My Journey to J-School

It all started when I was in grade 6… that’s right, grade 6! At the time, I was in love with Jonathan Taylor Thomas and once-a-week I would join my mom at the grocery store. If I was well-behaved, she would buy me the latest Teen Beat magazine featuring his photos. When I got home, I would carefully cut the photos out of the magazine and tape them to my white bedroom walls. Then, I would read the rest of the magazine, cover to cover. So, in grade six, when our class was given the creative freedom to produce anything we wanted for our year-end project, it was an obvious choice, that I would pick producing a magazine. I wrote content, created quizzes, and formatted it as closely as I could to the magazines I had bought in the store. The magazine was what you would expect of a ten year old, but my parents say it was the first time that I would answer the question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” with anything other than the Easter bunny. I wanted to be a journalist.

Fast-forward to grade twelve, where I was given the option of taking journalism as an elective. I threw myself into the course and at the end of the semester I was given high praise from my teacher who encouraged me to pursue journalism as major in university. Long story short, for many reasons (that would demand their own blog post) I, didn’t listen to him (despite the nagging voice inside my head telling me to), and instead set out on a journey to pursue political science.

I flew through my undergraduate degree at the University of Victoria, and was accepted to pursue a graduate degree in Political Science at the University of Lethbridge. My thesis focused on how social media was influencing political participation in Canada. I graduated, got married and worked in Communications and Marketing for the Member of Parliament, before welcoming my first and eventually second children into the world.

Let me take a break from this narrative to say, that I strongly believe the closer you get to your calling, the universe delivers. In my case, it delivered a post-degree program in journalism offered via distance education – the perfect fit for a working mom of two young children. In September 2018, I took the plunge and began to pursue what I know has always been my calling. In an effort to build on my calling, I would be grateful to you for following along on my journey, as a I transition from a journalism student to a working professional, in this next, exciting chapter of my life!