Why did you choose LSE, and why did you choose your programme of study?
I chose LSE (to study media and communications) because of the potential for study that incorporated theory and practice that was more international than grounded purely in a single culture's tradition. This seemed important given the reality that communications technology and information industries today, though certainly locally influenced and adapted, are not constrained to national/political/geographical boundaries.
Overall, how do you look back on your LSE experience?
I look back on my LSE experience as incredibly open, encouraging and useful. I found an open door to the offices of all of the professors I hoped to speak more with, engaged in incredibly rich and surprising conversations here and there, and felt like I was a part of an institution that was itself growing and challenging itself to stay relevant without being reactive.
Please describe your career path to date:
Studying at LSE and living in London opened my eyes to inequalities and issues of my own country (the United States) that I may not have been as well equipped to understand had I stayed stateside. By the time I came back home and had undergone the entire process of my dissertation, I had reflected deeply enough on my own values and responsibilities to society that my job process and priorities had become more clear to me. I headed back into the job market with an eye to doing very thoughtful, research-oriented communications for the nonprofit sector, which I had earlier in life eschewed.
Why did you choose your current job?
I chose my current job in large part because it reflected values that I had discerned as important to me and important to society--particularly through and after my time in London--and because of its treatment and approach to communications that was deep, thoughtful and honest. Of course, all of this would have been hard to know 100 percent before being ON the job for a while, but I think I have been extremely lucky in finding that I was wrong in the least.
Tell us about your current job:
My current job consists of much research and learning about the work and achievements of my colleagues, the external communications of which I support. Our audiences are our partners, including peer funding organizations whose strategies may or may not align with ours and grantee organizations who are doing the important work on the ground. My job therefore entails much writing, as well, of messages of all lengths, sizes and formats (from emails to feature profiles of things we are learning and from whom). It also demands a lot of deep investigation into the surrounding news, media and public discourse environment within which we sit. If we are in any way talking, we must more so be listening. It is a dynamic job in which I'm constantly learning. (I hope you can hear the love.)
What advice do you have for LSE students who are looking to enter a similar profession to you?
For aspiring communications practitioners: Learn how to listen very carefully to people--the things they say and the things they don't say. Only then can you ask relevant, deep, investigative questions that truly connect to them. And only then can you discern how to respond and communicate in a way that falls on ready ears. Communications is a practice of good relationships.