“My path to get here is definitely different than other professors.

I knew from the time I was in high school that I wanted to be a journalist. There was no doubt in my mind I wanted to be in the news industry.

I went to a college very similar to Oglethorpe—professors who were really engaged, smaller class sizes, and unique vibe. That is part of the reason I was attracted to Oglethorpe. I had a really great college experience and the professors really encouraged me to get involved in my career before I graduated. It was very inspiring the way that my professors were involved, and in the back of my mind I always knew I would want to do the same thing.

I got a job in Pittsburgh at NBC before I even graduated. I was in the marketing promotion department, making commercials, telling them what I thought they should cover and what would be interesting to the audience.

I then moved down here [to Atlanta] and did similar work at 11 Alive. I never wanted to quit doing that, but I didn’t want to work at corporate. I was more interested in why the audience was consuming the content they were, but I also wanted to teach. I didn’t want to leave the city.

I got an interview at Oglethorpe and I was very interested in coming to work here because it was just like my college experience. What really solidified the deal was having lunch with the students and hearing the things they wanted to do. I thought, “this is really a place I want to be.”

Humans of Oglethorpe was created by a Pegasus Creative student intern in University Communications at Oglethorpe. Inspired by Humans of New York by Brandon Stanton, this series will share personal stories and perspectives from across campus. Everyone has a story and everyone is human. Would you like to be involved in this series? Email Bailey Burns.