School of Social & Cultural Studies
Albany Campus, Auckland

Meet our School graduate students: English, Media Studies, Communication

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		Amanda Crowe: Event Management After completing her BA in Media Studies, Amanda tried a stint in advertising before settling on corporate events management. She has worked most recently as an Event Producer for Auckland company Madant Productions. She comments: I love my job, the industry, the people that I work with, the travel, and the weird and wacky things we produce. We specialise in events, corporate functions, conferencing, product launches, live shows, exhibitions, video and music production. " [top]
		Eric Wong: Video Production Eric graduated in English and Media Studies before returning to Hong Kong to work as a videographer and assistant producer in the public relations and communications department of the YMCA. On the side he works as a freelance photographer for magazines, which keeps him very busy! [top]
		Jocelyn Rennie: Local Government Communications An enthusiast for both ecology and literature, Jocelyn tailored her Masters degree in English to enhance her work as a resource efficiency advisor for the Auckland Regional Council. She studied attitudes towards the Aotearoa/New Zealand environment in poetry, novels, travel journals, and letters. "Professionally, the research skills, time management skills, and greater general knowledge about an aspect of New Zealand environmental history are useful in my job. I believe that extra study makes you overall a brighter and more interesting person and increases your brain power and self-confidence." Read a profile of Jocelyn from Get into Further Study, Nov. 2003, pp. 10-11. Page one (.pdf); Page two (.pdf). [top]
		Xenia Moschopoulos: Public Relations Xenia graduated with a BA(Hons) in Media Studies in 2003 and entered the postgraduate Public Relations programme at AUT. "Having a background degree in Media Studies has helped me tremendously and is looked upon highly too by my lecturers and course controllers. I'm currently doing the PR for the 2005 Auckland Anniversary Regatta. We're working in small groups and we have to come up with all the communications, press releases, event management and publications. It is going to be very daunting but I'm looking forward to it too." [top]
		Clare Hemara: Technical Writing/Web Content Management Clare strengthened her undergraduate degree in languages and English with IT-related work experience and a postgraduate qualification in Technical Writing from Christchurch Polytechnic. She now works as the web production co-ordinator for Environment Waikato. The most satisfying part of her job? "Seeing excellent scientific content explained in plain English and presented professionally on Environment Waikato's website." Read an interview with Clare (.doc) [top]
		Nina Soma: Librarianship/Information Management Nina has completed papers in English, Media Studies, and the Master of Library Information Science (MLIS) at Victoria University. With her additional work experience at Massey's Auckland campus library, Nina was well-placed to enter the government or education sector, or work for one of the large private consulting firms that employ their own information management staff. Nina is currently working for a corporate library in the banking and finance sector. [top]
		Pamela Carrington Reid: Creative Writing/Life History Writing Teacher Pamela's undergraduate degree in English has been the basis for a varied part-time career as an author and life history teacher while she has stayed at home to raise her five children. Now, as a mature student, she is completing post-graduate studies in English and History. "It was scary going back to school but I wanted to add more depth to my writing and teaching and I've been thrilled with the mix of papers I've been able to take. My thesis will involve analysis on the process of writing historical novels and I've already been offered contract work as an international lecturer and biographer." "As I am now a 'Global Grandmother', I want to be able to spend time with my children and grandchildren here at home and overseas. With these qualifications and a laptop computer, I can work anywhere at any time and be paid for the pleasure." [top]
		Tibor Riddering: Freelance Screen Production Editor I graduated from Massey University in 1998 with a BA majoring in Media Studies and Communication. My first job was as a "tape operator" at Flying Start Pictures where I copied tapes from one format to another, and made dubs for the TV networks. This may seem a boring job, but it was a great way for me to view the types of work within the industry, and see how things worked on the ground level. I had a keen interest in the equipment, and a desire to create my own master pieces, so I was soon busy teaching myself the edit suites. From there I just worked my way up to becoming a fully fledged editor. After working for FSP for a few years I decided to go freelance and have never looked back. My area of work is in Post-production; specifically editing. I am a freelance Avid editor, working around Auckland making about 4 to 5 documentaries a year; and filling in the time between by editing commercials and programs. I am now always busy, with a great variety of jobs and have met some wonderful people. I am lucky in that my hobby is my job.[top]
		Vikki Bland: ICT Journalism After completing a BA in English Vikki started off in the communications industry, first by working in the sales department of Wellington Newspapers, then as public relations executive for the retail technology company Advantage Data Systems (now Provenco-Cadmus). From there she worked her way into journalism, specialising in information technology journalism using ICT knowledge gathered in her own time and through contract employment with ICT companies including IBM. Vikki worked as Technical Editor for PC Magazine New Zealand, published by ACP Magazines, and then Editor of InfoTech Office, published by Wellington Newspapers. After winning a Qantas Media Award in 1998, Vikki decided to freelance, writing features and columns on information technology for a range of publications, including The New Zealand Herald, Management Magazine and NZ Business Magazine. While continuing to freelance, Vikki is now planning to return to Massey to complete a postgraduate degree in English and move into a new phase of her career. Vikki’s advice to aspiring journalists is to remember that journalism is essentially about people. “Compassion, ethics and a calm head will help you to build a reputation for quality.”[top]
		Bruce Craig: Journalism Bruce completed a Bachelor of Arts majoring in English, combining the study of literature and film with papers in creative writing. He now works as a senior journalist with Printer Magazines Group, reporting  for a major publication in the printing industry (Bruce tells us that his company offers excellent advertising rates!). He writes copy for the magazine, meets clients regularly, and skips across the Tasman, when required,  to work in the Sydney office. "After ten years of part-time work, child caregiving, and studying, I'm enjoying all the new challenges of full-time employment in a busy sector. The people I work with are full of ideas and always encouraging." [top]

 

 

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