Today we’d like to introduce you to Marilyn Velazquez.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Marilyn. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I was a freshman at Brookhaven College when I realized I had no idea what my future goals were. I still went and did everything correctly, went to a less-costly school, began working on my basics and worked part-time at my old middle school as a tutor, but I still felt uncertain about my life. I remember telling myself “I’ll major in English to be an English teacher. I’ll major in Psychology to be a school counselor, etc.” but none of those ever felt right. They were all things I loved, but I couldn’t decide between them. So, I felt lost for the first two years of college. However, dropping out and working full time was never an option. My parents had always raised me to believe that I was a smart young lady who could achieve things they never could (in this case, graduate from college) and so, I grew up believing it too. They just forgot to mention how tough it was going to be.
Fast forward to another year, now three years at Brookhaven and I was on my last semester. I had taken every course needed and then some. I had 15 credit hours left until I received my Associates in Arts, I just needed to pick my classes (luckily, they were all electives). I had no idea what to choose. So, I told my advisor to pick whatever he seemed fit for me. After a few minutes of discussing my hobbies and my likes and dislikes, we finally got the last credit hours chosen. No big deal.
That following semester, I stumbled upon a classroom under the library at my community college. The walls were filled with posters, movies, bands, photography and news article clips far and wide. the classroom was like someone had thrown up their entire childhood time capsule in there, but it was fucking rad. There, I sat in the table in the middle of the room with chairs all around and took my seat. There was only 12 of us in the class and felt utterly visible. I am incredibly shy and I knew not interacting with everyone was not an option. In comes the professor, 6 foot 4 with a baseball cap on, jeans, a blue plaid shirt, and black converse. I was not used to this site.
He began class by welcoming us to Introduction to Mass Media. After a few minutes of self-introductions, he began to explain the syllabus. Daniel (he never liked being called professor), told the class we would be writing for the Brookhaven student newspaper, the Brookhaven Courier. We were to write eight stories over the course of the semester, some of which would be published. I immediately went into panic mode, a literal small anxiety attack. I thought I had signed up for a creative writing course. This must have been a mistake. The task seemed too big for me at the time. We were also going to be involved inside the newsroom a lot as well as interacting with the editors who will help us out with our stories, but it all still seemed like too much. I wanted to drop out!
Our first assignment was to interview 10 strangers around campus and ask a list of questions. The purpose of this exercise was to get the flow of communicating with strangers, asking thoughtful questions and be better note-takers as people spoke. I didn’t do the assignment.
Needless to say, I was having a rough time for about a month in this class, but things quickly began to shift gears inside me as well as how I viewed this class. My first real story for the paper was an art gallery exhibition that was on display at my school. I went to its closing reception and spoke with the artist, her family and the gallery director. I had a severe headache after all the interviews. I felt exhausted. Next, the writing portion. My writing was never bad, but it wasn’t the best. Having to basically throw out everything I knew about MLA format and switch to AP style was pretty easy. Soon after, my work was published the following week in the Arts section of the student paper.
Seeing my byline the following week in physical form was like a euphoric high. It was the first real tangible accomplishment I had written with my name on it. It was like the climax to the movie that is my life. Since then, I have written over a dozen stories, met so many different and unique strangers and have had awards attached to some of my published work. All due to an accidental enrollment of a course in my advisor’s office.
Fast forward to today, I am only a few credit hours away from graduating with my Bachelors Degree in Digital and Print Journalism from the University of North Texas. I have an internship with Regional Music Journal and still working on refining my photography and videography skills to have the complete package of a multimedia journalist.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Much of the obstacles I faced were small, but they all had an impact in their own ways. One was working part-time jobs while in school full-time. Another was not having that “real” college experience that everyone else raved about. Lastly, my mental health always pushed me back from doing my best.
Being able to balance full-time school and part-time work is harder than I thought. I always assumed others had it tougher than I or easier than I, but never did I stop to realize that my troubles are my own. Running from school to work to home and back to school over and over again had me mentally and physically exhausted. There were times when I had two part-time jobs just to make ends meet at home and to have spare cash on me for small necessities here and there. I have never been the most well off nor do I believe there to be a problem, however, at this point in my life, I did begin to question whether going to school was worth it.
My parents had recently divorced right after my high school graduation and my siblings and mom decided to get an apartment together. Things were tough since, at 18, I was now one of three who had to provide income for my family, my older sister and mom being the other two. School began just right after and I had no time to process what had happened to my family. Coming from a history of domestic violence and now, a new home and a new environment at school, I had no time to waste. Too bad I began to fall just as quickly as my grades. I no longer met up with friends, I ate fast food twice, maybe three times a day, every day and worked to pay the bills. That was my life at the age of 18. I was at an all-time low, always feeling sleepy and never feeling wide awake no matter the time of day. I felt like I could not talk to anyone because speaking to a counselor at school was: 1. A waste of time and two. I did not trust them to help me, I had to fix everything myself. And so, I did what was best for my family and little to figure out what was going on in my mind. Being busy all the time is what kept me alive.
Please tell us more about your work, what you are currently focused on and most proud of.
I have worked for the Brookhaven Courier as a staff writer and staff photographer for a year. After my departure from Brookhaven College. I began taking classes for photography as well and have had works published on both newspaper and online. Once that chapter in my life was done, I started freelancing for the Dallas Observer that same summer of graduation. I am currently working on getting better with my video directing and editing through my classes at the University of North Texas. I also recently accepted an offer to be an intern at the Regional Music Journal this summer.
Do you think there are structural or other barriers impeding the emergence of more female leaders?
In my future profession, I think women just aren’t seen as being as serious as the men in journalism. Especially for women of color, there are not a lot of spaces for us to be included which makes the newsroom lack diversity which in turn makes the stories on any form of medium to lack diversity as well. We are given the same lectures as men in our classrooms so, there is no real reason for women to not be as capable if not, more than men at reporting and given fact-based stories to the communities we serve.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://marilynvel22.wixsite.com/website
- Email: Marilyn.vel22@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mari.vel22/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/marilyn.velazquez.56/photos_of?lst=100000607045206%3A100000607045206%3A1558224705
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mari_vel22
Image Credit:
Marilyn Velazquez
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