Because I Run After People in Parking Lots

It’s been a little while since I updated you guys on how the job hunt is going, so here is the latest.

I have been pretty busy as of late and writing opportunities just seem to keep falling into my lap, along with some pretty good connections.

I have always been the type of person to network wherever I am, but lately this is really paying off. But first, let’s start where we left off. Since I finished my PR internship, I decided to take the media list that I had sent all of the invitations to during the duration of my internship and contact the magazines and publications that I was interested in working for. Right away I had a great response. I am now writing for another magazine, Velvet Rope, although alas it is more unpaid work, but it is another publication to add to my resume, more published work to add to my portfolio, and I continue to get my name out there. Unfortunately the reality is, if you want to get anywhere in this business you are going to have to be willing to work for free for a little while. I also got an interview with Glow magazine out of this little media contact spree, and although in the end I didn’t get the job, at least I’m getting a response now and that is half of the struggle. You have to hear a certain amount of no’s before you hear that yes, and every interview is good practice for the next one. And I’m sure we can all agree that hearing back and seeing some interest is better than never hearing back at all. I’m choosing to take it as a good sign that I’m getting called for interviews in my desired field. Eventually I will come across that right opportunity and everything I’ve been working towards will finally pay off.

Also, I have been self-submitting myself to events that I want to cover and have been able to network myself that way as well. It is important in this line of work to get yourself out there and network yourself; the worst thing you can do is sit around and wait for your reference letter to represent you or for your next assignment to come in. Sitting around and waiting for anything to happen is a waste of time; you have to MAKE things happen. What I have learned throughout my years of working in journalism is that you have to be proactive and go after your own stories, and you have to network like crazy at any event you go to. Getting your name out there and making good connections is the only way you will get ahead in this business. It depends so heavily on who you know as well as what you know. For example, I was recently able to attend the 8^th annual Chocolate Ball at the Eglinton Grand in Toronto this past Thursday (an event I self-submitted to) and was fortunate enough to have made the acquaintance of Elizabeth Rizzuto, who was not only a coordinator for the event, but is also involved in media relations and publishes multiple magazines. This is sure to be an incredibly valuable contact and I am now on her radar and may have the opportunity to work with her in the future. I also met other journalists from other media outlets and forged a connection with a photographer, which any journalist knows a relationship with a good photographer can be quite lucrative. Finally, I made connections with some industry professionals that have fueled ideas for further stories. I achieved all of this in only one night and all because I was proactive enough to decide to cover this event on my own. This is precisely the attitude and work ethic I need to have to really break into successful freelance writing as well, which is my next major step since publications don’t really hire writers anymore, they predominantly accept freelance articles.

Anytime I’m on set too, I keep my ears open and remain approachable. I have made countless connections on set that have allowed me to get in contact with hiring supervisors and editors from major publications. I specifically made an acquaintance of a fellow journalist and PR associate on set and was given a contact at Blog TO to contact for opportunities to write and edit. Every social situation that you are in is an opportunity to market yourself and forge connections that will lead you towards the next step in your career path. I used to be shy and keep to myself, but in this business that will hinder you more than anything else; you need to be confident, approachable, and always working to promote yourself. If you don’t do it no one else will.

Honestly, although it is frustrating and it takes an incredibly long time, persistence and determination is the key. If you are willing to go after what you want to be doing and you are very good at networking yourself and forging and making use of connections, you will eventually see results.  

Just today, even, I went to the 1 year anniversary at Our Crepe in Mississauga with friends and got a story idea out of an unplanned, casual afternoon. While there, however, I also made a contact at CTV who I plan to contact ASAP about career opportunities. I actually saw him walk into the restaurant to do some news coverage and then ran after him in the parking lot IN THE RAIN to get his business card and discuss work opportunities. And for all of you people out there that are worried about whether or not you can get into your desired field with the degree you have, I am here to tell you that YES YOU CAN! I recently had someone tell me that I can’t get into publishing without a publishing degree or that it will be hard for me to find a journalism job because I didn’t do a journalism degree. Well, I will tell you what I always tell these people who like to put me down: you don’t know me and you don’t know what I am capable of. I can and will do anything that I put my mind to, and this CTV contact today was a great example of that as he is in television journalism, a field he never would have thought he would be in, because he did his degree in business. Your degree teaches you how to learn, it shapes your character and your work ethic, and these are the characteristics that eventually land you a job (along with your knowledge of and ability to contribute to your field of interest).

So, this is what is going on with me right now. I am daily working on achieving my goals and am constantly taking every possible opportunity to market myself and forge profitable connections. I will let you guys know how it turns out, but I promise you that something is coming very soon, because I am willing to run after people in parking lots in the rain.

    

"If you want to get somewhere, you have to know where you want to go and how to get there. Then never, never, never give up." Norman Vincent Peale 

"In the private sanctuary of one's own conscience lies that spirit, that determination to cast off the old person and to measure up to the stature of true potential" Thomas S. Monson

Are We Eating Ourselves to Death?

I never thought that reading ELLE magazine would make me completely re-think my life. Or should I say my lifestyle or way of life? I should perhaps be a bit more specific. I got a bit behind in reading through my subscription, so I only just today took a look at the August issue. Within this issue is a fantastic article on GMO’s and allergies. The writer describes a period of 3 years of random symptoms that no doctors could explain, as all tests came back normal. She was plagued by a general feeling of being unwell and could not do anything about it. This piqued my interest because it describes me perfectly. Lately even perfect strangers are picking up on the fact that I’m a “sickly person.” That’s pretty sad. It is one of the most frustrating things to feel like a prisoner in your own body and that everything is out of your control. Like the author narrating this tale of ill-health, I suffer from digestive issues, random muscle pain, insomnia, headaches, low immune system, general lethargy, and the perpetual feeling of having a head cold. When I saw this same list of symptoms in the article, I was shocked.

 I’ve been passed around from doctor to doctor all looking repeatedly at my gall bladder, because I’ve had polyps for a while and all of my digestive symptoms seemed to point to that being the issue, but unfortunately for me, there is so much more going on than can be explained by this one problem area. I’ve even felt lately like there is too much wrong with me to even burden the doctors with, and although it is completely unfair to have to live a life feeling this way all the time, that perhaps this is just my personal hurdle to overcome. It’s also ridiculous to go to a doctor and just say “I feel sick…all the time….I can’t explain it,” and there are friends and loved ones that can attest to me breaking down in tears of frustration exclaiming “I just feel sick, I don’t know why, and I am so sick and tired of feeling sick and tired!” When I read this article by Caitlin Shetterly, I finally felt like I was not alone in this. Caitlin went through the same struggle for 3 years, going to even more doctors and homeopaths than I have, before seeing a high acclaimed allergist. Oddly enough, I was supposed to see an allergist this week but ended up having to work.

Anyway, to make a long story short, the allergist listened to Caitlin’s list of symptoms and then informed her that she had probably developed an allergy to genetically modified corn. What?!?! Although there has been no clinical proof of GMO proteins being allergens, many physicians and health-care researchers are starting to become sceptical.

I’ve been pretty openly against GMO’s for a while now, which anyone who knows me can attest to, but I haven’t (for some strange reason) attributed my current ill health to them. It isn’t a coincidence though, I will wager, that (as reported by the National Health Interview Survey) since 1999 the number of children with food allergies has jumped by 50% and skin allergies by 69%. Moreover, there has been an astronomical increase in autoimmune disorders such as type 1 diabetes, lupus, and CELIAC DISEASE, as well as allergies. Indeed the amount of gluten intolerance as of late is excessive, even if you take out those that are merely following the latest health craze. We are currently in what Marc Rothenberg, MD, PhD has described as an “allergy and autoimmune epidemic.” Indeed, all of my life growing up I never had allergies, but now come any change of season I am plagued by them. There also seems to be less and less that I can eat that doesn’t make me feel sick or give me pain.

GMO’s have been approved for sale in North America since the mid 1990’s with no clinical or human trials; to all intelligent people reading this, you should be coming to the conclusion that WE are the current human trial. Of course the industry professionals will say that there is no concrete proof or that there have been no long-term effects reported…but that’s because there hasn’t been a long enough timeframe in which to evaluate GMO’s effects on us. Any controversial trials that have popped up have been publically disputed, and what is worse and even scarier is that the reason no GMO proteins register on the international allergen database is because this research centre and database is hosted by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln which is not so coincidentally funded by the six major biotech companies: Monsanto, Syngenta, Dow, Dupont Pioneer, Bayer, and BASF. Oh yes, there is more, any research studies submitted to the government on GMO’s is funded by these big firms and they are able to cherry pick which studies they submit.  

Unfortunately too, we have reached a point of no return where we can’t just say “hell no to GMO’s” since today 88% of corn and 93% of soybeans are GMO’s. It is becoming close to impossible to find non-genetically modified corn, particularly because pollen and seeds from GMO fields travel over to natural fields through wind delivery and animal (particularly bird) dispersion. “What happens when we get to the point where absolutely no more natural crops exist” is the scary question that no one seems to be asking or want answered. If the food we eat is making us violently sick, though, what does the future hold for us? Why aren’t we looking into this further? Why aren’t we more concerned about what we put in our bodies? And why is it that no one seems to be afraid that we are eating our way to death? I applaud ELLE for putting this food for thought out there and I intend to keep feeding on it.