Day Five

It’s been so surreal that our time in NYC is almost up, but thank god it’s THURSDAY!! I’ve been looking forward to this day in particular because our schedule is jammed packed with exciting stuff today. We start off with the Committee to Protect Journalist, Hearst Publication (aka my first portfolio sesh along with Kay and Lexi!), Bloomberg News, Showtime Networks and the Miami Alumni Mixer!

CPJ logo

Photo By: Mia Lee

At our first stop, we paid a visit to our guest speaker Robert Mahoney who is the associate executive director for CPJ. He talked about the journalism protection program that ensures journalists to have opportunities to have help when needed if there’s a sticky situation legal wise. Our speaker had a whole presentation for us which I appreciated because then we all had the opportunity to learn more about this area. Before coming to CPJ, I didn’t know a lot about the risks journalists have to take or endure when they’re publishing articles. It’s crazy to think that there were some things that went unnoticed. For example, in 2019 there were 25 journalists killed and 250 journalists behind bars. Another aspect that caught my attention real quick is that “9 out of 10 journalist murders are unsolved….IMPUNITY” said Mahoney. This visit overall, definitely opened my eyes to a serious topic in the journalism world that I now am more aware of.

After we finished our visit at CPJ, our next pit stop is…….[drum roll]……..Hearst Publications! We met up with our guest speakers Bridget Clegg, Lauren Doyle, Andrea Cuttler, and Mariah Schlossman. Each of them have different roles within the company. Lauren works as the associate director of public relations, Andrea works as an entertainment director for Harper’s Bazaar, Mariah works on the editorial business side of Cosmopolitan, and Bridget works as the art production manager for the Hearst Digital Media Team. What I learned from each of their roles and a phrase that stood out to me the most was “a good personality and a smile goes a long way” said Schlossman. It just comes to show that in order to thrive in your job, you have to respect the people around you and be willing to do the work to earn it.

Bloomberg News was next on the itinerary and it blew me away. One because we got an unlimited amount of free snacks that we were able to snag on the way in and two because the whole production overall was incredible. A little background info about Bloomberg News is that they’re known for cyber security and Mike Bloomberg is a well known public figure who started the company AND is currently running for the 2020 Presidential Election with the Democratic Party. It was so fascinating to see the whole office because it showed that each job is crucial in order for companies to thrive without any cyber security issues.

Then our last visit was Showtime Network. Ken Todd gave us an overview of his job as the Vice President, video strategy & emerging platform marketing. It consists of overseeing the media content and image and I thought it was interesting learn from his experience with his job and how he incorporated so much into his day along with his regular routine. He also showed us some clips from the series called “Circus” and “The Loudest Voice” which goes hand in hand with the news and the political world. I found it fascinating listening to the process of those tv series and the character development with each of the cast members. It made me understand other perspectives more and it made me want to download the app ASAP so I can start my own Netflix marathon.

Me as an old Miami Alum prune

Photo by: Caroline Haubenstricker

The Miami Alumni Networking Event is a chance for all of us to get to know past Miami students and gain knowledge of their career paths after graduation. It was honestly one of my top highlights of the trip because I love getting to know people and their journeys. It was fascinating to learn about all the different stories in the room. I was comforted by it. It made me reassured that life is full of so many twists and turns, but all those events lead you to your destiny. It’s so surreal and cool to think about. It’s not going to be too long that we’re all going to be Miami Alumni in the near future ahhhhhhh! But anyway it was such a great day to meet everyone, to mingle and to put myself out there. I definitely had some fun handing out my own business cards. I’m proud that I had the opportunity to do so. This makes me even more excited for tomorrow!