Before I started this podcast, I listened to podcasts. But I had never really thought about all of the jobs that go into making those podcasts possible. In this episode, I speak with Elena Schwartz, a producer for Slate Magazine's daily news podcast "What Next." In college, Elena thought that she might want to go to law school. Much of what she did in college, both academically and extracurricularly, was geared towards examining the intersection of race, class, and the criminal justice system. But during her junior year, she got an itch to do something in the audio-journalism world. She was worried that she was "behind" her peers, but managed to graduate with a temporary role with WGBH. She decided to give herself a year to test out this alternative career path, and now she's been at it for over three years. 

Best for: breaking into the audio-journalism world even when it feels late in the game; working in an industry that requires multiple temporary roles before you can get a full-time role

Contents:

1:00 - Introduction

4:20 - Deciding that she wanted to pursue an audio-journalism career and her first gig out of college

12:40 - Day-to-day as an assistant producer at WGBH

15:07 - Her junior year internship and how it helped her pivot

18:46 - Elena's next role; finding and starting a role at Pineapple Studios

22:23 - Pros and cons of these early roles

27:41 - Applying for and starting as an intern at All Things Considered at NPR

37:37 - The challenges of an industry that starts with mostly temporary roles

41:12 - Looking for and finding a full-time role

45:26 - Day-to-day as a full-time producer at Slate

52:28 - Lessons learned