At night, I sit surrounded by my makeshift bookshelf (organized in a way that only I understand) and magazines while rewatching “Sex and the City,” figuring out ways to become Carrie Bradshaw. I got my hands on my first Vogue working in a car wash gift shop, and my life has never been the same.
When you’re a teenager at a minimum wage job surrounded by air fresheners and oddly overpriced jewelry, there’s not much you can do. Luckily for me, this gift shop was more of a boutique that just happened to be inside a carwash, which meant my older women co-workers had quite the magazine treasure.
And yes, of course, I dream of walking city streets in impeccable shoes with a core group of girlfriends. But more than that, I realized I wanted to write about life happening all around me.
When you’re about to graduate from high school and an adult asks about your career aspirations, and you say “to write about New York like Carrie Bradshaw,” it’s not always the correct answer. At seventeen, I knew I wanted to be a journalist, I just needed to figure out how.
When I got accepted into San Diego State University, I immediately joined the Daily Aztec. I wanted to make my dreams a reality as fast as I possibly could.
I discovered I love a good non-fiction book and that a great documentary is a beautiful thing. But, I’ve realized journalistic writing is my space – New Yorker-style advice columns, rooftop restaurant reviews, broadway production features and breaking down the worst runway looks of the spring. Any topic can be captivating when handled creatively and intelligently.
Through my time at the Daily Aztec, I embraced the inevitable uncertainties in pursuing my passion for writing. But also the excitement and courage to move forward, trusting that each new step in my career, like every chapter in a story, holds something worth discovering. It’s the thrill of pushing forward anyway, trusting in the power of words to reveal something new, exciting and meaningful with each step.
Four years later, as the current editor of the Arts and Culture Section at the Daily Aztec, with over 40 by-lines, I found a love for covering cultural events and topics with artistic aspects and aesthetic influences. I found a home in arts and culture writing where some of my favorite pieces focus on live music, pop culture and fashion. I got to experience and report on the diverse lives of San Diego locals. I figured out how to adapt my journalistic voice to resonate across different genres and audiences, without ever losing my real voice. Through opinion pieces, concert reviews, event coverage, columns on the latest trends and even a one-off sports feature, I learned how to commit to any idea or pitch and turn it into a publishable feature story.
I became a real journalist with hands-on experience, not only in the field, but in the newsroom.
After this past summer as an editorial intern at San Diego Magazine, where I contributed to editorial meetings and wrote stories for both print and online, I’ve continued to contribute to the publication as a freelance writer which has felt surreal.
I think seventeen-year-old me – who played just about every sport growing up and had been on the S.T.E.A.M. path since sixth grade, only to burn out way too young – would be completely shocked.
But I wouldn’t have made it here if it wasn’t for my support system. Thank you – to my dad, who wakes up at 2 a.m. just to proofread my story for the sixth time; to my mom, who listens to all the behind-the-scenes juice of every article; to my seven roommates, who’ve become my absolute best friends and will sit with me for hours at a café drinking an unhealthy amount of overpriced coffee and to both sets of grandparents, who not only figured out how to read every single article online but also print them out and proudly mass share them on Facebook.
To my professors (shoutout to David Coddon for changing my journalistic journey with SPJ, for that JMS 441 class and being a mentor, seriously); to the Arts and Culture editors before me and to my inspiring contributors and staff writers now… thank you.
SDSU showed me that teenage dreams don’t have to be just dreams. After four years, I learned to write magnetic, compelling articles in a limited space, to hook the reader and make them want to stay– just like I did when I realized I wanted to do this for the rest of my life.
I want to be a magazine writer, creating pieces that make people smile and maybe even occasionally cry. Articles that make readers want to share with their best friends and ones they can’t put down. My career is journalism, and I want to help others fall in love with it too.
