When Myeisha Essex enrolled at Bennett College for Women in the fall of 2007, she set out to pursue a career in broadcast journalism. A year later, after taking a few courses in the field, she had a change of heart.

The 21-year-old native of Southern California said she found the technical aspects of broadcast less than appealing. So she switched her major to focus on print reporting. And after doing a summer internship at a radio station outside Los Angeles, she was sure she had done the right thing.

While working in radio, she recalled, “I was more concerned of what was being said instead of how to say it.”

She added, “I’d rather just write.”

Still, although she may have moved back and forth between print and broadcast, Essex has been sure that she wanted to be a journalist from an early age. Raised in Cerritos, her interest in the profession started to develop as soon as she was able to read.

While her grandparents would peruse The Los Angeles Times, they would hand sections to her. They started with the comics. And before long, Essex was delving into the hard news sections, which she said showed her that there was more to journalism than pretty prose.

“Without journalists,” she said, “people could really do whatever they want to do, and there would be no checks and balances.”

Years later, she’s still as driven. In addition to honing her writing skills, Essex has also developed an interest in design. During her upcoming senior year, she will continue to serve as the creative director of Belle Magazine, a publication devoted to stories about life at the Bennett campus.

When Essex introduced herself at the New York Times Student Journalism Institute, her description of Bennett evoked images of a small village. There are some 700 students. Everyone knows everyone else.

And, in an interview, Essex said that with only a handful of other people working at Belle Magazine, she had been called on to do everything from laying out pages to developing the logo.

“I didn’t realize at the time that that’s really significant,” she said, “because who can say they’ve been able to build a magazine from scratch?”

An earlier version of this article gave an incorrect birthplace for Essex, and incorrectly described her tenure as creative director of Belle Magazine.

– Rosa Warren

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