Alum
Edie and Amy Schwarb
Editorial strategist; sophomore and Media School student ambassador
Edie, Media School sophomore, and her mother Amy Schwarb, BAJ'98, have a deep connection with journalism and its capabilities.
Amy: “So when I actually chose journalism, I saw it as an opportunity to work with words in my career in a field that would always be reliable.
I've always been really grateful that at IU I got so many fundamentals, learned so much about myself, learned the power of just saying yes to opportunities. That has allowed me to grow with the industry and pivot as I needed to throughout my career.”
Edie: “I grew up in a journalist household. Not just my mom; my dad is also a journalist. And so, I feel like I grew up having a passion for writing, a passion for storytelling. I just fell in love with the campus here and with all the opportunities in The Media School. From then on, it was a pretty easy choice.”
Amy: “I spent maybe the first 15, 16 years of my career in traditional journalism in newspapers and magazines, and then I went through a little transition of three years where I followed my husband for a job and had to set up a freelance business. I did traditional journalism, but also...I started doing a lot of branded content. It helped me bridge to that world and give me exposure to that world. And everything I've done since then — and it's been about 15 years — has been in branded content specifically for nonprofits.”
Edie: “My big thing just coming in (to college) was that I wanted to try to get involved with as many different types of things as possible and diversify my skill set. I definitely wanted to get involved with the IDS. I covered cross country for the tail of their season, and I covered track at the sports desk as a beat reporter. I'm also an intern with the Arnolt Center this semester (spring 2024).”
Amy: “Edie was four years old the first time that she told her parents, ‘When I grow up, I want to be...’ And she never said journalist, she said, ‘When I grow up, I want to be a newspaper reporter.’ So I told her, ‘Newspapers do not have a good business model.’ I mean she was four. Maybe this was a secondary conversation. What I remember about it is that she wrote it on a piece of paper. She said, ‘Okay, when I grow up, I want to, number one: come up with a business model for newspapers. Number two: become a newspaper reporter.' She was not dissuaded. By high school, when she became really involved in her high school newspaper, it was obvious that that was what she was on.”
Edie: “I want to take a big step from me and take a graphic design class because that's something not in my comfort zone. That's a big thing, getting out of my comfort zone and seeing even if I'm not the greatest at it, just getting that skill set. I think my writing is what I'm best at. I think it can continue to be what I'm strongest at, but I really want to work on making strides to improve the other aspects.”
Written By Kayla Pallotto
Photos By Grace Urbanski