A metropolis of 30,000.  Rolling hills, uninhabited – beautiful, but desolate.  Skirt suits.

If you had asked me exactly a year ago where I would be on October 7, 2011, I would have painted the description above.  Upon entering my senior year of college, I thought I was destined to put my journalism degree to good use in Boise, Idaho, or somewhere in North Dakota.  Local news, I believed, was the only way to begin my career as a journalist.

Luckily, I got involved with my school’s nightly newscast and quickly realized that the route I presumed I had to take was a one-way ticket to a life of therapy and sedatives (not necessarily in that order).  My empatheic nature was a fault in the newsroom.  Caring showed subjectivity, the number one sin of a reporter.

Suppressing my disdain for the injustices in my community to ensure objective reporting could only last a semester.  It was time for a new plan (that conveniently needed to be drawn up in 2 months – my poor parents, I know).   Through a fortuitous series of events (meeting my mentor, paying attention in my Social Entrepreneurship class, studying theory of social enterprise, etc.) I got my head on straight.

And that is when the fateful Google search “social change production company” led me to where I am now.  Left Brain/Right Brain Productions.  Drawn to the company because of it’s mission to enact and promote positive social change through visuals, it instantly became a perfect fit.  I would be road-tripping from Arizona to Pennsylvania in June, and Chicago easily could be on the way.  On a whim, I reached out to Malachi asking if he had interest in hiring a recent graduate.  Needless to say, it all worked out.

This new stage of life combines visual story telling and saving the world.  No longer do I have to report on a family whose house is in foreclosure, pack up my equipment, give a, “good luck!” and never turn back.  I have the ability to stand up for oppressed and speak for those who cannot do so themselves.   The ethics I had to painstakingly abide by in the newsroom have transitioned into the ethical life I wish to live. And, most importantly, my nightmares of wearing matching pants suites have ceased.

Left Brain/Right Brain Productions is fantastic place to work, grow and thrive.  The scope of what we do and the clients we are so fortunate to work alongside of are remarkable.  This 22-year-old has found her home in Chicago and her place with the Left Brain/Right Brain family.  I look forward prospering with and assisting in expanding our business and thank all who have been and will be a part of that.