What is your current job?
I'm currently the host of a new podcast from Vox called Explain It To Me. It's a call-in show, where people send in their hard-to-answer questions. After they send their questions in, I do some reporting and call them back with what I found.
What was your first byline?
My first byline was for Perspective Magazine when I was in middle school. The Perspective covers the Black community in New Mexico. The publisher, Ron Wallace, was always at community events doing write-ups of things happening around town. I'd always loved writing, and one day when he was covering an event at my church I went up to him and asked if I could write for the magazine. He liked the idea of having a youth correspondent, so shortly after that I got my first assignment: I talked with a local student who designed clothes, and after seeing my name in print, I was hooked! At that moment I knew journalism was going to be my thing.
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What was your first real job in journalism?
I was a Broadcast Journalism major at Howard University. Back in high school I started volunteering at the local NPR station. Most of my internships were in television, and that included NBC's Washington bureau. After graduation I worked there as a Desk Assistant.
How did you get it?
I got that job the way I've gotten most of my jobs: by being kind of annoying. I didn't have a job right after graduation, but habitually emailed the places I'd interned and applied to jobs that popped up at those places. Eventually, I got one.
What advice do you have for people looking to break into journalism?
The industry is admittedly in a precarious place right now, but if this is what you want to do, don't let that deter you. Don't be afraid to cast a wide net, try things that aren't exactly your dream job, and don't be afraid to walk through the doors that open.
Find Jonquilyn on her website, LinkedIn and X.