"It's not easy, what you've chosen."
Those words from Claire McDonald, one of the two sisters behind Crumbs Food, a blog and YouTube channel that focuses on eating well and
finding a balance between working, enjoying life, and being moms.
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| Claire and Lucy McDonald are journalists who blog and vlog about food and life. Photo courtesy of Facebook |
Before I landed in London, I knew that the only way to get an idea
of what exactly I needed to do to get my dream job at the BBC was to get to
London and talk to journalists.
I didn't have an exact plan of attack, and my original plan of
spending every day in front of the BBC headquarters and approaching all the
people who went in or out seemed a sure-fire way to get me permanently banned
from the area, and maybe even the country. Clearly, I needed a Plan B.
I decided to use the one method that always seems to work when I'm
trying to find sources for a news story; I reached out to people. I sent a few
e-mails to London journalists, hoping they'd be willing to help me on my
quest.
That's how I ended up meeting with Claire in central London on an
unseasonably warm Wednesday evening.
As we walked along a street parallel to the River Thames, Claire told
me she still considers herself a journalist, but is currently working in the marketing and advertising field. Journalism in
general is not an easy career to pursue, she said, and it gets even more
difficult to be great at your job when you start to grow your family.
Claire worked as a writer and editor at The Times of London for more
than a decade. But after having her second child, she knew it was time to find
something else. That's how her blog started up, which was followed by a YouTube
channel.
Unfortunately, according to Claire, blogging alone does not generate a
livable income, which is how she ended up in her current role. The good news is that it allows her to use her journalism-based skills, as well as the ones she’s
picked up as a blogger and vlogger, a little more creatively. One of the major projects
she’s worked on is a Christmas ad campaign for one of the biggest grocery store
chains in the UK. Not a bad thing to add to a resume.
Along with the low probability of getting a full-time gig at the
BBC, Claire expressed concern about the cost of living in the city. When I
asked about possible salaries, she told me that just like in Canada, journalism doesn’t
pay well in the UK. And when I asked if I could realistically make enough
to cover the basics, she had some uncertainty in her voice.
This lead to both of us trying to do math. We got off to a rough
start with the multiplication (we’re journalists for a reason – very little
math required) but eventually determine it is
in fact possible to rent a flat (with others… none of this “living on my own”
business), buy groceries, and lead a very basic life being paid minimum wage in London.
(I know we don’t make much in news, but I’m really hoping I would be getting more than
minimum wage.)
It’s another factor that won’t make achieving my goal easy –
something that seems to be a constant in this plan of mine.
Despite the difficulties, Claire is full of hope. Maybe, she said,
I could document the trials and tribulations I face while trying to chase my
dream in a podcast or vlog. The idea was genius, so obviously I stole it. To try and make it seem slightly original, I kept it in simple blog form.
She didn’t stop there. As well as offering me a brilliant way to
keep a public record of my trip, she promised to try and contact the few people
in the industry who she’s still in touch to see if they could share advice on
how to work my way into the BBC.
Now all I have to do is hope she makes me sound like a stellar journalist
who must be hired at all costs so they get back to her and agree to meet with
me. And then impress them myself. Minor details.
Solid Plan B! Network, network, network!
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