May 2002			Flying High with Steve Walker Chasing the Beanpot Elephants, Bermuda Shorts	Letters Sports E Line Books Alumni Passages Classes From the Field First-Person Huskiana
			Celina R. De Leon, AS'01 I chose a career in journalism to, in the words of Dorothy Day, “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.” Surprisingly, though, at one point I found myself in need of comfort and reassurance—about my career choice. That’s not to say I didn’t start out with a realistic sense of this business. For instance, I knew entering journalism in a new city, on my own, would be difficult if I didn’t already have a great portfolio. So I came to Northeastern for the contacts and experience I could gain through co-op. For my first co-op position, I served as an editorial assistant for the Boston Globe’s editorial page department. My day was filled with the usual administrative tasks, such as answering the department’s phone and typing op-eds and letters to the editor. I didn’t get to write, but I did absorb the workings of the department that held what I thought was my dream job: weekly columnist. I also had the opportunity to observe and chat with columnists who personify the reasons I decided to become a journalist: Derrick Jackson and David Nyhan. They kept alive my ideal of what journalism is and should be. On the other hand, I was also exposed to the internal politics of the department and the reality that not all writers are humble or appreciative of the power of their craft. After a while, this realization started to weigh me down. After witnessing the over-exercised hierarchy of the editorial department—along with knowing that I was the only Latina (aside from a woman reporter in City Weekly) at what I had thought was a liberal publication—I wasn’t feeling confident about my career choice. Then, the editor in chief of Teen Voices magazine brought the breath I needed to stay in journalism. Alison Amoroso had written a letter to the Globe regarding a feature she felt had glossed over the oppressive content of teen women’s magazines. She thought the article had left out one magazine in particular: her own. She described Teen Voices as a periodical that publishes the true voices of teenage women (minus the makeup and how-to-get-a-boyfriend tips). Her critique of mainstream media resonated with me. As I flipped through the pages of Teen Voices, it was as if my internal light had finally found the community it needed to survive. I wrote a letter to Alison, and mailed it along with a copy of my résumé. Two days later, I was called in for an interview. So started my tenure at Teen Voices. My first position was as a volunteer editorial mentor, working six hours a week with two teen women on a section of the magazine. I shared my editorial skills and knowledge of social and economic justice issues, and they contributed their life experiences and opinions about what makes an interesting read. Together, we produced a feature on the status of women of color at the dawn of the new millennium. I wrote a piece on my experiences at the Globe and how alone I had felt in the sea of white men I passed in the hallways every day. I was asked to be senior editor at Teen Voices nine months later. I accepted the position, volunteering several hours a week at the magazine while also attending classes. When it was time to go on co-op again, I decided to experiment with another area of communications. This time, I chose to work as a copywriter for the Boston Globe’s promotions department. The post was far from the editorial world, but I got to do a great deal of writing and hands-on learning. I wrote copy for ads, fliers, and postcards promoting home delivery and advertising opportunities, as well as text for the website publicizing the Globe’s Jazz Festival. I really felt like part of a team and saw that my work was respected. I stayed in this department for another (my last) co-op session and even worked there part-time for an additional six months, discovering creative-writing techniques I hadn’t learned in my journalism classes. Currently, I am fortunate enough to be working full time at Teen Voices. My role has expanded to encompass supervising the editorial and design content of both Teen Voices and Teen Voices Online. My job also includes supervising staff mentors, working with the teen artists nationwide who create illustrations for the magazine, and conducting editorial training sessions for both mentors and teens. So I’m not only responsible for editorial functions, but I also have a hand in offering counsel to budding journalists. Better yet, I know I help generate a publication that gives a voice to one of the most marginalized groups in our society, teenage women. Our organization creates media that work against the status quo to provide content that speaks to all its readers. I hope the readership, in turn, will expect the same inclusion from the rest of our society.