Being a journalist isn’t only about the freebies and the concert tickets. There’s a lot more to it.
Written by: Sanah Chauhan
Being a journalist isn’t only about the freebies and the concert tickets. There’s a lot more to it. Racking your brains to come up with the right words to ensure a good read every week can be quite an overwhelming job but someone’s got to do it.
Originally from Trinidad and Tobago, 21-year-old Kara Martin graduated in Creative Writing at Roehampton University in London. She moved to Abu Dhabi two years ago after her dad was offered a job with Etihad as a pilot.
Kara is ambitious, perky and loves talking. She’s also the youngest writer on the Abu Dhabi Week team; she has worked with the magazine for only about two months, but she clearly enjoys every minute of it .
Before ADW, she worked for a few publications on a freelance basis here in Abu Dhabi and at university for experience – mainly consumer publications like fashion and lifestyle magazines (“I even worked for a yoga magazine once!”) So what is a day in the life of a journalist like?
7.45am: “I try to get as much sleep as I can to recover from the usual late nights” – there’s often after-hours engagements for a journalist. After waking up, Kara then spent the next 45 minutes getting ready for work. “Finding the right outfit is important” she says. That leaves her with little time for breakfast, usually just green tea and a fruit; she also makes a point of checking her emails to get a head start on her day. She leaves for work at 8.30.
9.00am: She reaches the office after getting a mandatory cup of Chai Latte. After that it’s just emails, emails, a few phone calls and some more emails. At 10.00am she heads off for an editorial meeting in the board room with the team where they discuss the next issue and ideas for future issues of the magazine.
11.00am: Kara leaves the office for a hotel spa on Yas Island and spends 45 minutes in the cab getting lost. But she describes the two hours of pampering at the spa as an amazing experience. “It’s interesting because I never really go to spas. The therapist there told me so many things about my body and skin and now I take care of myself more because of my job”
1.30pm: Time for lunch. “I’m exposed to so much food here – the continental buffet, the coffee shops and all the chocolates – that I usually just eat from the salad bar at the restaurant here because I don’t want to get too fat!” She spends about an hour at the restaurant having lunch and chatting with her friend Vincent [the restaurant manager].
2.30pm: She returns to the office and gets back to her work, finishing the articles she’s been working on and agonising over the words that will make them read that bit better. A few more phone calls and a lot more emails later, Kara leaves the office at 5pm and gets back home at about 5.30.
6.00pm: Kara has a bite of whatever her mum has cooked and goes upstairs to the gym for about 45 minutes. “I love fitness” she admits. “I do a lot of things like swimming, yoga, tennis and cycling if I have time”. Not this evening: Kara has to review a restaurant later, so she only has time for a short gym session.
7.30pm: At the restaurant with her boyfriend, she meets the manager and gets to know about the restaurant. While sampling a little food from each course that the restaurant offers, Kara also makes notes about the food and the atmosphere that she would need for the write-up. “It’s a lot of eating,” she says, “which I’m really happy to do!” After the meal Kara and the bf check out the hotel’s club.
1.00am: Kara’s back home after a long day. She checks her emails one last time to make sure there isn’t any panic awaiting her the next morning. Finally at about 1.30am she gets to bed.
Final thoughts: “As a journalist, even when you’re out having fun or partying, you’re always on the lookout for a good story – your brain’s always in work mode.” Apart from her career Kara also aspires to write a novel or a collection of short stories; she loves fiction and writes short stories in her spare time. One thing that not many people know is that Kara is also a professional violinist and used to play at serious events back in Trinidad – “I’d love to start training again someday and perform like before,” she says. But she also likes where she’s at now. “I love my job to death, it’s amazing. I majored in Creative Writing so I am doing exactly what I’ve always wanted!”
