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Interview by Leah Hansen (School of Journalism '16).

Scaachi Koul is a senior culture writer at BuzzFeed and the author of ."

Did anything about the industry surprise you after you got out of j-school, or was it pretty much what you were expecting it to be?

The industry is bad. And I kind of knew it was bad. I didn鈥檛 know it was this bad. But it鈥檚 bad in a lot of directions. Where it can feel very difficult particularly as a female, and on top of it, as a non-White female, (is) to try to traverse in this industry. It鈥檚 not to say that other industries aren鈥檛 also bad, but this one in particular I think has some really bad qualities. I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 anything that surprised me, but I think it鈥檚 hard and when you鈥檙e in school, I think a lot of people tell you not to do it and it鈥檚 irritating and you think, 鈥渢hat can鈥檛 be true.鈥� And then you graduate. I wouldn鈥檛 say that you shouldn鈥檛 do it, but you really need to think about it.

Can you explain what you mean by 鈥渂ad鈥� and some of the difficulties you鈥檝e faced?

There鈥檚 a big boys club in journalism, I don鈥檛 think that鈥檚 a surprise to anybody. I鈥檝e had some really unfortunate and interesting run-ins with it and I think that was maybe a bit of a surprise. I didn鈥檛 realize how it manifested itself. And I graduated when I was 21, so that鈥檚 pretty young. I didn鈥檛 really know how that stuff affects you on a day-to-day basis, so that鈥檚 kind of been an interesting education. And I think the older I get, the more surprised I am by how many women sort of expect the mentorship from me. Just because I still kind of think I鈥檓 a doofus and no one should ask me for anything, I get kind of confused when someone asks me for something. But then I kind of remember (being) 19 and looking at journalists who were 26 and sort of wanting them to help me. So I鈥檓 also kind of surprised at the responsibility that comes with getting anywhere. I don鈥檛 mean to say that I鈥檓 not happy to offer advice, but that everything I say should be taken with a grain of salt because I鈥檓 a doofus.

What advice would you offer young journalists now?

I think you should find things that you think are really interesting and that you really want to be involved in and I think you should write about them. Because I think going into types of journalism that you are not super-invested in will kill you. So, it鈥檚 not a lucrative job. It doesn鈥檛 come with a lot of glamour. You get a lot of criticism. It鈥檚 really hard 鈥� at the very least, you should be doing something that you really like doing and that you feel validated by. Apart from that, everybody鈥檚 path into it is going to be very different.

You moved from Hazlitt to BuzzFeed 鈥� how did you come across your position at BuzzFeed?

They had just launched and Craig Silverman, the editor-in-chief, took a meeting with me and asked if I鈥檇 be interested in working there and I said yes. They didn鈥檛 have a job that made any sense for me, so I kind of waited until they could find a place that made sense for me. I鈥檓 not super-clever, so the people here who do Buzz content, I鈥檓 in awe of them because I鈥檓 not that kind of funny. And they can put stuff together so fast that鈥檚 so universal and so clever and it鈥檚 really enjoyable to read and I can鈥檛 do that. And I鈥檓 also a terrible news reporter, so that didn鈥檛 make sense for me within the institution. So it took us a little while and they were sort of able to figure something out that made sense for both of us. I鈥檝e only been here about a month so I still feel like a bit of a Bambi.

What would you say that j-school gave you in terms of skills, or preparing for the future?

I think the best thing journalism school probably did was expose me to certain people who have been very gracious in helping me. I鈥檝e never gotten anything in this industry without knowing somebody who has tried to help me out and I readily acknowledge that, so I think that鈥檚 probably the best thing I got from that.

When you first enrolled in journalism school, did your vision of where you wanted to be in four years change at all, or are you pretty much where you wanted to be?

I think I applied wanting to be a news reporter. I was 17 when I started journalism school and I think I must have been 16 when I applied and I think I wanted to be a newspaper reporter, like a hard news reporter, and I think I had very high aspirations about noble investigative pieces. I don鈥檛 think I anticipated that I would one day be writing butt jokes for the internet and find that very fulfilling. So, yeah. I guess things change. I don鈥檛 know, you kind of have to let that happen.

Can you pinpoint a certain time when your goals started to change?

I think I kind of realized that I wasn鈥檛 very good at being a news reporter. I write long-form, but that to me is more about telling a larger story and there鈥檚 so much context in it. So, I was never really good at finding interesting pieces of information and presenting them in a certain way. I feel like so much of my life is me being like, 鈥淚 can鈥檛 do that, therefore I won鈥檛.鈥� I think it was more a function of that. I鈥檓 not really sure that there was a moment, I think I just kind of realized what I was good at and decided I would keep doing that.

You mentioned that your position at BuzzFeed is really fulfilling. Can you elaborate on that?

It鈥檚 fulfilling to work at an outlet that is incredibly diverse and that allows the people that they hire to do what they鈥檙e good at. A lot of places I don鈥檛 think do that 鈥� maybe they don鈥檛 have the freedom, maybe they don鈥檛 know how, but it鈥檚 great to work at a place where you can kind of go up to somebody and say, 鈥淚 have an idea that I know doesn鈥檛 totally make sense, but trust me.鈥� And they let you do that. There鈥檚 a lot of autonomy, which is comforting. And it鈥檚 also kind of nice to work at a place where they accept and understand the community that is the Internet. I think a lot of other places tend to try to fight against it, and are trying to appeal to it but they don鈥檛 really know how. I think BuzzFeed鈥檚 a really interesting example of a place that looks at the Internet like a small city, who kind of all know some inside jokes and know the same sort of things. and appealing to them like a good group of people and not like a terrifying swamp of snake people that they can鈥檛 understand.

I loved [the university]. I loved the journalism program. My sweetest friends are all from that program, but I would say overwhelmingly that I鈥檝e learned on the job. That鈥檚 the best way you鈥檙e going to learn anything.

Grads at Work is an occasional series of profiles of alums. If you know of a notable grad you鈥檇 like to see featured, send us an email at office.journalism@torontomu.ca.