So much is happening for me right now. I’m so scared it looks like I’m bragging about myself but I legitimately want to share my excitement and gratefulness for what’s to come everywhere I can, because these are all huge next steps for me. And also, an incredible look at the possibilities of performing well at internships can do because 2/3 of my most recent opportunities came out of previous internship work?? I also want to look back and reflect on some of my most recent life experiences because it has been a while since I have used this blog.
First: After 4 months of being an awkward post-grad intern, I am beyond happy to be officially joining the HQ team full-time at the Asian American Journalists Association as programs and communications coordinator! Through this position, I’ll be working with both the comms and programs teams. AAJA has truly been the most positive and welcoming journalism-adjacent space I’ve ever entered, and I’m excited to see how I can learn and grow in this new position. Big shoutout to the comms dream team Jessica Xiao, Sofia Koyama and fellow intern Yi-Shen Loo especially for helping me feel like an integral part of staff throughout the internship. You can read my latest for AAJA , our statement celebrating Maria Ressa's Nobel Peace Prize, here.
I’m also back at American Theatre Magazine for a short freelance gig helping with their upcoming Training issue, the first since the pandemic. I interned there literally three years ago, and if high school Daniella reading AT before her voice lessons could see me officially writing for them now, she would be so proud. And as post-grad Daniella, I cannot wait to figure out some articles to write that fit the theme of training, having just finished my undergraduate training and education in theatre and journalism. There’s a LOT that can be said about that right now.
In between it all, I am still finding space for some good work in theatre. I’ve brought my love for multimedia and theatre together: having the flexibility to pivot and take on last-minute videography freelance work for Monologue Madness at Woolly Mammoth on September 27; performing in one show and video editing for Wildwood Summer Theatre’s entire season and feeling the weight of an entire freaking virtual musical on me (and feeling oh so stressed during the process of editing but feeling oh so good when I finally sat down and watched it). My main theatre thing this fall is working as a teaching artist at Imagination Stage: a teaching assistant for some classes, a music teacher for a few of them, and helping kids cultivate a love for musical theatre as much as I can. Teaching kids in person and being in a theater for the first time in over a year and a half has already reinvigorated me so much in just the past three weeks.
In terms of life? Getting kicked in the butt this past summer working my first (and hopefully, last) customer service job as a server at Kramers has taught me so much about how to interact with different kinds of people. People with some really interesting stories. Yet also people who made me feel like my story is not valuable at times (we hate bad customers). And on a personal note, finding my footing in journalism spaces has always been hard for me, even though I love the work. The past few months have been a period of me figuring out my path. And comms and freelance work truly is the way. Trying to engage with theatre and journo Twitter more often is the way. Seeking out stories to read and learning from other journalists is the way. Continuing to find the intersections between my passions is the way. THIS is how life is starting to make sense for me. I know it doesn't all have to make sense right now, I'm only four months out of school. But this is a reminder to myself that I am so lucky to get to do what I do and right now, I'm where I need to be.