Hi everyone! I’m Taylor Shore, the Digital Strategy Manager at Iowa PBS. I started my career dreaming of being a journalist or even a novelist. Writing was, at the time, the career path that I planned out for myself. But, what I learned during graduate school was that I couldn’t formalize my career plan, instead I had to let myself fall into and pivot from different areas and fields.
Prior to Iowa PBS, I was working in multiple communications-related internships and roles. I started taking on internships with web and graphic design opportunities, then I moved into a communication specialist role in which I wrote press releases and newsletters. During this time, I continually took it upon myself to take on more responsibilities with digital content development or web design. At the time, I was focusing on expanding my skill set, but looking back now I realize I was shaping - and falling into - a new career path for myself, which led me to my role at Iowa PBS.
In my role as the Digital Strategy Manager I have been able to work across the station to grow our station’s digital presence. I’m a people person and I love being able to collaborate with other departments to find ways to break down silos and to establish new workflows to ensure that we’re meeting our audiences’ needs. Some of the work I’ve been able to have a part in is with developing a station-wide distribution strategy and identifying where our content should be and where our audiences are, as well as assisting with promotions, communications, social media, marketing, and even working with developers on website and app development. At the end of the day, my role is an amalgamation of what the station needs digitally and finding the ways to achieve those goals by collaborating across the station.
Since my role is a lot of collaboration (and meetings) I have found the challenging part to be identifying where to put my energy, because there will never be an “end” to the amount of work that needs to be done or can be done. I have to be strategic - as we all do especially now - with my to-do lists and making sure that when I am able to check something off of that list that it still fits with what our audiences need at that time. Things change so quickly digitally so it feels like you always have to think about where you should be putting your energies now and sometimes that means taking a risk with an unexpected but promising area.
Now, if I could go back to my first day at Iowa PBS (or even to myself right out of college) I would tell myself to be comfortable with the change and ride the wave. You need to be comfortable with feeling like you don’t know what you’re doing or where exactly to put your energy, because that won’t go away - so try to get comfortable with it now. Public media is a constantly changing field and you may always feel like you're constantly two steps behind, so continue riding the wave that you are in for now...and then take on the next one later.
Right now during this pandemic, we’re all trying to ride multiple waves and I'm pretty sure most parents would tell you that parenting during this time has been one of the more challenging waves. Most parents I know in public media are working remotely - in fact most staff I know are still working remotely. The extra layer of having kids at home while you're working remotely is intense - add in virtual or partial virtual learning this fall and it feels very easy for things to crumble. My sincere hope is that parents working during the pandemic are finding support in as many ways as they can, even if it's just in finding some sympathetic ears to listen to how hard things are getting. I know it feels like we're running 24/7, but finding time for self care can help that pressure valve.
I say it in general about work, regardless of being a parent or at what stage you're at - find yourself a squad and seek out mentors. Maybe that's a collection of coworkers, individuals within the PBS system in similar positions as you, or local professionals you meet through organizations and online groups. Find people who want to help you grow professionally, and if you're a parent, find other parents dealing with the chaos of parenting in a pandemic and lean on each other.
Advocate for yourself as much as possible. If you can think of different ways to do your job that make the balancing act more bearable, raise your voice and ask for it. Can meetings you have to miss but need to hear be recorded? Can your department, your station, look through the sea of meetings and determine what can be turned into an email for now (or forever!)? What new practices can be put in place that make it easy for everyone to be on the same page when work shifts are in constant flux? And, if you're a manager or station leadership, what are you doing to make the balancing act easier for parents, and truly all staff who will continue to deal with extreme pressure outside of work?
When I think about where I want to go in my public media career journey, its first finding a balance with parenting and working remotely during the pandemic and secondly its finding my footing as a leader. As a leader I’ve always strived for a servant leadership role and I’ve tried to be an advocate for finding ways to help others get to their next step, and finding ways to overcome challenges with and for them. I want to continue to grow in my own leadership capabilities and I hope to be able to do that through not only growing my own team and station, but also through growing others and their stations.
Looking to connect with Taylor Shore to learn more about her experience or obtain additional career advice? Email her today at: taylor.shore@iowapbs.org.
