When Alexandra Clelland decided to go to journalism school, she never guessed she would be a social media manager at ZoomerMedia.
“I never really thought that was something that I was interested in,” said Clelland.
Clelland urges people to try new things because what you take for school doesn’t always set you down a singular career path.
When Clelland graduated from high school, she wasn’t sure what she wanted to do. Wanting to do a “little bit of everything” made it difficult to narrow down a specific program.
Clelland’s father took journalism at Loyalist College and worked in radio.
She thought it was cool that her father’s career allowed him to interview people such as Terry Fox and Rick Hansen.
Another aspect of her father’s career that interested her was how he used his skills to move into sales.
“There’s a lot of different skill-sets you can learn from journalism that can apply to other industries,” said Clelland.
In 2016, Clelland decided to enrol at Durham College (DC) for broadcast and electronic media. At the time, the program was split into print and broadcast journalism. Her initial goal was to become a reporter and she wanted to be on the morning news even if she didn’t consider herself a morning person.
“I was just very enamoured by the whole idea of being on TV and the pressure of it,” said Clelland. “You’re working under a lot of pressure.”
Clelland thrives under pressure.
“If you look at my calendar, it’s a little insane,” she said.
This kind of organization helps her stay on top of her personal life and career.
Pierre Sanz, a former classmate from DC, said when Clelland didn’t have her head in her laptop, working on assignments, she supported her classmates.
Clelland helped Sanz with video editing, which came in handy when he went to Centennial College for sports journalism.
She was the reason he got out of his comfort zone.
“She definitely helped me discover more talent,” said Sanz.
After Clelland graduated from DC, she pursued a bachelor’s in journalism at Ryerson to further develop writing for print and online.
She completed an internship at CBC Toronto for The World at Six but it was peak COVID-19.
Later, her father’s friend was looking for a promotions coordinator at a radio station. Although the position wasn’t exactly journalistic, Clelland applied and got the position with Corus Entertainment.
“It was fun,” said Clelland. “It kind of gave me more experience doing social media, doing sort of more event stuff and community stuff and getting out there.”
This position became the stepping stone for her current job at ZoomerMedia, where she coordinates ad campaigns with the sales team.
She writes the ad campaign for the brand, sends it back and waits for approval. Once the ad is filmed by the talent team, Clelland distributes it to the platform whether that be TikTok or even Instagram.
“I think that it’s exciting that things are never the same,” said Clelland. “It kind of keeps me on my toes.”
Robert Cuthbert is a colleague at ZoomerMedia. He describes her as a “backbone” of their social team.
“If you see any ads on our brands, you’re most likely looking at something that Alex wrote and our posts still continuously hit all of our guarantees and get all lovely traction,” said Cuthbert, who goes to Clelland for help with client issues.
“She’s so lovely, she’s so fun, and she really helps me stay sane,” said Cuthbert.
Clelland believes journalism school helped her with transferable skills.
One of these is meeting deadlines. In her position, she must meet deadlines every day, and especially during busy times such as the holiday season.
Additionally, the writing skills she developed in her program is handy in her job where she writes copy for clients, campaigns, social media captions and articles.
“It’s just hammered into us from day one in journalism school,” Clelland said about proper grammar and spelling. “That’s one of my strongest suits.”
Clelland recommends to “be very open to learning new things and trying things that you might not think that you would necessarily like.”
Networking is also crucial.
“Your network is a lot bigger than you think it is,” said Clelland who recommended using social media platforms such as Linkedin.
“Social media is very handy for that because it’s a great way to keep in touch with people, and it’s a great way to sort of discover opportunities that you may not have discovered otherwise,” said Clelland.
By taking that first step and allowing herself to find her passions through various experiences, Clelland has found a career that fits her fast-paced lifestyle.
“I definitely want to stay in the social media and digital marketing realm,” said Clelland.
While it may not be a career in journalism, it was the journey that allowed her to navigate towards a career that sparked her interests.