Is There Life After Journalism? (Part Three)
Absolutely!
My next guest believes there is definitely life after journalism.
Beverly Taylor and I worked together in television news for several years. She’s a good friend and one of the hardest working journalists I had the privilege of knowing.
Beverly turned her strong work ethic and journalistic skills into innovative businesses after she left journalism.
How did she do it? Here’s Beverly’s story.
Is there life after journalism? Absolutely!! Many of my former colleagues joined public relations teams at universities, p.r. firms, and non-profit organizations. One meteorologist went back to school for an engineering degree. Another former journalist started her own business during the pandemic coaching sales people about how to conduct presentations in a virtual world. And yet a couple of others won elected political positions.
My journey has been a little different. Five years before I left the business I earned a master’s degree in Dispute Resolution. Conflict resolution has always been an interest of mine. I wanted the degree to validate my expertise in the field since most people only knew me as the TV news anchor/reporter. But having that recognition has brought other opportunities: freelancing in media relations for a public relations firm, podcast host of The 411 Live, voiceover artist, workshop facilitator, forum moderator and audiobook narrator. I also formed two companies: Beverly Taylor Voice LLC and BTG Mediation LLC.
I was blessed to be in TV journalism for 30 years and feel just as blessed to be able to explore and enjoy different ventures. Journalists contemplating leaving the business should take inventory of all of the skills they use in their work. Those skills transfer to many other opportunities outside of journalism. Find the ones you are most interested in and GO FOR IT!! Beverly Taylor
Thank you, Beverly! We’ll share insights and encouragement from another former journalist in just a few weeks.
Next Newsletter
Is it time to “re-focus” on the possibility of a financial recession in 2023? How should journalists cover the story? We’ll look for answers in the next Real Journalism Newsletter.
Comments and Questions Welcome
I hope these thoughts are helpful to you as a journalist or news consumer. Please share your comments and questions and I’ll respond as quickly as I can. If you like what we’re doing in this newsletter, please let your friends know about it so they can subscribe.
Newsletter Purpose
The purpose of this newsletter is to help journalists understand how to do real journalism and the public know how they can find news they can trust on a daily basis. It’s a simple purpose, but complicated to accomplish. I’ll do my best to make it as clear as I can in future newsletters.
