I can't really remember the moment I decided I wanted to be a journalist or why - I think it's something I always wanted to do. While getting my graduate degree in journalism at Columbia j'school, we were very lucky to have speakers from all over the world, some of the most accomplished journalists of our time. They all had a similar litany: The profession is amazing - and you will never find a job because the business model is broken, news rooms are firing people and so on.
The closer we got to graduation, the more we were all depressed about the future: a lot of student loans to pay back and the impossible challenge of finding a full-time job.
So here I am now, two years after graduation, turning down a full-time job at a prestigious news organization.
So much has happened in two years - very diffult moments, very exciting ones and a big adventure to the unknown that completely changed my perception of life and what I need.
After graduation, I moved back home (to Morocco) - mainly because there were no jobs in the US. I started working at a great magazine that ended up being shut down by the government. I didn't want to work anywhere else in Morocco, so I decided to kick off my freelance career. I had the chance to meet Jabeen, the founder of ARA, who gave me great moral support and tips to start my new life full of unknowns, mystery revenue streams, and never being able to plan anything in advance.
It went from getting one pitch accepted every other month, to filing three stories in one day (last Friday). The freelance life was extremely tough at first, mainly for financial reasons and the difficulty of getting paid on time. But then slowly, I started working for the same outlets, getting paid regularly and building a relationship based on trust with editors who would start calling me to ask me to write stories on topics they had in mind. Of course, the Arab revolutions tremendously helped me get work.
It was all worth it in the end. When I was offered a full-time job, the opportunity to get a regular salary, to not have to constantly think about interesting pitches and to not have to work alone in my apartment, well, it sounded very appealing. But I started to think about not being able to take off on a trip whenever I felt like it, having to go to an office every day and losing my freedom - I realized freelance life wasn't something I was ready to give up.
I think even if freelancing is hard with little guarantees, it allows priceless freedom and the opportunity to always do something new: like when Jabeen asked me to meet her in Tunisia to report on the revolution, and I booked a ticket and flew to Tunis.
And few staff jobs can compete with that.
(If you are considering taking the same path, feel free to ask me questions or to my much more experienced colleagues at ARA. We'll be happy to help.)
- Aida Alami, Casablanca
