Editor & Publisher

Payton North, 27

Executive Editor, Reminder Publishing, LLC

Education: Associate of Arts and Sciences in Communication, Journalism and related programs, Holyoke Community College; Bachelor of Arts in Communication and Journalism, Western New England University; Master of Arts in Public Relations, Advertising and Applied Communication, Western New England University

What advice do you have for other young professionals in the news industry?

Television screenwriter and producer-turned-author Shonda Rhimes wrote a book a few years ago called “Year of Yes.” Rhimes explains she is an introvert, and as someone with an extremely busy career, it was easy for her to turn down dinners, interviews, engagements and more that scared her. What she did not realize, though, was that she was turning down immense growth opportunities. The book follows Rhimes in her “Year of Yes,” where she said yes to every opportunity that came her way for a year.

To young professionals in the news industry, I would suggest they try their own version of the “Year of Yes.” There have been several events over the years that I have been nervous about attending, interviews that intimidated me and assignments that made me anxious. I pushed myself to do them. After every instance, I walked away wondering what I was dreading or why I was nervous. Continuing to “say yes” to opportunities outside of one’s comfort zone will help a young professional grow as a journalist, communicator and generally as a person.

We often talk about the problems and chaos that the COVID-19 pandemic brought. Have you noticed any positive changes as you’ve returned to “work as new normal?”

There are several positive changes within my workplace that I have noticed since our return to the office — a few being the rapid technology upgrades the company made and allowing employees to partially work from home. However, since our return to the office post-height of COVID-19, the most positive change I have noticed is the power of human interaction and increased communication within the news department.

Before the coronavirus pandemic, my office was in-person only.

When COVID-19 hit, we went into a professional world we had never experienced — remote work. I immediately realized how siloed my coworkers and I became when we worked from home. We did not feel as though we were members of a team, as we did not have the opportunity to gather. Sure, there were weekly Zoom meetings with our, at the time, 14-person (give or take) news staff, but there were fewer opportunities to dig deeper in conversation. These group meetings felt impersonal and did not allow me to check in and see how a reporter was doing — not just how they were doing with work, but how they were generally doing.

For me, the coronavirus pandemic brought how little managing editors communicated individually with reporters to the forefront.

This exposed the need for one-onone meetings with my team members to ensure their needs were met.

This is a practice we have continued with our return to the office. Having regular one-on-ones and smaller, more focused team meetings can shift the culture between managers, editors and reporters.

E&P’S 25 UNDER 35

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2023-02-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-02-01T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://editorandpublisher.pressreader.com/article/282011856499483

Editor and Publisher