Q: What year did you graduate from WCU?
A: 2011.
Q: What was your concentration?
A: Broadcasting and Journalism with a minor in Theater.
Q: What are your career highlights?
A: I am currently the lead digital content producer at WSB Radio for Cox Media Group. I have held a content producer position at Cox since November 2012.
Q: Why did you choose the Communication department over other majors at WCU?
A: At the time, it seemed to fit my personality and line up with what I wanted in terms of a career. I have always been a writer, and so it fit with being able to possibly write for a living.
Q: What is the most important principle or skill you learned while in the Communication department?
A: Collaboration. Sometimes it takes compromise to accomplish big goals. It doesn’t mean you cave, it just means there is a way to give and take where you can accomplish everything you want, without stepping on someone else’s objectives.
Q: Where did you complete your internship? What was the most important thing you learned from this experience?
A: I completed my internship at statewide Metro News Sports Radio in Morgantown, West Virginia. I learned that I don’t like to get up in the middle of the night. But seriously, that’s how media works. Digital and video are just as important as the product you put out on air.
Q: How would you characterize the impact of the WCU communication department on your career?
A: I always say, it’s the reason I have my job. Having the ability to practice the skills I learned in class in a student media setting where I really had to create a great product, helped me gain valuable experience I may not have had otherwise. The Western Carolina Journalist was a small scale of what my initial job was in the real world. In turn, I got to apply real experience to my first journalism job straight out of the gate that set me apart from other candidates.
Q: Thinking back about your time as a WCU communication major, what is your favorite memory?
A: There are a million, but honestly, I think the most memorable project I had was our senior practicum production project. It was honestly one of the hardest things I have ever produced, but it really bonded the classmates involved. We still talk about it to this day.
I think another small memory that I love was late nights at TV62 sitting in the station in silence, fighting with Final Cut Pro. It taught me how to learn, and how to keep trying.
Q: What would you tell a prospective student wanting to major in communication at WCU?
A: It might be the best decision you make. Experience is worth more than gold in the real world of journalism, and if you apply yourself the way you should, you leave WCU very wealthy.
Q: Please provide your LinkedIn and any other social media contacts you’d like to share.
Twitter: @ljdigital, Lauren Johnson