The year before she got her master’s degree in journalism, Lottie Joiner did an interview that broke her heart and brought her professional goals into focus.

She was working on a package about African-American men and suicide. The interviews were challenging, she said, particularly one Joiner did with a grieving mother.

She said she worried that words alone couldn’t capture what she was feeling at that moment. And she didn’t think they would be enough to communicate those feelings to the reader either.

“I love to write,” Joiner said, “however, video conveys emotion that you can’t get from print. Photo galleries, slide shows and videos give a different, unique angle.”

With her master’s degree in interactive journalism, she aspires to work in a medium where she can use these online tools. Joiner found her love for alternative forms of storytelling after completing her undergraduate education at Jackson State University in her hometown of Jackson, Miss.

While surfing the Web, she developed a distinct interest in multiple ways to tell a news story. Seeing video packages on websites like The Washington Post, she thought, “Wow, I wish I could do that!”

The recent graduate of American University applied to the New York Times Student Journalism Institute to work with seasoned professionals. She was excited to have the opportunity to visit New Orleans and perfect her craft.

“I’ve always been carefree,” Joiner said, “but I knew I wanted to be a journalist early on in life. I always loved watching the news.”

She describes herself as a curious, persistent and driven journalist, who is inspired most when covering stories about ordinary people.

She’s also an optimist. She said she was not worried about the economic challenges facing the news industry.

“Journalism will always be here,” she said, “just in different forms.”

When asked what drives her, however, she seemed at a loss for words. “It’s just something,” she said, with a grin.

Success, she said simply, is setting a goal and reaching it.

– Myeisha Essex

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