Alex Laughlin talks falling in love with audio
Since graduating from the University of Georgia in 2014, Alex Laughlin has worked at The Washington Post, Buzzfeed and is currently a producer at Transmitter Media. She’s just getting started.
“I went to college knowing that I wanted to be a producer and I was really obsessed with ‘This American Life’ and ‘Radiolab,’” Laughlin said. “I went to (the University of Georgia) with this very specific plan to work for NPR and then to work for ‘This American Life’ and that was what I was going to do. That didn’t happen for a variety of reasons.”
Laughlin said her hopes were dashed when she was working at her local radio station in college. A male colleague snatched the microphone from Laughlin mid-recording and told her that she “sounded like a little kid.”
“He took the microphone from me and then recorded the rest of it himself with me just sitting and watching,” Laughlin said. “It was horrible. And so, for years, I thought (radio) wasn’t going to be the path for me.”
After graduating, Laughlin worked as an audience development producer at National Journal and then as a social media editor at The Washington Post.
Eventually, she found her way back into audio.
While at The Washington Post, she created “Other: Mixed Race in America,” a podcast that focuses on race and identity.
Laughlin reported, wrote, hosted and produced the podcast before The Washington Post had its own in-house audio production team.
“I did everything for that show, truly gave everything I had, to the point that it made me sick,” Laughlin said. “If you listen to some of the episodes, I have like a hoarse, croaky voice because I literally was ill in the weeks leading up to it coming out.”
She said it was an immensely difficult experience, but a rewarding one.
“I felt it was my one chance to transition into audio for real, for real,” Laughlin said.
A year later, she was working at Buzzfeed as an audio producer, where she helped make shows like “Another Round,” “See Something Say Something” and “No One Knows Anything.”
“I was just really lucky to work on a team of all women who really cared about uplifting marginalized voices, (people) who are super good at doing their jobs,” Laughlin said. “(The team) didn’t care about a lot of the bullshit that holds a lot of newsrooms back in terms of ego.”
Laughlin spent a little over a year at Buzzfeed before the company gutted its audio department and eventually, 15 percent of its entire staff. For Laughlin, getting laid off was a learning moment.
“You truly don’t know what comes next. I came in that Monday with a list of ideas for my manager for us to work on for the next few months,” Laughlin said. “And she was like ‘our team is being dissolved.’ Suddenly, that list didn’t matter.”
She said she urges journalism graduates to save money and to be prepared for anything.
“Just know that you are so much more than your job,” Laughlin said. “Never marry your identity to the company you work for.”
Laughlin was named a 2016 MJ Bear Fellow by the Online News Association. She was recognized for co-creating and moderating the “Pay Up” slack channel, a private community dedicated to fostering conversation about the wage gap.
“I care a lot about everybody having opportunities that they deserve, partially because of my experiences, but also because I know that I’ve been very lucky in my career and not everybody is lucky,” Laughlin said. “I’m trying to help keep the door open for the people behind me.”
She said that if she could give any advice to soon-to-be graduates, it would be to work hard with what has been entrusted to you.
“If you have a job where you’re running the Twitter account for a brand, run it really, really well before you ask for anything else,” Laughlin said. “Nobody’s going to entrust you with additional opportunities and responsibilities if you don’t demonstrate that you can do what’s on your plate first.”
