Q&A: Madison DeLuca, Presentation Center fellow @ National Journal

Each year, Atlantic Media hires around 40 recent graduates for its fellowship program. Fellows are placed in editorial or business positions across Atlantic Media’s four brands: The Atlantic, National Journal, Government Executive, and Quartz.

Tell me about your role and what you do.

I am a policy research and data visualization fellow with the Presentation Center at National Journal, and I focus on energy and the environment.

What’s the coolest thing you’ve gotten to do since the fellowship started?

The coolest thing I’ve gotten to do is create very self-directed research projects. Some of our work is fulfilling requests that subscribers submit to us, but for the other half, I get to pick any topic in the energy and environment space that I think is interesting or important for people to know about. Then I fully research it, organize how it should be presented, create data visualizations and text summaries on different parts of the issue, and publish it online and send it out in our newsletter. Some of the ones that I’ve really liked were a presentation on how people heat their homes throughout the winter based on region, and one on building energy codes.

What were you working on right before you came up here?

I was working on a research project and presentation that one of our subscribers requested. It’s about connected communities, which has to do with 5G, rural broadband, and infrastructure in public spaces.

What is the best advice that someone’s ever given you?

The best advice that I’ve gotten is to work really hard no matter the role, and try to learn everything that you can from whatever position you’re in, because it only helps you in the future.

What is something you’ve learned in a non-media or -policy job that’s applicable to what you’re doing now?

I used to work at a nonprofit, and the first day that I got there, they set me up on this year-long research project, making a budget primer for the state. Doing that at the time, it was very difficult to get my head around an unfamiliar subject and organize a huge volume of informaion, but it has really helped me now with knowing how to execute smaller research projects and present information effectively.

What has been your path to the fellowship?

Right after I graduated, I joined the Americorps Volunteers in Service to America program, called the VISTA program, at a nonprofit in Honolulu, Hawaii. I worked at the Hawaii Appleseed Center For Law and Economic Justice, which is part of a national network. Most of my time was spent as a policy analyst at the nonprofit, but then there was also extra programming and community service requirements because the position was through Americorps.

That was a one-year position. I knew someone from college who participated in the Atlantic Media fellowship and had good things to say about it, and I knew wanted to be in DC and doing something related to research. I applied, and was offered the Presentation Center position, which I was excited about because it involves policy analysis and research.

What is your dream job?

I have a lot of competing dream jobs. One that’s more salient right now is going to law school, and maybe also getting a master’s in urban planning, and doing land use regulation work.

Do you have any advice for people looking for entry level jobs in media or policy?

When I was originally thinking about applying to this fellowship, I wasn’t particularly convinced that there was a place for me in a media organization. I thought of it as essentially just editors and journalists. Something I learned throughout the application process and through being part of the fellowship is that there’s a lot more discrete roles in media than I realized. My advice would be to learn more about what an organization or field entails before counting yourself out.

On the policy side, I benefited a lot from my first policy-oriented job being focused on state policies. It gave me a good sense of how policy changes actually impact people. I don’t think that’s the only “right” way to work as an entry-level policy analyst, but it’s something that I personally found very valuable and has given me a good foundation for looking at more federal policies now.