By Hosanna Nitro
A California-based freelance journalist who has written for CNN and the New York Times encouraged William Paterson students to take chances and be “relentless” in order to find a career in the news business.
Matt Villano, whose 25-year reporting career began after interning at the Boston Globe, described how he has navigated finding a livable wage in a profession he loves while avoiding burnout.
“The three keys to finding work are to be relentless, to keep your eyeballs open for good ideas and to communicate well,” Villano told an Oct. 27 journalism class taught by Dr. Nicholas Hirshon.
Villano acknowledged that finding work-life balance can be tricky as a freelancer. “I think balance is a pretty loaded word, because I think balance is a constantly changing equation,” he said. “It’s really hard when you don’t have the guarantee of a regular paycheck.”
Villano said that balance was nonexistent early in his career, when he worked out of his home. He now has an office in his garage, and he can leave his work behind when he returns to his house. He emphasized the importance of setting distinct boundaries to avoid constant work stress.
Persistence was a theme of Villano’s talk. He said he earned a lot of work working in New York as a technology writer, but he was pigeonholed in that beat and editors disregarded his pitches for stories about other topics that interest him, like sports and gambling. But when he moved to Seattle, he kept pitching the stories he wanted to write, and he found that his ideas were better received.
“If you have a passion, and you can communicate that passion clearly and relentlessly, somebody at some point is going to take a flyer so long as you can prove to them that you know what the hell you’re doing,” Villano said.
Despite writing for major news outlets, Villano said he still faces imposter syndrome and tries to overcome it with authenticity. He told students to focus on “how what you’re doing makes you feel.”
Now, Villano said he prioritizes being a dad and taking care of his three children.
wputimes.wordpress.com 