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Feature Writer Emma Garland on Her Path Into Journalism.

We have all, at some point, read an article by a feature writer. But what, however, does the journey to becoming a journalist of this nature look like? 

For Emma Garland, who, up until January of last year, had worked at Vice for eight years and recently joined Huck as the magazine's new digital editor, the answer isn't quite as straightforward as the question might seem.

Whilst giving a guest speaker talk at London Metropolitan University, She told students: "My pathway to journalism was very kind of unusual and non-linear."  

"I've never done an internship, I've never done a placement anywhere, I've never had a mentor." 

However, Emma said that whilst doing a B.A. in English literature and creative writing, she found a passion for blogging: "I started reviewing gigs and albums and interviewing bands and stuff like that." 

"[It was] all unpaid, but like, because I wanted free access to shows and records and all of the fun stuff that comes with working for free." 

"I sort of built up a small profile through doing that," she added. 

"So by the time, you know, I was doing an actual degree in journalism, I sort of had a vague reputation of sorts". 

Emma explained that it was through her work on her blog that she ended up being offered a two-week-long placement at Vice, after which the company decided to take her on full-time.

"They hired me based on that. I don't think they even asked if I had a degree. I don't think they asked if I had A-levels, to be honest," she laughed. 

"It is a very weird way in, where sort of Vice was the first place I ever worked. I had never worked in media before that. I've also never worked in an office apart from that." 

Nevertheless, Emma says that she's not the only one who made her way into journalism in such a non-linear manner: "With the way that you know, the post-social media landscape is now, [it is] not uncommon for people to have all these different pathways into journalism."

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