When I was younger, I asked a lot of questions. It got so bad, my (rather unoriginal) parents nicknamed me "Questionabella" and began imposing a quota on how many queries I could pose to them per day. Though my parents, ever fiscally-minded business professionals, might not have wanted to suggest to me I go into the field of journalism, in which jobs are often complete with late hours and low pay, it seems natural now that this is where I've ended up.
Where that is exactly is as a junior double majoring in print and digital journalism and international relations at USC. In addition to my classes, I also spend quite a bit of time serving as a managing editor of the Daily Trojan, doing web production for the Los Angeles Times and working as a student editor at the USC Investment Office. In my time at USC I have also previously worked at ATVN as an assignments desk editor and multimedia journalist, volunteered through the Joint Educational Program and tutored low-income students in Watts to prepare them for the SAT.
It's not surprising that my life has taken me to Los Angeles, as this is where it started. My journey began as a Valley girl when I was born at the Tarzana Hospital. As a young child, I lived in Santa Monica, where I completed my education through first grade. The summer before I began my third year of elementary education, however, the tech industry's pull drew my family to Northern California, where we lived in the San Jose suburb of Los Altos. Despite the greener streets and aura of intelligence that seemed to pervade the area, my parents, ever Angelenos, wanted to return. Knowing many parts of the city would not be ideal for raising their three children, my parents compromised, and we ended up moving to the sleepy, tiny suburb of Oak Park, complete with safe streets and good school districts. Though I may not have been born there, I have now lived there long enough to now consider it my hometown, along with my larger home city of L.A.
In Oak Park I was raised, in a home complete with two parents, one grandma, two siblings, three dogs and endless noise. When it came time to go to college, I knew I wanted to remain close to this chaos and chose USC in the hopes that it would also give me the chance to better get to know a city I had long skirted the edges of. Not only has USC done this, but it has also instilled in me the confidence that I can now go other places. I hope someday to expand beyond my roots and live elsewhere, if only for a year or two. Ideally, I'd love to live in New York for a short period of time and really get to experience the epicenter of the media world.
What I will be doing while in New York is still up in the air, however. Though I love journalism, I'm not sure I will continue with it professionally. One option I am considering is combining my passion for journalism with my passion for the law and attending law school with the intention of working in media law or becoming a legal correspondent for some type of news outlet upon graduation. No matter what I end up doing, however, I know the skills I learned through my journalistic education--everything from being able to write clearly and concisely to knowing how to approach a stranger--will come in handy.