“I’m not a reporter, but I’m still myself”: A longtime media reporter's shift to PR

Plus: Building a brand and figuring out your journalistic identity

Welcome to The Writethrough! Last week’s interview newsletter featured advice from consultant Isabelle Roughol on becoming an independent journalist. This week: steps to take if you’re thinking of moving into comms.

“Who am I, anyway?” Photo by Yurii Khomitskyi on Unsplash

The beginning of my journalism career coincided with the death of print and the rise of social media — and so the advice from just every successful reporter and editor to people starting out in the industry was to focus on building your brand. f you’re an economics reporter, be ready to fire off sharp analytical Twitter threads on the latest jobs reports the minute they drop, then Snapchat your way through an explainer on mortgage-backed securities. If you wanted to be known as a funny food and wine writer, post haikus about new restaurants on Tumblr! Start an Instagram account in the voice of your dog reviewing wines that he observes you drinking!

Building your brand was good advice in an unstable job market — one that has only grown more precarious in the years since. But I never could quite figure out how to do it myself. Part of the problem was that I was at heart a generalist, interested in writing about lots of different things — science, health, culture, economics, food, feminism, business, the workplace. I even worked for a Buddhist magazine at one point! Another issue was that, though I liked doing voicey features best, I was also on board to write news stories in clear, plain-spoken language, the kinds of articles that aim to go down like water. I couldn’t figure out how to market myself on social media without, in the process, shutting doors that I preferred to leave open.

I’ve now been in journalism for somewhere between 15 and 20 years, depending on how you count, and I wouldn’t say I’ve ever solved this problem. I’m sure that’s held my career back in some ways. (My follower counts across any platform are always decidedly humble.) But because I wasn’t able to settle on a journalistic brand, I’ve wound up selling myself in job interviews as curious and versatile — an identity that feels both comfortable and true, the way even the most basic outfit of jeans and a white T-shirt still reveals something about the person who’s wearing them.

This week’s issue of The Writethrough tackles questions of personal brands and identity in two ways—an advice column from Phoebe Gavin about how to grow your brand when that doesn’t match the goals of the company you currently work for, and an interview with Steven Perlberg, a former media reporter who pivoted to PR after being laid off from Business Insider. “I was concerned about what it meant if I wasn’t a reporter,” he says. His story has a happy ending. — Sarah Todd

Ask a Career Coach: How do I build my own brand while working full-time?

Dear Career Coach,

What’s your advice on how to build your brand as a journalist when you’re also working full-time for a publication? For example, I’d like to start my own newsletter, but sense that would be frowned upon by management, especially if there was overlap with my reporting beat. Should I be practicing my front-facing camera explainer game on Instagram and TikTok, or would that risk running afoul of management, too? I like and want to keep my job, but in this era of instability I also want to set the stage for a future in which, say, I get laid off and need to go independent. Conversely, do you think newsroom management should be more permissive about these kinds of efforts in an era where they can’t promise job security?

The first thing I would advise is to confirm with your organization how supportive they are of you doing this. Ask if it’s okay for you to post about your work. Ask if it’s okay for you to have a newsletter. Ask if there is a policy or a standard that prevents you from doing those things. Don’t just decide that you’re not going to do it because you’re nervous about having a difficult conversation.

It would be much better for you to ask and find out that you can and then not have to worry about that or ask and know for sure that that’s not an option for you. And then you can make decisions from that point. If it is confirmed that you aren’t able to use social media or use a newsletter to publicize your work and to build your professional standing and reputation, then I still encourage you to use your network and to build your skills and to build your reputation in the industry by being very active in the industry. So go to events, join professional associations, join all of the online groups that are dedicated to the kind of work that we do, so that people know who you are, even if you aren’t able to shout about your work online.

Another thing that is important to note is that you can practice any skills that you want to develop, even if you aren’t able to make them public. For example, you can practice your front-facing camera skills. You can set your phone up, and you can put together a script, and you can make those reels, and you can not post them. You won’t get the value of brand building, but you will still get the same value in terms of skill-building. And if you know how to do the thing, you’ll be able to tell people in interviews or in your professional network that that’s a skill that you have. — Phoebe Gavin

Phoebe Gavin is a career and leadership coach helping ambitious professionals build successful, fulfilling careers without sacrificing work-life balance. She has counseled over 1,000 clients, many of them journalists. Sign up for a starter session with Phoebe here to tackle your career concerns and make headway on your goals.

‘Being a reporter was such a core part of my identity’: On making the switch to PR, and liking it

Steven Perlberg is the Berlin-based Head of Communications for Merantix Capital. He spent years covering the media and advertising industries for Business Insider, the Wall Street Journal, and BuzzFeed News before making the leap into PR. Jackie spoke with him about what it was like to cover the digital media boom before deciding to move into comms.