(Here’s a summary of what I said in the video form. For those that prefer to read, please keep on reading!)
On the weekend of the 20th and 21st, I was invited by IdeateTV to cover the V3 Digital Media Conference in LA. This annual event was/is held by the LA chapter of Asian American Journalism Association (AAJA).
This is AAJA’s history and mission (per their official website):
The Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) is a 501(c)3 nonprofit educational and professional organization with more than 1,600 members across the United States and Asia. Since its founding, AAJA has been at the forefront of change in the journalism industry.
Our mission is four-fold:
To provide a means of association and support among Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) journalists, and to advance AAPI journalists as news managers and media executives.
To provide encouragement, information, advice and scholarship assistance to AAPI students who aspire to professional journalism careers.
To provide to the AAPI community an awareness of news media and an understanding of how to gain fair access.
To research and point out when news media organizations stray from accuracy and fairness in the coverage of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and AAPI issues.
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Of course I jumped at the opportunity to attend the event (First night, gala & networking social. Second day, workshops and panels.) I have been thinking about whether or not I should join this group for awhile and I figured that going to one of their events can answer that question for me.
I met and interviewed a ton of cool individuals; Ann Curry, Judith Hill, Jonathan Gold, Dan Matthews (DanAKADan), Magic Giant, Richard Lui, David Ono, Phil Yu and so much more!
I had the best experience and felt like I gained so much in return. I immediately purchased tickets to next year’s conference and joined AAJA-LA, OFFICIALLY! It is amazing to be in the same room with so many journalists who are going through the same thing I am, so just having that understanding made everything seem like it’s okay. For anyone who’s a budding journalist, GO NEXT YEAR!
Vicky Nguyen News 