Q+A: Ally Gray
By Lily Rhook O’Connor
Ally Gray is a student in the Grady College of Journalism at UGA who is hoping to revolutionize the way young people understand and learn about politics. Gray grew up in Roswell, Georgia and enjoyed how diverse her high school was that she attended there. She decided to go to UGA after not being accepted into her top school: the University of Virginia. Although UGA was not her first choice, and she ideally wanted to go somewhere out of state, she fell in love with UGA after visiting. Her love for journalism has stemmed from her love for writing as well as her interest in politics. Through her journalism, she hopes to make politics more understandable for young people. Gray loves the learning environment that Grady has to offer and is inspired by her professors’ passion for the journalism field and love for writing. She has other interests outside of political journalism like fashion blogs but her main goal is to cover politics in a way that will be easily digestible for younger people who are not as familiar with the topic. Gray’s goal is in reach and if she follows through she could change the way journalism is portrayed to different generational cohorts, especially those who are interested in politics.
Rhook O’Connor
Hello, Ally.
Ally Gray
Hello, Rhook.
O’Connor
What was it like growing up in Georgia, and have you lived here your whole life?
Gray
I have lived here my whole life. When I was two years old, we moved from the Buckhead area to Roswell. I hated the suburbs. It was classic Georgia suburb real life. Yeah, I don’t know, it was exactly what you’d expect.
O’Connor
Do you wish you would have stayed in Buckhead?
Gray
Oh my god. Well, no, because so many people from Buckhead have such a bubble around them and I really liked going to Centennial because it really made me not live in that bubble and all my friends are so diverse which I love. They’re all from such different backgrounds, but I do wish that there had been more to do.
O’Connor
I totally get that. So since you’ve grown up in Georgia, has UGA always been your dream school?
Gray
No, I definitely did not want to go to school here.
O’Connor
Where did you want to go?
Gray
Well, I didn’t want to go to Georgia because I didn’t want to relive high school and, I think 70 kids from each grade from Centennial go to Georgia or at least get in. I really wanted to go to UVA, not because I knew that much about it
O’Connor
That’s so interesting because that was also my dream school!
Gray
I got deferred and then I got into Georgia early and I was like okay, I’ll just go there. I also looked at Northwestern but I went and toured in February, and it was freezing. So I was like, no.
O’Connor
Right, so was this your top public school?
Gray
Well, I always loved the idea of Georgia, but when I came to visit it I didn’t really like it that much but now after going here I can’t imagine myself in any other school, which is funny to think about.
O’Connor
So back to journalism. What’s your favorite beat to write about? If you could pick one beat to only stay in.
Gray
If I could pick one beat to write about I think it would be, like in my career, if I was shooting for the stars I think it would definitely be politics. I just think it’s so interesting, like international events because, like I listen to the daily every day, I love those kind of podcasts, but I would want to do it in a sense where it’s more understandable for people our age who don’t have a huge background in it, because I think that was my biggest struggle getting into like listening to everything was, I have no idea what’s going on or who was Nancy Pelosi,
O’Connor
It’s hard to follow the different political titles.
Gray
Exactly. So I think if I could do anything it’d be like something like The Skimm, and just make it more understandable for people.
O’Connor
I think that’s genius. So, going off of that, have you heard any news stories recently that have really caught your attention, or stuck with you?
Gray
Attention wise, I think Nancy Pelosi ripping up the Trump State of the Union speech last night was just like so monumental in the sense that one like I get that we have our differences, but we all should still respect the president of the United States But I do think they’ve made a really big statement and it showed how divided like our country is right now.
O’Connor
Yeah, definitely, I would say it was one of the most newsworthy events.
Gray
I agree and I think Trump’s speech had a TV flair to it, which was very interesting because I think it speaks a lot to his presidency.
O’Connor
So a little different kind of question. I love your sense of style. Do you follow any fashion blogs, is that something that you would want to write about ever?
Gray
I do follow fashion blogs, there’s this one. I have to look it up. When I see an Instagram ad or something I’ll click on it and I usually follow that person I have no idea who they are, what their background is but I like seeing their clothes, there’s this one called WeWoreWhat, where it’s a girl in her mid 20s killing it up in New York, but nothing that she posts is in my price range at all. No one’s ever told me that!
O’Connor
It’s true! You have really good style. Okay, I know we talked about the beat reporting but what would you say is your dream job? Is there any company that you would love to work for?
Gray
I would love to work for Conde Nast and like do their travel blog because when I was studying abroad, I really wanted to start a travel blog, but I just didn’t have time, which made me so sad but looking on Conde Nast like there’s this website called The Infatuation they have all these awesome restaurant ratings and just places to bring your parents for a night out like places to do a big birthday dinner with a big group of friends but it writes it very casually, and makes it very easy to understand. So I think going somewhere like that and doing something that can make people have such a good time and show them so many experiences would be awesome also I would just get to travel so much, which is so cool.
O’Connor
Where did you study abroad?
Gray
I studied in Florence, summer after freshman year (of college) and then in London last summer.
O’Connor
Which of those two was your favorite? I’m sure it’s hard to compare.
Gray
I think I liked this summer more because I was so lucky I got to travel for three weeks before, so my best friends and I got to go to seven different countries which was so cool. The city of London was really interesting just because of the culture and everything going on with Brexit at the time, but Italy was way more accessible to get around and go anywhere.
O’Connor
Did you find yourself doing any journalism? Was it through Grady?
Gray
Italy was through the Florence University of the Arts so that was more studying, like we went to the Uffizi and looked at famous pieces and that was so cool because where else are you going to go get to see the amazing artwork in person and not in your book. And then for London, I took a marketing class because I was interested in that, but I’m not in Terry so I was like ‘if I’m gonna take marketing I might as well take it somewhere really cool like the London School of Economics’ but neither of them were for journalism.
O’Connor
So what do you think sets Grady apart from other colleges at UGA?
Gray
I really like the whole four semester thing; I hate it and I love it. I love it because it really does show you who your peers are going to be for four years, and you get to build relationships with them, whether it’s the same certificate or it’s your major, it’s such small classes you get to know everyone pretty well. But I also just think the staff that we have is amazing. All of my professors have been so passionate. And so willing to help, reach out and give you resources which are really nice.
O’Connor
Is there one particular class that you’ve loved the most?
Gray
My communication law class that I’m in right now. I think the professor, John Peters, is just so happy so quirky, you can just tell how intelligent he is and he’s really there for his students. Communication law, isn’t that interesting of a subject but he makes it super cool to understand and super easy to process, which I love.
O’Connor
Okay, so now a more fun question. When you aren’t in class or doing school work, what are some of your favorite things to do?
Gray
I love yoga, I’m not very good at it. I love to read, I’m such a book fanatic!
O’Connor
What’s your favorite book?
Gray
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo I absolutely love. I read all of them in, I think, three months.
O’Connor
Wow!
Gray
The new author is coming out with the fifth book but the original author is so much better than the new one so don’t read past the third. Yeah, because he (the original author) died, which is so sad. I’m trying to get good at cooking, it’s not going very well, but other than that I just really like hanging out with friends, sitting on the couch, watching a good movie.
O’Connor
Well, that is all the questions I have for you today. Thank you so much!
Gray
Thank you!
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
