“A goal without a plan is just a wish.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince
If there’s one advantage I believe I’ve had in my life, it’s that I tend to know what I want when it comes to the things I’m passionate about. This is especially the case in my career as a journalist.
I got my start as a writer in 2016, my junior year of high school. I tagged along with a friend to a school newspaper interest meeting. One thing led to another, and I became a political columnist. It was then that I got my first taste of journalism — the feeling of sharing my ideas and gaining recognition for the thoughts I turn into words on a page. Soon enough, big dreams of a career in the city as a journalist began to form in my mind.
I entered Rutgers University with that same vision and laid out a four-year plan of work and study that I knew would get me to those goals. And it did. In May 2022, I graduated summa cum laude from the Rutgers School of Communication and Information with a B.A. in Journalism and Media Studies and a minor in both Music and Political Science. Two weeks after graduating, I started a role as a social media editor for The Wall Street Journal. I also chose to stay at Rutgers following my graduation and spent another year and a half earning a Master of Communication and Media degree with a specialization in Digital Media.
One of the benefits of being a part of Rutgers University’s journalism program was the emphasis placed on practical work experience. (And the proximity to New York City definitely didn’t hurt either.) Throughout college, along with my courseload, I wrote several articles for my blog and for the university newspaper, The Daily Targum. I also did an unpaid internship at a small publication called uInterview, but in retrospect, I would never recommend anyone studying journalism to do an unpaid internship, credited or not. I learned the hard way that it’s just not worth it, trust me.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic turned my world upside down, and in adapting to the new normal, I finally realized my place in the journalism world. Suddenly, a lot of the goals I had entered college with felt quite within reach.
In 2020 and 2021, I became increasingly active on social media and within online fandom spaces, often able to organically gain traction for my own articles on Twitter. The articles I was writing continued to foster my love for music journalism and the success I was having in promoting them online became the foundation for my interest in social media management.
The process of applying repeatedly to internships and fellowships in college was a tiring one, and probably the most difficult part of the journey, but it paid off in the form of a fellowship at Business Insider, on the company’s Web Distribution (a.k.a. social media) team. As my first social media editing job, it was a lot to take in, from the full-time hours to the management tools I learned from scratch. But my time at Business Insider was as rewarding as it was challenging. I not only learned invaluable practical skills but also gained friendships within the journalism industry that, at last, made me feel like I belonged.
After finishing my role at Business Insider, I began an internship at The Wall Street Journal on the newspaper’s Digital Platform team. In such a fast-paced and sophisticated newsroom, it was an exciting challenge to keep up with the impressive people around me. I easily fell in love with the role. I knew right away that I was a step away from the kind of job I always wished to have and the ending to that four-year plan I had laid out years ago. After I finished both my last semester of undergraduate studies and my internship, I was invited to stay on the team. I moved to the city shortly after and spent two years working as a Social Media Editor in The Wall Street Journal‘s NYC office. I managed everything from Twitter to TikTok, building strategies and tracking analytics to reach an audience of tens of millions of people. I loved my team and the work that I did. Unfortunately, in early 2024, the company began conducting several rounds of layoffs, and in April, a large portion of my team and I were caught in one of those rounds. Nevertheless, I’m beyond grateful for the two years I spent in that newsroom.
It’s a wonderful feeling to look back at the last decade of my life and find that I became exactly who I had dreamed of being. It’s also a wonderful feeling to think of the hard work that went into it and know that it was all worth it because, in the end, I am doing what I love. Now, I just hope to continue growing as a journalist, in this role and others, setting new goals and achieving them. I look forward to making my mark on this world through my craft.
Yati Sanghvi 