The real world doesn’t have syllabi
- La Voz Latina
- 5 hours ago
- 2 min read
Written by: Sophia da Silva 🇧🇷
For Laura Charleston, resilience is about maintaining her identity through her obstacles. As a journalist, the biggest way she’s seen her resilience tested is by the growing distrust in traditional media.
“It can be very doubting of the industry, of hearing what everyone's saying and how they feel,” Charleston said, “...and just wanting to be the difference so people can trust you.”
Despite the challenges of being a journalist in a rapidly changing media landscape, Charleston believes in her work.
“It's my way of contributing back to the world or my community,” Charleston said.
As a Haitian-American journalist, she sees the value of representation in news coverage.
“I want to go against these barriers that are implemented rather than just let people continue riding along them,” Charleston said.
During her time at the University of Maryland, Charleston worked on campus publications like La Voz Latina and The Black Explosion. She was also published in the Greenbelt News Review and worked on projects for the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the Philip Merrill College of Journalism.
The most important thing she’s learned as a reporter is the importance of respect.
“In this field, you're going to meet people that you may not see eye to eye with, but still maintaining a respectful relationship can even, either open your eyes to new things or… build good credibility,” she said.
Charleston’s time with the Howard Center introduced her to data journalism, which became an unexpected passion.
“It was really fun, just analyzing and finding different ways of researching,” Charleston said. “I love to do research, and that's what you can do with coding and different applications.”
Despite going into journalism to get away from math, she flourished at Maryland by trying new things and challenging her preconceived notions.
Charleston, an introvert, said it was a challenge to push herself out of her bubble, but it led to great experiences on and off campus, especially in her reporting.
Charleston’s favorite story covered the potential move of the FBI headquarters to Greenbelt. Even though she grew up near Greenbelt, she didn’t know the city well until this story.
“That was the first time I really got to know a community and a lot of people through that story, and it was really rewarding,” she said.
As Charleston’s time at Maryland comes to an end, she feels relieved to be done with school, but the unknowns of life feel daunting.
“We have syllabuses, we have planners, we have things like that. The real world doesn't have that,” Charleston said.
To navigate that fear, Charleston said she’s taking it one day at a time and repeating a mantra that helped her through her time here:
“Your anxiety and… doubt, too, are imaginary barriers,” Charleston said.
“I am so proud of Laura. She is my shero. She is independent, patient, intelligent and beautiful daughter. She will conquer the world. I am so blessed to have a perfect daughter." - Laura Charleston’s mother
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