Alumni Spotlight - Nashika Stanbro

When Nashika Stanbro chose to attend EvCC, she was a working parent desiring a new career. After submitting an English paper, her professor suggested she consider writing for a living. "I thought he was joking," she says. Nashika began writing about activities on campus, some in connection with the Diversity and Equity Center. "Events like these awoke a passion in me to encourage youth to pursue their educational goals," she reflects. Nashika earned a direct transfer degree with an emphasis in journalism and media communication and later graduated from WSU Everett. Now a public information specialist for Community Transit, she observes, "With an educational background in communication, there are plenty of opportunities to write in a professional setting or use the same tools to bring about positive changes in one's community."

What is your current occupation/career?

My current occupation/title is public information specialist, representing Community Transit. My role is primarily media relations and external communications. I'm still rather new, but some current projects I am working on are around fostering relationships with the media and building a reporting system to monitor the impact of our external communication. I also write press releases and stories for our newsletters. We have a Facebook Live event monthly called Community Transit Live, and I'm moderating the social media questions and comments for that. I'm having a lot of fun and I find the world of transit to be very fascinating. 

How did you choose EvCC? 

I chose EvCC because its local. In fact, because EvCC was so close to where I live and worked, I was able to take classes on a long lunch or right after work. I was also looking ahead at my next steps and the fact that the Everett University Center was on campus at the time, made EvCC an attractive option for me.

Do you think your time at EvCC helped you pursue your current career?

As a non-traditional student (older and a parent), I was working full-time and considering making a career change. I was working in healthcare in health information management and corporate compliance and wanted to create an educational pathway that would exploit my skill set, passions and previous work experience. While I was working on prerequisites, I took English 101. After I submitted my final paper, my professor asked to meet with me. He told me that I should consider writing for a living, and I thought he was joking. I always loved writing, but I kept hearing people say that journalism was dead. He gave several examples of how people can make a decent living using their writing skills, like copywriting or corporate communication. That conversation literally changed the course of my life. From that point, I began taking journalism classes and making plans with an advisor to earn a DTA to transfer into the Integrated Strategic Communication program at WSU-Everett. 

While I was at EvCC, in my journalism courses, I wrote a few stories about activities on campus. Some of those activities were in connection with the Diversity and Equity Center. Having a resource like this on campus was really important and allowed me to get involved with EvCC as well as the community in a meaningful way. I participated in events like MLK Day and the Students of Color Career Conference. These kinds of events awoke a passion in me to encourage youth in my community to pursue their educational goals in any way that I can. As an alumna, I still volunteer for events like these and find new ways to connect and give back.

What did you do after you left or graduated from EvCC?

After I graduated from EvCC, I transferred to WSU Everett, where I majored in Integrated Strategic Communication and minored in Environmental Science. The transition was smooth and I felt well prepared for rigorous university classes. I didn't have to go too far, because at the time WSU was on the main campus. WSU is technically still on the campus, just across the street on Broadway now. There at WSU, I really learned to grow as an effective communicator and was given plenty of  opportunities to write, moderate panels and speak publicly at events. All of those experiences were building on the fundamental skills that I learned at EvCC. I graduated from WSU in May 2018 and worked on campus there in Student Services over the summer. 

I began working for Community Transit in September. What I love about Community Transit is that it really is an agency that is focused on the community and connecting people to the places they live, work and visit. Working in my own community was extremely important to me while I was job searching after graduation. There is a school of thought that after you graduate, you should take whatever job you are offered. That wasn't going to work for me. As someone who had plenty of professional experience, I didn't want to waste time or have a long commute, so I only applied for positions that were community focused and local. I was very selective. Working at Community Transit checked a lot of boxes for me in that I could use my previous work experience, my education and my passion for connecting with the community.

Was there anyone during your time at EvCC who acted as a mentor for you?

I took a few journalism classes with Professor T. Andrew Wahl and began working with him as my advisor. As a former journalist, he was instrumental in teaching me to write within the guidelines set for journalism without losing my writing style. He was also very easy to meet with, even after graduation. He was there to discuss things like career pathways and researching salary information. I guess the best way to sum it up, is that I felt like he was invested in my success. My one regret is that I didn't get the opportunity (due to my work schedule), to write for the newspaper, The Clipper. That would have been both fun and valuable.

What words of advice would you give to current EvCC students?

I would tell current EvCC students: If you are interested in journalism, don't get bogged down with the whole journalism is dead thing. It's not how I choose to look at things, journalism has changed and now we have things like brand journalism and blogging that are effective tools for reaching target audiences. Journalism may look differently than it once did, but there are plenty of opportunities to use those skills in a professional setting or in your community to bring about positive change. If you have the chance, write for The Clipper and find ways to get involved on campus that are meaningful and beneficial to you.