I’ve always wanted to work with NPR and Capital Public Radio. I am usually a print journalist, so I couldn’t figure out how to start working with a station that has been so influential in my life. I was lucky enough to be on the audio-storytelling team through the Asian American Journalism Association’s Voices fellowship this past summer, and it flung the public broadcasting door wide open.
I love how NPR’s Next Generation Radio takes its fellows as we are. This week’s been full of thought-provoking tasks, and it gave me a clear understanding of how to get where I want to be in this field.
The mentors and professionals I worked with this week have shown me the collaborative nature of the audio-storytelling community. It has been motivating to be around so many journalists, engineers, editors, and photographers. I truly felt they wanted to see me succeed. Each stumble and obstacle was treated like a new toy. I could tell my mentors were excited to teach me how to strengthen my work.
I stumbled when I interviewed my source on the first day, but I’m better for it. I now know it is important to let myself settle into a conversation, embrace silence and play with any new technology I need to use, for as long as possible.
Many times during the editing process, I felt I didn’t ask the right questions during the interview. Devin, my mentor, encouraged me to pick what I liked the most about the conversation and shared what he thought was the most interesting. The back and forth helped me reframe my perceived shortcomings.
After finishing my audio story, I realized I need to work on pivoting between writing questions for a digital story and an audio one. The advice “show, don’t tell” came up a lot.
This week was an amazing experience, and I can’t wait to start on projects my new mentors helped me flesh out.
