I always thought I would end up writing about the details of people’s occasions and stories for my career, but now I get to help create them instead. This semester is my first time taking a journalism class again in two years. I didn’t expect the feeling of writing to be so foreign to me. For most of my young life I thought I would grow up to be an author or a writer of some sort. It wasn’t until I watched the brilliant movie 13 going on 30, where a child wakes up in her own thirty-year-old body as a magazine editor, that I realized my love for writing and attention to detail could be focused into an interesting career. It was when I took my first creative writing and journalism classes in high school that I first got to truly explore my passion for literacy. I worked on the school yearbook all four years and took any available writing electives. In my free time I read almost anything I could get my hands on. The latest teen fiction novels, magazines in the doctor’s office, my dad’s comic books, even my grandparent’s newspaper. I enjoyed the power behind telling a story and the emotional connection to reading it.
Throughout my high school years, I searched to fit this passion into the right profession for my future. I thought about being a magazine editor like in the movie, until my creative writing teacher dashed that dream. “If you’re looking at writing as a career, remember this: magazines will die out in ten years and newspapers in five”, he told my class. Though at the time I hated hearing that, it did put an amount of fear into my decision making for my future occupation. Instead I was pointed in the direction of journalism, one of the most consistent careers in the field of writing. There are always current events happening and new information to report to people, so the reliability of a journalism career seemed like a no-brainer. Whenever I would tell someone I was going to college for journalism they’d eagerly agree or make a remark like “I could totally see you doing that!”. I felt like I was ahead of the game, coming out of high school with a bulletproof career in mind and a course to get there. Not many other high school students could say that.
I began my first years of college with this mindset but quickly began to doubt my place in journalism. I graduated high school in 2015 and the 2016 presidential election took place during the height of my introduction to my profession. Every class focused on political discourse and there was a lot of it to discuss at the time. The growing concept of “fake news” and the rising distrust in the media was full force during my first two years in my journalism major. I began to doubt my path. All my classes taught me that people responded to facts and ethical literature, but my Facebook feed told me the opposite was true. The news used to interest me, even excite me at times. Now it was imposed into my every waking hour, whether I wanted it to be or not. My career was focused on reporting on the news, my social media was bombarded with articles to get me to read the news, and all the conversation around me at the time were focused on current news. A feeling of dread and uncertainty came to be associated with my future and I wasn’t sure why.
It was around this same period that I got my first job in serving at a retirement community restaurant in Naples, Florida. I applied for the job mostly by chance, assuming restaurants in such a high-tourism area would be a smart move. After a few months in my position I came to realize I had more of a knack for customer service than I previously thought. Until that time, I had experience working customer service as a retail sales associate and disliked it. I had also worked customer service at a fast-food pizza place but had no interest in the area. Both of these customer service orientated positions drained me during the time I worked them. I had little enjoyment in showing up to to these jobs and rejoiced when I wasn’t forced to work them anymore. My takeaway from these experiences was that I probably didn’t like interacting with people for my work. Therefore, a more individual-driven career such as journalism made more sense to me. It was only after some time at this new restaurant position that I realized I did enjoy interacting with people, I just liked that interaction to be pleasant and meaningful. I got to know the people I was serving and help to craft a great dining experience each time they visited. Setting up for holidays and special occasions to watch people enjoy the event I had created for them was gratifying. I came to like interacting with lots of people at work, customer and employee alike. I didn’t feel dread coming to work and having to force a conversation anymore. I connected my enjoyment of my job to my newfound pleasure in conversation. I liked what I was doing and that showed in my demeanor and speech. Suddenly my perspective had changed, and maybe I didn’t want an occupation in seclusion anymore. I wanted to communicate with someone to understand their desires, whether that be for a simple dinner or a whole Holiday. I enjoyed learning how to make someone’s night special and memorable, to do something above and beyond for a customer. There can be a Christmas-like quality to the service industry, like giving someone you don’t even know a gift. Giving the gift of good service was rewarding and I started to feel fulfillment from my new job that I’d never felt before with other positions.
After two years working towards a degree in Journalism and at least 60 credit hours in the program, I decided to change my major to Hospitality Management. The decision wasn’t easy because it tested my ability to understand myself and what was best for my future. Another round of required credits and at least another year of schooling was added to my new avenue. But the satisfaction of creating the right experience of good meal or an entertaining event captivated me, so I chose to pursue it further. My love for the written word will always be an asset to my line of work. And in combining my honed skills of communication with my sparked passion in hospitality service, I am more confident than ever that I chose the right path.
