I started this blog on January 16th, 2018 and a week later I was on the phone with YouTuber, JustinJ, who is now known as the King of Reads. While doing a class assignment I stumbled across his website and saw that he was looking for contributors for his site. I honestly just applied because I figured "what's the worst that could happen?" A few days I received an email saying he would love to have me on the team and he will call me to let me know about the position. OMG. I was shook because I've been watching his videos since high school. With this opportunity I became a PAID staff writer giving you your daily does of black entertainment twice a day Monday-Friday. Because of the time commitment to his site and how the content was similar to what I was doing, unfortunately my blog took a backseat. I'll make another blog post about this experience leading to a rebrand so stay tuned for that.
This summer was a difficult one. I was working nonstop on my feet all day and didn't have energy to do ANYTHING. I was beating myself up because it's summer, I have all of this time to create content and energetically (is that a word?) I'm spent. Toppled with the fact that I was reading Charlamagne tha God's book (before the rape allegations don't judge me) "Black Privilege" and he talked a great deal about getting an internship if you want to be in media. Me, an aspiring media personality, felt hopeless. I've been trying for over a year to get an internship and was left with nothing but empty promises (promithes for the 3LW fans) and broken dreams. I called radio stations, researched media companies, only to get the "well you can email me" which is basically the business professional way to hang up the phone. I felt discouraged until the semester started.
In my major some professors like to drop internship and job opportunities for students. One day two applications were posted for Cincinnati Magazine and Kona Ice. I applied to both but wanted the Kona Ice one because it was more video focused and I didn't feel qualified to intern at Cincinnati Magazine. What was really cool about Cincinnati Magazine was that I didn't need credit to intern there. Which in most cases would be a bummer but this was great because I didn't need the credit since I've taken a projects class instead. The internship would be for pure experience. I can't remember what day it was but I received an email from Cincinnati Magazine to schedule a phone interview. To make a long story short I got the internship!!! Ecstatic was an understatement. I finally was one step closer to my goals and proved that I have outside experience in my field.
Along with my internship I secured another bag, a job at ESPN3. I applied for this job in August. Didn't hear ANYTHING back until November. Now at this time I'm feeling overwhelmed with juggling classes, writing for King of Reads, and my internship. At first I was going to decline the offer. I wrote an email declining an interview and happened to show my friend Alex, who works in athletics, to see if it sounds professional. She read it and said, "You know they make 12.50 an hour right?"
When I tell you I rewrote that email so fast!! I went from "thank u, next" to "When can I start?" I accepted the position, which only pays $12/hr by the way, but I'm not complaining. I told my dad I got hired at ESPN and you would've thought I said I work for Barack Obama. His eyes were wide open in shock saying "Whaaaaat?! Forreal?!" I'm excited because not only does it look great on my resume but it's a great job.
Last goal I achieved in 2018 was my internship with FOX19. This sort of came as a shock because at this point I was very anxious about my future. My career path isn't easy or guaranteed. I stayed up one night just having a breakdown feeling like I'm not doing anything to make my dreams come true. The next day my school had a media day where local media conglomerates came and gave us advice, answered questions, etc. The person I met from FOX19 and I hit it off really well. He liked my personality and confirmed to me that I WILL have an internship. It was just the confirmation and confidence boost I needed! A few weeks later I got the email that I was selected to be one of the interns!! Expect a post about that internship in the future. I feel like I will have a lot to say on that experience.
So yes, I haven't necessarily abandoned you guys but my 2018 was #Booked&Busy. I'm excited now that I have time to focus on building MY brand. I have so many goals I want to hit and I can't wait to share it with you guys. So stay tuned cause we just getting started OKURRR!
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