My First Byline: Ann Marie Awad
Editorial director, Institute for Independent Journalists
What is your current job?
I am the editorial director for the Institute for Independent Journalists and also I'm a freelance audio journalist and editor.
What was your first byline?
I worked for a pretty scrappy, irreverent campus magazine during undergrad at the University at Buffalo (shout out to Generation Magazine) that got shut down halfway through my time on campus (RIP Generation Magazine). So I went and interned for six months for Artvoice, the alt weekly paper in my hometown. I was a huge Artvoice fan, and after the internship was over, I asked if they'd let me keep writing for them. And they did! My first feature for them ended up being a cover story and I still have printed in an actual physical portfolio in my closet. It was about Buffalo's weekly mass bike rides and I'm pretty sure I had an asthma attack trying to report that story, but I was so proud.
Help support student journalists! Sign up for a paid subscription and we will upgrade a student journalist subscriber for a full year.
What was your first real job in journalism?
I wouldn't get my first full time job in journalism until several years later, in 2014. I was hired to be the morning host and reporter at WRKF in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
How did you get it?
I got this job right after I finished my master's program at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. I hadn't planned to do radio when I got there but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed working with sound. CUNY's program makes you do an internship over the summer and mine was at WHYY in Philadelphia. Up until that point, I was really attached to the idea of staying in New York City after graduation, and ideally working at WNYC. But my summer in Philly was probably the best internship I could've asked for. I was out on assignment practically every day (which is exhausting to think about now) and positively raking in clips for my portfolio. I was getting to explore a brand new city and learning from experienced reporters all along the way. It felt like an adventure. By the time summer was over, I was more or less over my attachment to New York and much more willing to apply anywhere so long as I got to do radio. And that's how I ended up in Baton Rouge, hosting Morning Edition every day! This job was definitely more hosting than reporting but I learned so much on both fronts. I've covered government and policy for pretty much my whole career and Louisiana was a helluva place to be doing that kind of coverage. Baton Rouge is Louisiana's capital, and a rabid college football town at that. People at the station often joked that politics was the next most popular pastime, a close second.
What advice do you have for people looking to break into journalism?
An edit isn't personal. A good edit isn't, anyways. I think there's something really beautiful about how growth and refinement are built into the very nature of the work we do – that a first draft is a first draft and that's all it has to be. Nowadays, I am in the stage of my career where I hire and manage people, and I want to tell so many folks: you are not the work, and an edit is not personal. A good editor is on your side, and the very best editors bring out your potential, they help you to write the stories you wanted to write all along. An edit is such a powerful chance to receive mentorship, but first you have to be open to receiving feedback. Feedback is a gift, as a friend of mine likes to say.
Find Ann Marie at her website, BlueSky and LinkedIn.