Journalist Meg Purtell, who embraces innovation and runs towards change, is the inaugural recipient of the Women in Media Queensland 2020 $5000 Career Boost Scholarship.
At a packed Women in Media event to celebrate International Women’s Day, she was announced as the first recipient of the funding, which she will use to study three units in an Enterprise Leadership Program at QUT.
Here is a Q&A with the worthy recipient.
Why did you apply?
As someone who landed in journalism without a university degree, I had always had a desire to study but I wasn’t sure what that might look like since my career was already well established and it didn’t seem useful to study journalism from scratch.
A lovely female colleague sent me the advertisement for the Women in Media Queensland Career Boost Scholarship and suggested I apply so I started looking into courses and came across QUT’s Graduate Certificate in Business (Enterprise Leadership).
The course offers a range of subjects and I particularly liked the idea of being able to select the modules that would be most relevant to my working experience and future job prospects.
What do you hope to achieve?
I will be working towards a Graduate Certificate in Business (Enterprise Leadership) over the course of 2020.
I’m really looking forward to being able to use what I learn in my day to day role with the ABC and within the wider Women in Media network in Queensland. I will need to get my study routine sorted though after spending so many years pushing last-minute deadlines in newsrooms – although maybe that’s to my advantage!
How will you share with other women in media so they can benefit as well?
It is an incredible privilege to be given such an amazing opportunity to study by Women in Media Queensland through their Career Boost Scholarship.
I’m not only looking forward to using what I learn in my Graduate Certificate in the workplace but also as an ambassador for other mid-career women in Queensland media.
I’m blessed to be surrounded by very supportive women in my life and I would like to be able to provide that same mentoring to others.
Being at the halfway point of your career can be tricky but having others so willing to share their wisdom and experience so freely has been invaluable to me and I too would like to provide this opportunity to others on their career journey.
Can you describe a career move that proved life-changing?
After spending my first five years as a journalist in commercial radio I was then employed by the ABC.
As soon as I started I felt like I had arrived home amongst family and friends. I have had some incredible opportunities over the past 14 years and have continued to learn and grow so much over that time.
As we enter a new era in the media landscape with the evolution of new technology, I am so excited by the possibilities I can help bring to life through innovations in broadcast media.
What is your life motto?
My life motto is a combination of “don’t sweat the small stuff” and “kindness matters”.
In the fast-paced world of the 24/7 news cycle it’s easy for us to get caught up in all the bad there is in the world but there is also plenty of good as well.
I don’t worry about the day to day annoyances that life can sometimes throw our way but instead save my time and energy for the things that really matter the most.
I’m also a big believer that small things can make a big difference and that one small act of kindness can really change someone’s day, even if you don’t necessarily know it at the time. It costs nothing to be kind, but means everything.