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Mentorship July 7, 2018
ENTITY Academy gave me the skills and confidence to become a professional writer.
I first attended college with the intention to become a journalist. After working at my college newspaper as both a staff writer and editor, I decided that journalism wasn’t for me. ENTITY Academy changed that.
After graduating college and exploring different career paths including PR and law, subsequently deciding no longer to pursue them. Then, I stumbled upon the ENTITY Academy Writing Program. The promise of learning marketable skills, receiving mentorship, improving one’s writing skill, and amplifying women’s voices and stories were convincing enough. The program was the best next step in my career-searching journey.
Within the first few days, it was clear that it would be a demanding seven weeks. New challenges, deadlines, multiple daily assignments on topics I didn’t know anything about, and frankly, would’ve never been interested in learning about until the ENTITY Academy Writing Program, were thrown at us daily. As the saying goes, “practice makes perfect.” I got better at writing, time management and learned new digital marketing skills like SEO.
But, all the practice would’ve only been half as effective without the one-on-one feedback I received from my assigned mentor, Silvana, and later mentor group editor, Shahrazad. Silvana’s thoughtful direction and emphatic support encouraged me to embrace my voice while still shaping it for the intended audience. Shahrazad’s thorough edits and feedback made me a more concise writer and gave me a deeper understanding of SEO.
In addition to learning digital storytelling and marketing strategies, the ENTITY Academy Writing Program exposed this year’s mentees to graphic design tools. Some of which had been too overwhelming to learn on my own. I expanded my graphic design skill set and learned how to take my hobby of illustrating to the next level from paper to screen.
After this program, I still believe that news journalism that constantly requires tight deadlines isn’t for me. However, after these seven weeks, I’m more confident in my voice and writing abilities. I’ve found confidence in pursuing a career as a professional writer.
Unsure in what direction to pursue, I’m planning to combine my passion for writing with my joy for creating visuals into multimedia journalism with a focus on video production. Despite not having much experience with video production, I expanded my skill set in graphic design and marketing strategies for digital storytelling. I’ve gained confidence in my own marketability in the media industry and my ability to master new challenges with a little bit of guidance and a lot of perseverance.
