Kendra Scott has more than 25 years of experience in journalism and communication roles, and she still looks back at her start as a reporter for her college newspaper as instrumental to her success.
“Student reporting is a great first step to not just a field in journalism, but it teaches young adults how to be intuitive, ask creative questions and put those answers into a smooth flow of communication,” she said.
As a student at Georgetown (Kentucky) College in the mid-1990s, Scott wrote for the Georgetonian. Since then, she has worked in a variety of communication and journalism roles, and she founded her own editing company, iRedPen, in Chillicothe in 2013.
“We were always in charge of bringing up storylines in the area to the editor,” Scott said of her time at the Georgetonian. “And it helped me quickly learn of my surroundings and be more aware of what is going on around me.”
Scott’s advice to aspiring journalists was short and sweet.
“Have fun, be aware of your surroundings, don’t set limits on yourself but don’t intrude,” she said.
She made it clear that young journalists should not take editors for granted. Editors can go unnoticed due to the fact that nobody really sees anything besides what is in the published article or on the screen, and that is all attributed to the author.
Editing can bring many challenges, which is why editors serve such an important function within the journalism community. But Scott also recognizes the “rewarding” aspects of being an editor.
“I enjoy manipulating and working sentences to be the most concise and understandable to the reader they can be,” she said. “I love reading and knowing I was a part of the end project.”
