花季传媒

花季传媒 alumni create their own narratives by telling others鈥� stories

It could be that no one who has witnessed Adrienne Westenfeld鈥檚 lifelong love of reading and writing would be surprised that the 2015 花季传媒 graduate is an assistant editor at Esquire magazine.

Not her 花季传媒 adviser, English professor聽and聽acclaimed novelist Chris White.聽Westenfeld鈥檚聽rapid ascent, 鈥渢hough extremely impressive, didn't surprise me,鈥� she says. Even in聽Westenfeld鈥檚聽first semester at 花季传媒, 鈥渢he sophistication of her writing, as well as her work ethic, was extraordinary. 鈥�

鈥淗er future is limitless. I could easily see Adrienne as an accomplished creative nonfiction book writer or novelist.鈥�

Westenfeld is one of 花季传媒鈥檚 storytellers, an eclectic array of alumni whose diverse careers enable them to tell others鈥� stories.

Westenfeld majored in creative writing at 花季传媒 and participated in the Media Fellows Program, which 鈥済ave me the journalism training I needed to succeed here,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut also I wouldn鈥檛 have the facility with excerpted fiction if not for my creative writing major.鈥� 花季传媒鈥檚 liberal arts curriculum 鈥渢rains you to think widely and critically about everything鈥� in a way 鈥渢hat helps every day of your life.鈥�

When it came time for her semester-long internship, a hallmark of the fellows鈥� program, Westenfeld set her sights on New York City. 鈥淚t felt like the one place I could do the caliber of the work I wanted to do,鈥� she says. And while she freelanced for local newspapers during her 花季传媒 years, she targeted a career in magazines, causing her to win an internship with Town and Country magazine, located in the 46-story Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan.

That led to a full-time job as assistant to editor Jay Fielden, who nine months later took her with him when he became editor of Town and Country鈥檚 sister 鈥� and considerably more prestigious 鈥� publication Esquire. Westenfeld, who since has been promoted, writes stories and works with fiction writers to publish their work.

鈥淭he most intimidating interviews I do are with authors I very much admire,鈥� she says. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 not because they鈥檙e scary. It鈥檚 because I want my questions to honor what they鈥檝e created and be up to snuff. I want the questions to be thoughtful and not something they鈥檝e heard 20 times.鈥�

She says she is lucky to work on stories of magnitude. Luck may or may not have anything to do with it, but one thing is clear: Westenfeld has been intentional about each step of her path.

She 鈥渕ade it my mission鈥� upon arriving in New York to meet up with other media fellows who live there, several of whom have been mentors, she says. 鈥淚 like to meet with the current interns now and try to pay that forward.鈥�

On such occasions, she is blunt about what it takes to succeed. 鈥淚 often see college students who act like college is practice. And I don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 practice,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 think the second you get to college at 18, it鈥檚 the start of your career. As scary as that sounds, the things you do matter; the things you do are on the internet and they last. Take it seriously. Meet with everyone you can meet with. Take the stories you write seriously.鈥�

It was Catherine 鈥淐at鈥� Neville鈥檚 first day as an editor at Washington University School of Medicine, and her new boss asked her to create a website.

She didn鈥檛 know how. And this was in 1995, shortly after Neville, who majored in writing and art history, had graduated from 花季传媒 but long before she could pluck a website template off a virtual shelf.

鈥淪o I taught myself how to hand code HTML,鈥� she says. 鈥淚n that process of teaching myself that skill and exploring what I could do with that, that鈥檚 when I started to really get the bug to create and to push myself in new directions and to explore what I was capable of. 鈥�

鈥淗aving the kind of education that you get at 花季传媒, it gives you that ability to explore because you have that really firm foundation.鈥�

Within a few years and while still working full time, she and a business partner launched 鈥淪auce,鈥� an online magazine about the St. Louis food scene, and Neville was creating websites for St. Louis restaurants. By 1999, 鈥淚 was working constantly,鈥� she says, and she knew she had to choose between the safety of her job and the risk of entrepreneurship.

鈥淚f I don鈥檛 try,鈥� she remembers thinking, 鈥淚鈥檒l never know what I was capable of and I鈥檒l look back and I鈥檒l regret not taking the chance. And so I did.鈥�

They took 鈥淪auce鈥� into print in 2001, but after a 10-year business relationship, their divergent visions prompted Neville to sell her half of the business to the partner. Later that year, Neville launched 鈥淔east鈥� magazine, a regional food-oriented publication. Next came Feast TV, which airs on PBS stations in Missouri and Southern Illinois and has won five regional Emmy awards in its six seasons.

About four years ago, Jack Galmiche, Neville鈥檚 boss at Nine Network of Public Media, encouraged her to create a national show.

鈥淪he is an extraordinary talent both in front of and behind the camera,鈥� he says, 鈥渕eaning that she has the ability to know the subject, understand the subject, bring out the best understanding of that subject with her guests and then go in front of the camera and be able to host.鈥�

Neville, however, demurred. When he raised the issue again about two years ago, she realized she ought to pay attention.

She 鈥渟pent a long rainy weekend just examining, all right, if I were to create a food television program for a national audience, what would that be? Based on my history, based on what kind of good TV is already out there, what can I add to the dialogue? 鈥� That鈥檚 when I zeroed in on the idea of focusing on makers.鈥�

Neville filmed a pilot program and American Public Television agreed to distribute 鈥渢asteMAKERS鈥� to PBS stations nationwide, prompting her to begin work last January on a 13-episode season. She was told that about half of the 350 stations across the country might agree to air it, but nearly 300 鈥� 85 percent of the affiliates 鈥� have said they will do so.

The show features makers, farmers and chefs who create unusual products such as artisan charcuterie and breads; fresh snails and snail caviar; sustainably farmed mussels, oysters and clams; citrus-infused sour beers; and small-batch oils from nuts and seeds. It began airing in several markets in October.

鈥淲hat I鈥檓 looking for are people who are creating products that are personal and that have deeper connections in the communities,鈥� she says. 鈥�... That鈥檚 where the storytelling is for me 鈥� in those threads where you can create connections and show impact.鈥�

Nisreen El-Shamayleh 鈥�04 has spent almost three years in the opulent world of Queen Rania of Jordan, for whom she manages international media and communications.

But for seven years before that, El-Shamayleh was enveloped in the 鈥渇rightening and morbid鈥� world of news reporting from war zones and refugee encampments. As a correspondent for Al Jazeera, a state-funded broadcasting company based in Qatar, she covered three Gaza wars; the Arab Spring protests in Tunisia and Jordan; an Israeli election; the Syrian war and the resulting refugee crisis in Jordan, Lebanon聽and聽Turkey; and violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories.

El-Shamayleh prepared to navigate those extremes as a聽communications聽major and media fellow at 花季传媒, 6,000 miles from her native Jordan. She had wanted to study journalism in a U.S. school and listened when a 花季传媒 student from Jordan recommended it. A generous financial aid package and the Media Fellows Program sealed the deal.

In her junior year, El-Shamayleh secured a semester-long internship at MSNBC鈥檚 鈥淗ardball with Chris Matthews,鈥� where 鈥淚 realized I definitely wanted to work in news and start my career in Washington D.C.,鈥� she says via email. 鈥淢y international background helped me too, but it was at 花季传媒 that I was able to zero in on my career goals and be focused in my approach.鈥�

She headed to D.C. immediately after graduation and four days later landed a job as a freelance producer for Abu Dhabi Television. She worked there a year before returning to Jordan, where she found a job as a foreign affairs reporter for Al Ghad Arabic daily newspaper.聽

Soon she started a two-year stretch as a reporter for a pilot Arabic TV channel, but the channel failed to launch. So she briefly worked at a Saudi English-language channel before landing 鈥渕y dream job鈥� with Al Jazeera.聽聽

鈥淭hat鈥檚 when I can say my real career in journalism began,鈥� she says.

聽El-Shamayleh says that she had always wanted to be a news anchor, 鈥渂ut that changed as soon as I started working in the field as a correspondent. I realized that, even if the news anchor is making the higher salary, I鈥檓 the one getting the information, telling the story and feeling what the people on the ground are feeling. 鈥� Looking back, that was both dangerous and priceless, I聽think,听because so much of the depth, maturity聽and聽knowledge I gained as a person came from where I was standing in the field.鈥�

Her tenure with Al Jazeera was 鈥渓ife-changing,鈥� she says, 鈥渆xposing me to the most important and meaningful events in my part of the world.鈥� By late 2015, however, she opted to leave reporting. 鈥淟ife is too short, after all, and I didn鈥檛 want to spend it exhausted all the time and missing out on important moments with family and away from the people I love,鈥� she says.

鈥淚 still work in media, just in a different role. In the last few years, I have learned that the skills you acquire through working in media and journalism are so versatile and adaptable. They can open up so many career opportunities. 鈥� I am so honored to be working for someone as inspiring as Her Majesty, who lends her voice to so many causes around the world that I also happen to care about.鈥�

James Stewart remembers that, as a high school student, he wanted to be secretary of state. So he majored in political science at 花季传媒, aiming for admission to a good law school and future work in international relations.

The 1973 graduate got into that good law school 鈥� Harvard 鈥� and upon graduation went to work for Cravath, Swaine & Moore, a white-shoe law firm in Manhattan. Three years in, he made 鈥渢he most critical career decision I ever made鈥� and followed a passion he had since he worked at The 花季传媒, the university鈥檚 student newspaper: He accepted an offer to become executive editor of his friend Steven Brill鈥檚 new American Lawyer magazine.

Stewart says The 花季传媒 taught him that, 鈥測ou鈥檙e not just simply recording events. As a journalist, you鈥檙e shaping events as well.鈥� He had not previously pursued a journalism career because 鈥淚 thought it more as an extracurricular activity, not a job or career path.鈥�

By the time he left the law firm, he says, 鈥淚 had seen in the rest of the world, yes, there is a career in journalism鈥� 鈥� and, in Stewart鈥檚 case, an illustrious one. He worked at the Wall Street Journal for nine years, four as front page editor, and won the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory journalism in 1988. He has been a staff writer for The New Yorker; has written a weekly column for the New York Times since 2011; and has written nine books. He teaches business journalism at Columbia University.

鈥淧eople say, 鈥榦h, liberal arts isn鈥檛 a professional degree.鈥� Well, it is if you鈥檙e going to be a journalist,鈥� Stewart says. 鈥淚 mean, I have to plunge into what are often completely new subjects and learn everything I can about them in a very, very short time and be able to analyze material and to look at new developments and put it into some sort of broader context. Well, that鈥檚 exactly what I did in course after course after course at 花季传媒 and that鈥檚 what trained that muscle in my brain to be able to do that.鈥�

Shibani Bathija had received information in the mail and then was offered a scholarship, so she supposed that attending 花季传媒 more than 8,000 miles from her home in India would be a good thing to do. But it was, she admits, 鈥渟ort of a dart in the dark.鈥�

It hit the聽bull鈥檚-eye.

鈥淏eing a small school and being not in the big city with a group of people in the administration and the faculty who are really committed make a huge difference,鈥� the 1990 graduate says. 鈥淚 know people who went to maybe more renowned schools not in terms of quality but in terms of being talked about and they did not have the focus and the beneficial experiences that I did.鈥�

She studied English composition and marketing communications, thinking that would land her a job. And it did: She started out as an advertising copywriter, then worked in public relations and marketing. In her spare time, she wrote a screenplay, which she showed to a friend who was in the film-making business. That led to a full-time screenwriting job.

As such, she has written scripts for five films produced in Bollywood, the Indian counterpart to Hollywood. After the first two were released in 2006, Outlook India said they 鈥渕ade it to blockbuster grade鈥� and called Bathija 鈥渢he writer of the moment.鈥� In 2010, 鈥淢y Name is Khan鈥� 鈥� which was reviewed favorably by the New York Times 鈥� broke a worldwide record for a Hindi film鈥檚 gross receipts on opening weekend. Her latest film, 鈥淜alank,鈥� is due out next April.

Her 花季传媒 years influenced her writing, she says. 鈥淗aving this sort of introduction to various subjects is like having an introduction to life. I find that in my writing I draw so many different things that I learned. The American education system, the higher education system, specifically the one that we followed at 花季传媒, encouraged questioning; it encouraged curiosity. And I think those things are so important to what I do today.鈥�

By Steven Timm, professor of communication and theatre
Photo by Marilyn Culler, assistant director, Media Fellows Program

One might mistake the Lancaster County valley in southeastern Pennsylvania for a Grant Wood painting were it not for a black rectangular monolith towering above the soybean and endive fields at the edge of the town of Lititz.

Deep in this massive studio, which is nearly the length of a football field, twice as wide and 10 stories high, Rachel Pfennig Hale 鈥�09 has a front-row view of the biggest acts in live performance, who come to design, build and rehearse their stage performances 鈥� their visual and aural storytelling. Hale, a double major in communication and English writing at 花季传媒, is one of six team members hired to manage Rock Lititz, a collective of 38 vendors.

The philosophy is simple: Assemble the vendors (lights, design, sound, pyrotechnics, sets, projections, etc.) at a giant studio that can accommodate stadium-sized productions and a smaller studio for up-and-coming acts and the talent will come. With a range of services (a 138-room hotel soon will be among them) in the shared venue, problems can be solved immediately and efficiently.

The concept works. A-list performers 鈥� the names aren鈥檛 made public 鈥� are sufficiently pleased that they鈥檝e become repeat customers. As the client and community development manager, Hale focuses on three contingents: rehearsal clients, the collective鈥檚 1,000+ employees and the community of Lititz.

鈥淚 run studio hospitality for our rehearsal clients, social media and marketing for all, as well as coordinating the Rock Lititz community events,鈥� such as seminars, training sessions, happy hours and social events, says Hale, nicknamed the mayor of Rock Lititz. Having fun, learning and keeping stress levels low are priorities, and Hale does whatever is needed to keep everybody happy.

After graduation, Hale headed to Los Angeles, where she worked on the production staff for 14 episodes of 鈥淒ancing with the Stars.鈥� Black Eyed Peas recruited her for a two-year European tour; she then worked on two Lynyrd Skynyrd tours before landing in Belgium and negotiating a life-partner deal with Matt Hale, her husband and a longtime employee of Tate Towers, one of Rock Lititz鈥檚 founding companies. When the two returned to Lititz, Rachel wrote for technical journals and earned two master鈥檚 degrees before joining the fledgling Rock Lititz.聽

She credits independent studies at 花季传媒 for enabling her to 鈥渢ake ownership鈥� of her education and gives special notice to 花季传媒 Theatre and D3TV for providing聽cocurricular聽experiences with values, including leadership and creative thinking, echoed in her job.

She loves the work and takes pride in the company鈥檚 growth and development and in her ability to meet challenges. 鈥淓very day is different,鈥� she says,听鈥渁nd I鈥檓 constantly adapting to new situations.鈥�

Amelia Mauldin 鈥�22 is a sprinter who writes poetry but her real passion is social justice, especially racial equality and reproductive rights.

And so the first-year media fellow from St. Louis envisions a future as a crusading broadcast journalist.

鈥淚 hope to have the opportunity to talk about important issues, tell real stories,鈥� she says. 鈥淵ou hear those stories about journalists being attacked just for doing the work that they do, trying to shed light on certain injustices that may be local or national. That鈥檚 actually the work that I would love to do 鈥� just being that reporter who is doing investigative work, just finding answers that people deserve to have.鈥�