Jinae West, 鈥10, certainly made her mark as an undergraduate journalism major, holding what must be close to a record seven internships.
While JMC requires every major to complete at least one internship, West set a standard in her magazine-focused major. Her internships included stints at The Washington Post, The Colbert Report, The Onion, Las Vegas Sun, The Moth, WKSU and NPR.
She stood out from the student crowd for Professor Jacqueline Marino.
鈥淎 lot of students are kind of in a bubble when they are in college. You know, it鈥檚 just a big transition,鈥 Marino said. 鈥淪tudents kind of limit themselves; they tend to only see what is right in front of them. Jinae was always looking way beyond Kent, Ohio 鈥 she was always looking out at the world.鈥
The internship in her 铿乶al semester with 海角原创鈥檚 public radio station, WKSU, cued up her career path. She said she 鈥渁ctually never really thought about going into audio or radio until I did my internship at WKSU鈥 and that 鈥渋t just seemed like a good 铿乼.鈥
The WKSU experience led to the NPR internship right after she graduated, and she stayed through two positions until earlier this year. She became the associate producer of the show she worked on during her internship, All Things Considered, which led her to become a producer of TED Radio Hour in 2017, where she interviewed people like Tarana Burke and Ashley Judd about the Me Too movement.
鈥淭hey (NPR) taught you how to do everything really,鈥 West said. 鈥淚 learned how to direct the show, I was editing, producing, working with reporters in the 铿乪ld, I was going out in the 铿乪ld myself sometimes. You really learn how to work on deadline and work fast and work with a team.鈥
And it was one of her old team members from All Things Considered who helped her to get the job she recently started at National Geographic. She was working on a project with National Geographic 鈥渁nd asked if she could send my name along to the people that were hiring, so I met with them, set up a few interviews,鈥 West said.
When West re铿俥cts on why she left NPR to go work at National Geographic, her mind goes to all of the possibilities that she may 铿乶d at her new job.
鈥淵ou know, I had been at NPR for eight and a half years at that point and I was curious to see what else was out there,鈥 West said. 鈥淚 feel like NPR was a great 铿乺st job, and 鈥 I couldn鈥檛 have asked for a better job, but I don鈥檛 know, I was also curious to see what it鈥檚 like at a di铿erent company.鈥
That curiosity has served her well throughout her career.
鈥淚 hadn鈥檛 been teaching that long when I encountered her, and she was really remarkable to me at that time,鈥 Marino said. 鈥淏ut because I hadn鈥檛 been teaching that long I wasn鈥檛 sure if I would see many more Jinaes, and I really have not.鈥