When Monique Johnson was only 6, her second-grade teacher pulled her aside and said she’d been nominated to attend a gifted writer’s program at a local high school. It was an honor Monique hasn’t forgotten in the 24 years since.

“Even in my days of doubt, I go back to that memory and remember it was always in me,” said Johnson. “So why should I doubt myself now?”

Born in May 1984 to a Jamaican family, Monique joined an older sister and grew up in the ethnically and economically diverse neighborhoods of Toronto. It was in those neighborhoods that Johnson gained insight into the lives of both the rich and poor and where she discovered her passion for journalism.

“When I was about 15, I was walking home from school with a friend and a police car jumped the curb,” said Johnson. “The officer jumped out of his car and pointed his gun at us. I was terrified.”

Johnson cites this experience as key to solidifying her interest in journalism.

“I was traumatized by that and if it was like that for me, I can’t imagine what it’s like for the people that go through that all the time,” Johnson said. “That’s why I want to do this. People need to tell their stories.”

Before that, Johnson describes a childhood during which her parents stressed the importance of understanding the world through the news.

“I grew up watching the news with my family — it was a house rule,” said Johnson. “When the 6 o’clock news came on, we had to stop whatever we were doing and sit down and watch the news.”

After earning her undergraduate degree at York University in Toronto, Monique moved on to graduate school at the University of Western Ontario, where she will receive a master’s in journalism in June.

Johnson hopes to use the skills she’s honing at the New York Times Institute to become a producer of longer, newsmagazine pieces on shows like “20/20” or “60 Minutes.”

– Bolanle Omisore

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