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My commitment to diversity
Job description
I am the first Diversity and Representation Editor in ODYSSEY Media Group history. I am pioneering this position and building it as I go which was hard at first but I have gained a lot of confidence in what I do and my job. Now I am confident I can pass this position on to the next DEI Editor without them having to figure it out on their own
Job Description
Left: In this picture is the full job description of my role as the Diversity and Representation Editor. This represents what I do on paper, but the day-to-day looks very different. Every week, I create a presentation for the EdBoard to discuss how the staff is doing regarding representation and diversity. I also have had to make the guidelines that every staffer must abide by, such as labels for specific files. Along with having to talk with staffers about smaller issues like someone not expressing pronouns or interviewing via text. As the first DEI editor, I am honored to hold this position and uplift our publication.
Diversity based presentations
Getting It Right
Left: In this PDF is a presentation on accurate representation I made with my colleague Wyatt Meyer. We presented it at the fall 2024 Georgia Scholastic Press Association and at the fall 2024 National Scholastic Press Association. The point of this presentation was to shed light on how often publications inaccurately represent the communities they live in. Me and Wyatt put a lot of hard work into this presentation, and I am proud of it. This presentation shows my dedication to diversity awareness in the media and my passion for improving representation in the news.
Diversity is such an important topic for journalists to understand well in this era. Journalism is a powerful tool, it gives us the power to lift voices and stories from our community and give them a platform to speak. But we would not be using that tool correctly if we did not give an equal platform to everyone.
Cycle Reflections
Right: In these PDFs are presentations I gave to my class on the cycle (about 6 weeks). At the ODYSSEY, at the end of each cycle, we write a reflection on our interviews and discuss our representation as it compares to our school. The presentation on top discussed hard data that we have gathered on our stakeholders and compared that to our student body. The presentation at the bottom was focused more on explaining the problem areas I saw in our representation. Some slides covered inaccurate quotes and whether our magazines are representative of our readership. Both of these presentations exemplify my dedication to improving accurate coverage in my publication.
EdBoard Presentations pt1
Left: In this PDF is a presentation I gave to the ODYSSEY and iliad EdBoards, which I did weekly. These were made to discuss issues in representation and diversity that I had seen as the Diversity and Representation Editor. The topics varied from normal reminders that some staffers were slacking on to a deeper reflection of what we were presenting in our work. They have helped my publication fix issues early instead of having a harsh readjustment later in the month, like in previous years. These presentations further show my dedication to improving my publication every single day.
EdBoard Presentations pt2
Right: This image and the PDF below are additional showings of the weekly presentations I give to the ODYSSEY and iliad EdBoard. The main focus of these presentations is to highlight trends as they develop so we can nip them in the bud. With that said, it's a must that I present them every week that we meet. I included another week's example of my presentations which shows how I changed it up every week while still comparing that data and helping my fellow editors understand.
Telling diverse stories
Examples
Fresh Voice
Left and right: On either side are two buttons that will take you to a page with these stories linked. Both of these stories I believe helped to uplift diversity in our publication and provided diverse representation for our audience. I encourage you to read these stories, I think of these as some of my best pieces so far. Diversity is hard to get a grasp on but we need to try to tell those stories with intent.
BHM Bake-Off
Diverse Viewpoints
Question of the Month is one of the five extras I was in charge of as the Viewpoints Editor, an extra being a story or package that goes into every issue in the viewpoints section. Viewpoints are all about telling the stories and opinions of my community, QOTM is a vital part of that.
Question of the Month examples
Above: Here are three images from interviews I did for Question of the Month, a magazine package about asking a diverse group of stakeholders the same question. The question from these images was "What is your dream vacation and why?" since it was for an end-of-the-year/summer issue. The whole point of QOTM is to give Clarke Central High School community members an equal chance to respond to the question to provide the reader with lots of different viewpoints on the same topic. Oftentimes students at CCHS are not given equal opportunities to speak in ODYSSEY stories so this is one of my opportunities to level the playing field and give everyone a platform.
Final Thoughts
As the Diversity and Representation Editor, I have to be an ambassador for my publication of diversity. I take this job with pride as one of the few LGBTQ+ writers in my publication.
At times, it's difficult being the only person with my job in my publication, it feels like talking into the void. But I am determined to continue to fight for diverse representation for the audience and community we represent.
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