Create Your Life Series

CYLS 160: The Path to Becoming an Award Winning Journalist with Natasha Alford

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Episode summary:

Natasha talks about her rise as an emerging journalist and the joy she gets from storytelling. She shares her path to her current career and sheds light on journalism as a career, why she thinks she is meant to do the work and how anyone can adopt attitudes of a journalist to enhance his or her life.

 

About our Guest:

Natasha Alford is the deputy editor of theGrio, a video centric news community devoted to sharing stories about African American communities that are underrepresented elsewhere in the media. At theGrio, she created and hosts the video series “True Story with Natasha Alford,” where she goes into the field and reports on stories impacting black America. She was awarded the 2018 Emerging Journalist of the Year Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. Before her career in journalism she worked in finance, as a middle school teacher and in education policy. Her passion for storytelling and a restless desire to see the whole world propelled her into journalism.

 

Insights from this episode:

  • Strategies for aspiring journalists
  • How to think like a journalist to inspire your own curiosity
  • The secret to converting critics to fans
  • Strategies for navigating the evolving nature of the journalism industry
  • Strategies to handle social media trolls

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    Quotes from the show:

    • “It’s not just about writing, it’s about being able to connect with people so they feel comfortable to share their story.” - Natasha Alford, Episode #160
  • “Don’t try to be likable, don’t try to do what you think people will like, because you just don’t know all the time how they’re going to react. The best thing you can do is be you.” - Natasha Alford, Episode #160
  • “I feel uniquely gifted to do this work.” - Natasha Alford, Episode #160
  • “I have a license to be curious.” - Natasha Alford, Episode #160
  • “You’d be surprised how many people aren’t curious. They just exist in the world and don’t ask questions.” - Natasha Alford, Episode #160
  • “Things can be good, as good as you imagine.” - Natasha Alford, Episode #160
  • “You can convert critics into fans if you remove ego out of the way and you listen before you react.” - Natasha Alford, Episode #160
  • “I think that we should be more present. You can put down the phones and converse and it’s cool. Being able to be in the moment with somebody else. That matters a lot to me.” - Kevin Y Brown, Episode #160
  • “A lot of times when you’re growing up in lower economic communities, it’s not cool to be smart. Things like that are a significant part of the culture that needs to be changed.”  - Kevin Y Brown, Episode #160
  • “Being exposed to things that are greater than what you can even imagine just puts you on a different trajectory.” - Kevin Y Brown, Episode #160

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    Resources mentioned:

    • LandIt
  • Canon T7i DSLR camera

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    Favorite book:

    • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

     

    Favorite quote:

    • Natasha’s motto: “The greatest commandment is love.”

     

    3 keys to Create Your Best Life:

    1.     The fear is in your head
  •     You have something that the world needs
  •     You only get one life

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    Stay Connected:

     

    Show Social Media:

    https://www.facebook.com/cylseries/

    https://www.instagram.com/cylseries/

     

    Kevin Y Brown:

    www.kevinybrown.com

    www.instagram.com/kevinybrown

    www.twitter.com/kevinybrown

    www.facebook.com/kevbrown001

     

    Natasha Alford:

    www.instagram.com/natashasalford

    https://twitter.com/NatashaSAlford

    https://www.facebook.com/natashasalfordnews


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    Create Your Life SeriesBy Kevin Y. Brown
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