Vanessa Gaie, KLN ‘19, graduated from the Klein College of Media and Communication communications studies program with a desire to dive deeper into the world of media. This led her to the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, one of the nation’s top-ranked journalism schools. And while she credits her time at Klein College for helping her develop the drive necessary to take her skills to the next level, she also draws on the love for media she has had since middle school.

“I used to always just watch interviews all day on YouTube; that was my obsession for some reason,” she says. “So I always knew that I wanted to be in that field, I just never knew exactly what I wanted to do.”

Once she started at Temple University, Gaie realized she chose the right school. She made the most of her undergraduate education by taking advantage of the curriculum and opportunities Klein College has to offer. One such experience was the Communities and Organizations in New York City study away program. Through the lens of New York City, she learned about issues that aligned with her other interests, including social justice. The program highlighted many intersections between media and society, which led her closer to discovering her career path.

“My passion really is providing platforms for Black and Brown people. That’s my main goal and I do enjoy entertainment as well as social justice and politics,” she says. “And I think there’s many ways those can go hand-in-hand. I want to be able to mix the two.”

Now that she is at USC Annenberg, Gaie has additional opportunities to work within her focus areas. The nine-month journalism graduate program challenges students to utilize many skills that they may not be as familiar with, such as coding and learning how to produce multimedia content. Gaie says she is impressed with the rigor of instruction and resources available to her.

“They force you to learn things in a super hands-on [way]...but there are some things in the program that I felt like mirrored the education that Temple was giving me,” she says.

Gaie plans on using her expertise to become a radio or television producer. However, she does not intend to limit herself to those roles. As a “jack of all trades,” she has begun learning more about film and wants to produce a documentary focused on her hometown of Bridgeport, Connecticut. She believes that Temple students can advance in a similar way if they expand their horizons while at the school.

“Temple is a phenomenal school. And I used my resources...I had experiences of a lifetime. So that would be my advice: do everything you can while you can."