelance on the side simultaneously. It gets overwhelming sometimes, but I’m still in my mid-twenties and have enthusiasm to spare.

Right now, I’m using Kickstarter to raise money for my final reporting trip to Guatemala City this August and September before my manuscript is due in October.

Arvedlund: How does it work?
Siegal: With Kickstarter, after creating a profile page for your project, you start spreading the word about it. At the beginning of the campaign, you set a target amount of money to raise, and the amount of time you think you need in order to raise it.

Then you create incentives! For Finding Fernanda, a donation of just $5 gets backers access to a private, behind-the-scenes reporting blog. It’s a fun blog, sort of a reporter’s diary with pictures, clips, and other fun things related to the story. For $100, backers get a free copy of the book, with a personalized inscription. For a donation of $500, I’ll include donor’s names in the printed acknowledgements section of the book.

A variety of creative projects are listed on Kickstarter. Musicians use the site to raise money for albums, authors use it for books, and lots of filmmakers use it for movie projects and documentaries. It’s really interesting to see what gets a person fired up, and subsequently, what the public feels is worthy of support.

If the target fundraising goal isn’t met by your deadline, then you get zero funding. It’s all or nothing.

Arvedlund: What alternatives did you consider?
Siegal: I’ve been applying to various grants and awards, yet the waiting period between application and decision can be long. Some foundations that give money to investigative reporting projects don’t support books. IRE (Investigative Reporters and Editors) awarded me a 2010 Freelance Fellowship Award, which was $1,000. The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism has also provided financial support. Director Florence George Graves and E.J. Graff have been very supportive, providing personal mentorship as well as material support like pro-bono legal counsel and remote research assistance. I don’t know what I’d do without E.J. and Florence. They’re very smart women, both amazing and experienced investigative journalists.

I’ve also gotten photo assignments from my agency in New York, Redux Pictures, here and there. Every job helps. A New York Times piece by Ginger Thompson to which I contributed reporting came out recently, printed as the lead story on A1! It was really exciting. The story is “After Haiti Quake, the Chaos of U.S. Adoptions.” Ginger and I are currently working on another investigative piece that will be a co-byline, also about adoption corruption.

It can be hard to find time for everything, in addition to ongoing grant applications.

I keep joking to my friends that after this, I’m going to take a few months off by finding a real job as a waitress.

Arvedlund: Why did you go with Kickstarter?
Siegal: Today, my manuscript deadline is less than two months away. I desperately needed to get back to Guatemala to finish reporting, and Kickstarter seemed like a great option to try. There was nothing to lose.

It turned out to be really encouraging as well as financially successful. It’s been great getting feedback about the book; people seem to feel that it’s as worthwhile as I do. Since book writing is such a solitary endeavor much of the time, it’s been very reassuring as well.

Arvedlund: Cost?
Siegal: There’s no cost for using Kickstarter.

As a freelancer, I’m used to doing things on a shoestring. To date, I’ve raised about half the total money needed for this project. The rest has come out of pocket. I’m still harboring hope that Finding Fernanda will break even, somehow. Where there’s a will, there’s a way!

Arvedlund: What’s the downside? Or what should other journos be aware of before signing on?
Siegal: I’m not sure yet if there’s a downside. My experience has been really positive. I guess one potential drawback would be attempting to fund a project that requires heightened sensitivity or confidentiality. Since Kickstarter is public, anyone can learn about your project online.

Arvedlund: The results?
Siegal: Within the first six days, Finding Fernanda met the goal of raising $3,000. It was a bare-bones goal, the very minimum I’d need to cover travel, living and reporting from Guatemala for almost two months. I initially wanted to set my goal at $5,000, but I was afraid of failing: $3,000 seemed doable.

To my delight, the goal was met in the first six days! It was incredible. I’m still trying to spread the word.

It would have been nice if an employer, foundation, or publisher gave me the money I needed to do this execute book project and investigation. It would have been such a luxury to simply focus on reporting and writing. But the media landscape today is difficult, and no one has money to sink into long-term, long-form investigative projects.

Arvedlund: Would you do anything differently?
Siegal: I don’t think so, but ask me again in a few months! I’m sure I’ll have a laundry list of those good old hindsight realizations. I’ve never written a book before, and I’m not a “real” writer. I’m doing the best I can. Determination and passion goes a long way.

So does the help of friends, colleagues, contacts, and total strangers. Words can’t express the gratitude I have for everyone who’s helped, both financially or just by sending along a note of encouragement. I’ve spoken to over 400 sources thus far, over the last two years, and I feel so deeply honored to be telling this powerful story.

– Erin E. Arvedlund

Oct. 12 Panel: War Correspondents, Reporting From the Frontline

Cami McCormick

Join us for an evening with a panel of distinguished women journalists who’ve covered wars and conflicts around the globe. They’ll share their personal experiences and discuss the challenges and risks they’ve faced as war correspondents.

Who:  Wall Street Journal Reporter Gina Chon, Associated Press Chief U.N. Correspondent Edith M. Lederer, CBS News Correspondent Cami McCormick, and Reuters Editor and Newswomen’s Club of New York President Toni Reinhold (moderator)
When: Tues., Oct 12 at 6:30 p.m.
Where: Reuters Building, 3 Times Square (7th Ave. & 42nd St.), 22nd fl.
Cost: Free to members and nonmembers, but reservations are required as seats are limited.
RSVP: Please RSVP to newswomensclub@verizon.net.

About the Panelists

Gina Chon, Wall Street Journal Reporter
– Baghdad-based Iraq correspondent for the Journal from 2007-2009.
– Served as an editor and trainer in Iraq for the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and trained Iraqi journalists to help build an independent media in Iraq.
– Co-author of “Behind the Killing Fields,” based on interviews with the top surviving Khmer Rouge leader and the experiences of her Cambodian co-author, a victim of the Khmer Rouge regime.

Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press Chief U.N. Correspondent
– Began her career as a foreign correspondent in 1972, becoming the first woman assigned full-time to the AP staff reporting on the Vietnam War.
– During a 44-year career with The AP, has worked on every continent except Antarctica covering wars, famines, nuclear issues and political upheavals.
– Awards include the University of Missouri Honor Medal for Distinguished Service in Journalism, the United Nations Correspondents Association’s Silver Medal, and the International Women’s Media Foundation’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Cami McCormick, CBS News Correspondent
– Joined CBS in 1998 and served nine tours embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq between 2003 and 2009. Covered the trial of Saddam Hussein.
– Seriously injured in August 2009 while on assignment for CBS when a vehicle carrying her and several U.S. Army members was hit by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan. One U.S. soldier was killed in the attack.
– Previously worked for CNN. Developed, anchored and produced CNNRadio’s first international newscast.
– Awards include six Edward R. Murrow awards, three AWRT Gracie Allen Awards and two Associated Press Awards.

– Milena Jovanovitch

Wanted: Freelance Book Editor

Alphonse Mucha

Freelance book editor needed to take a book from completed manuscript to finished product via self-publisher, distribution on Amazon.com and perhaps even the book’s Web site.

This position requires also requires seeking and gaining permissions for photographs used in book. Author is retired attorney from a major firm with several other books to his credit. I will select several candidates to forward to author for review. Final candidate must discuss fees and other issues director with author.

To express interest, please send resume detailing book editing experience and contact information to:

ritahj@aol.com

Rita Henley Jensen, editor in chief, Womensenews.org

Swear By It

Illustration by Tracey Berglund

To celebrate my 50th birthday earlier this month, I invited the author of the book, “50 Is The New 50,” Suzanne Braun Levine, to be a guest on my weekly radio show, “Juggling Act.” While she discussed the many benefits associated with embarking on this new decade of female freedom and independence called, “Second Adulthood,” what I recall most from this interview is her chapter entitled, “The F-U Fifties.”

But don’t assume for even one moment that the “F-U Fifties” reflects a self-reproaching attack by this birthday girl for reaching that pivotal age gravely considered “over the hill.” Au contraire, this term is actually meant to be aimed at others, as ‘Finally,” Levine writes, “we feel empowered to tell others to ‘f—off’.”

Now, I don’t propose that we, as professional journalists, indiscriminantly curse at others either verbally or in writing, as did a University of Mississippi student journalist last year who was ultimately charged with disorderly conduct and sent to prison. Instead, I am suggesting that, as Erica Jong says, “We need to save ourselves.”

In her book “Fear of Fifty,” Jong wrote: “In our twenties, when success and motherhood are still before us,  we could imagine that something would save us from second-classness — either achievement or marriage or motherhood. Now we know that nothing can save us. . . The anger of midlife is a ferocious anger.”

And, yes, I have certainly felt ferocious. As I now think back on my 30-year career in the media, many times I had wanted to tell a condescending editor, arrogant interviewee, or callous co-worker to f— off. This anger only elevated when desperately trying to balance my work and family responsibilities as a new mother 20 years ago, I tried to explain to too many disbelieving bosses that I had leave the office early to attend a school play or take care of a sick child. As my appeals continually fell on deaf ears, I would ultimately concede, since as women we are taught early that rather than stand our ground, we should instead know our place, which translates to primarily remaining polite, humble, demure, timid, fearful, cowering, submissive (feel free to insert additional adjectives here).

And this is not surprising since, according to Louann Brizendine, author of “The Female Brain,” women have much less direct relationship to anger than men.  “Pushing someone else too far, demanding too much and escalating conflict are all situations that, for most of our lives so far, we would do almost anything to avoid.”

But the importance of conflict should not be underestimated, and the need to sometimes curse should be even less so. According to the results of a 2009 research study from the school of psychology at Britain’s Keele University, swearing has been found to make people feel instantly better by imparting a “pain-lessening effect.” And, after all, men must have known about these health benefits for years. Just look at some of the male leaders of our great nation who have used the f-word, without apology. Former Vice-President Cheney, for example, said “f— off” or “go f— yourself” to Democratic Senator Leahy, and current Vice President Joe Biden told another senator to “Gimme a f–ing break!” Neither Vice-Presidents regretted or apologized for using this word and, now, neither will I.

I feel better already.

– Lori Sokol

Lori Sokol is president of Jersey City, N.J.-based Sokol Media Inc., publisher of NY Residential, Green Matters and Work Life Matters magazines, and host of the weekly radio show, Juggling Act, on 1490AM WGCH.

Three Reasons to Love No Agenda Tuesdays

Thought about attending a No Agenda Tuesday networking mixer, but never quite got there?

It’s time to show your lovely mug and give us the gift of your presence at the next No Agenda Tuesday on Aug. 17. What do we love about these events?

1. Bitch & Swap: It’s a let-your-hair-down mixer of women in the industry with no particular agenda except to talk about what’s happening in the media, vent, boast and swap gossip.

2. Professional Confessional: Find out who’s going where, who’s left and gone over to the dark side, who’s joining the world’s oldest profession. (Why, we meant journalism of course!)

3. Rubbing Elbows: Meet editors and publishers you wouldn’t otherwise hear from over email, connect with agents and other writers, hear about upcoming panels, prizes and networking events…See you there!

When: Aug. 17, 7 p.m.
Where: Club HQ, The National Arts Club, 15 Gramercy Park So.

– Erin E. Arvedlund

What do you like most about No Agenda Tuesdays? What have you gotten out of these events? How would you describe them to current and prospective members?

Snark Is So 2004 and Other Blog-Panel Takeaways

“Snarky is the most tired approach to any story.”

At the blogging & journalism panel

That was one of the standout lines from the Newswomen’s Club of New York’s recent panel on blogging and journalism. It came from Jessica Coen, managing editor, Jezebel, and a former Gawker blogger.

Coen was joined by fellow panelists Louise Crawford, founder, Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn; Gracey Newman, social media expert, Personal Branding, Shaken Not Stirred; and moderator Latrice Davis.

About 50 members and nonmembers turned out for what was a lively and informative discussion at New York City Seminar and Conference Center July 20.

If you couldn’t make the session, here are some excerpts of what you missed.

Coen —
On traffic: “I’m looking at analytics all day to make sure the day is going well. They’re kind of obsessed about it at Gawker.”
On abusive commenters: “They got invited to our party, they’re going to play by our rules.”
On writing/style: “You have to be conversational, succinct. You have to have a voice. You have to write bigger. You have to take it up a notch. Most people aren’t going to read more than 200 to 300 words per post.”

Crawford–
On snark: “You can get enough snark coming from the comments.”
On feeding the beast: “You have to be really passionate about it. [Otherwise], you can’t sustain it.”
More on feeding the beast: “While I can’t be ace-girl reporter, I can bring in a leader…A lot of times, I am very fyi…”
On transitioning from blogger to journalist: “My blog has been a journalism 101 course for me.”
On liability: “We’re not worth suing is a big part of our defense.”

Newman –
On keywords: Before writing anything for the Web, think about the main keyword(s) for your post or article.
More on keywords: Use GoogleAdwords Keyword Tool to help you decide on the best keyword(s). Make sure your keyword is in your headline.
On SEO boosters: When linking, link on keywords, not on such phrases as “click here.” You’ll get more credit from search engines for linking relevant content, which will help your ranking for those keywords.
On tracking site usage: Use Google Analytics, Google’s free traffic analysis tool. It requires registering your site and inserting a small line of code on your blog or, for a Web site, on every page that needs tracking.
More on SEO: Find great SEO tips for writers on her blog and you can sign up for her newsletter.

How do you feel about snark? What ideas from the panel resound most with you? Please share your thoughts with other members and comment. Let’s continue the discussion here.

– Laura Lorber

McCormick Scholarship Winners — 2010

Zohreen Adamjee

Zohreen Adamjee and Cambrey Thomas have won McCormick Scholarships for the 2010-2011 school year at the Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, according to Lenore Skenazy, president of the Anne O’Hare McCormick Memorial Fund, Inc., a charity affiliated with the Newswomen’s Club of New York. The scholarships total $12,000.

“We look for exceptional writing talent, of course, but we also prize the desire to dig for the truth and tell stories that could change the world,” Skenazy said.

Zohreen Adamjee was awarded a $6,000 McCormick Scholarship honoring Lauren Terrazzano, the late Newsday reporter and columnist. Terrazzano died in May 2007 at age 39 of lung cancer. She won a posthumous Front Page Award in 2007 for her Newsday column, “Life with Cancer.”

Cambrey Thomas

Cambrey Noelle Thomas was awarded a $6,000 McCormick Scholarship known as the Joan O’Sullivan Scholarship Award. This is the second O’Sullivan Award given since the scholarship was created to honor the McCormick Fund’s long-time president, Joan O’Sullivan, who died in September 2008. O’Sullivan, who was an award-winning columnist for King Features Syndicate before she retired, was a past president and board member of the Newswomen’s Club of New York.

This year’s winners were selected from among 48 applicants, the most in a McCormick Scholarship competition in recent memory.

A News Addict

In her winning McCormick entry, Adamjee wrote about growing up in Los Angeles “with newly immigrated Pakistani parents” and pursuing the L.A. dream of working in the entertainment industry. Then her cousin was kidnapped by the Taliban — and suddenly she became addicted to the news. From that grew her desire to “cover the news,” she wrote.

Fluent in Urdu and Gujarati, Adamjee  also is studying Arabic again. She hopes to someday cover the Middle East.

Known as “Zo,” Adamjee blogs about technology for The Los Angeles Times. She created an audio series of “Behind the Scenes” interviews with LA Times reporters on how they landed a specific story. In 2006, she earned a B.A. degree in mass communications from UCLA. Adamjee plans to graduate from Columbia J-School in May 2011 with an M.S. degree in journalism, with a newspaper concentration.

A Survivor’s Story

Thomas, a former Detroit Free Press blogger, wrote her winning McCormick essay about surviving childhood cancer at ages 9 and 10 — only to struggle with learning and memory problems — as a seventh grader. Her brain was suffering the side effects of aggressive chemotherapy, which weren’t that well known in 1998. In danger of being forced to repeat seventh grade, she got some tutoring in math and went on to the eighth grade.

In high school, Thomas refused to accept an ACT score of 17 as the best she could do. Her research showed that “statistically, low-income female students of color scored the lowest,” she wrote, adding: “I was furious and decided my friends and I would not become statistics,” She found a free prep program and organized a study group with her friends, writing: “We took the test again and I scored a 25.”

Thomas spent almost three months in New York in early 2009 while working as a web intern for Self magazine. She did another internship with Detroit Public Radio. Thomas earned a B.S. degree in journalism and animate arts at Northwestern University’s Medill School in May 2009. The summer after graduation, she taught journalism to teens on the South Side of Chicago. Ultimately, she wants to be a “story teller” with an eye toward becoming an editor later in her career. At Columbia J-School, Thomas will focus on digital media. She aims to graduate in May 2011 with an M.S. degree.

– Jan Paschal

Hello, Newswomen of New York!

Welcome to the Newswomen’s Club of New York’s new blog. Here we’ll keep members posted and generate discussion on a variety of club happenings and information including:

• job postings (most otherwise unadvertised)
• event notices/previews/coverage
• committee updates
• Member news and celebrations
• guest posts from panelists, hiring managers
• musings/opinions
• tips/advice/how-to’s/online tools

Join us in extending the Newswomen’s Club community online and building a stronger network while engaging and informing our membership.

Let’s hear your suggestions about what you want to read about in this blog in the comments section. If you’re interested in contributing to this blog or to other club initiatives, email: newswomensclub.newyork@gmail.com.

For more information about the club, visit our website:

http://www.newswomensclubnewyork.com/

Join today or tell a friend.