Alumni have encouraged Leeds Trinity University students to take a “hands-on approach” in their degrees.
Joe Drabble, Iasmina Ionescu, Phil Towers and Haleema Saheed represented LTU graduates at the Journalism Alumni Panel for Journalism & Media Week. All four spoke positively of their experience at the university and cited the “practical side” of their journalism degrees as key to kickstarting their careers.
“What was so good about doing the course here was just how practical everything is,” said Towers, who believed that it prepared him for his career. “When you get into the journalism industry… you’ve really got to hit the ground running.”
Towers finished his MA Journalism degree in 2024 and Drabble graduated in 2007 with a BA in Sports Journalism. Saheed and Ionescu had their BA Journalism courses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic but still managed to achieve first-class honours. Since then, the alumni have carved out successful careers in journalism and marketing.
Drabble has been a Sky Sports producer for over 17 years, and Towers is a newsreader for BBC Radio Leeds, Radio News Hub and BBC Radio Humberside. Ionescu is a copywriter and content strategist at creative marketing agency Brawl whose clients include Johnson & Johnson. Saheed is an ITV production journalist and founder of podcast Hijabi Culture, a podcast that began initially as her third-year university project.
“It was about showcasing the stories of Hijab-wearing women who are going above and beyond”, said Haleema, with her aim being to challenge stereotypes surrounding the Hijab in the media. During her time at LTU, Saheed also gained valuable reporting experience from her course’s career placement with Halifax Courier. Her passion for reporting would eventually lead to her working in the newsrooms at ITN and ITV.
After graduation, Hijabi Culture remained a passion project for Saheed. She transformed the platform into a podcast that is available on all major platforms such as Spotify and Apple. “We celebrated five years this year,” said Saheed, “Had I gone to a different university, I probably wouldn’t have come out the way I did and managed to get all the experiences and everything that’s come from being a Leeds Trinity student.”
Ionescu agreed with Saheed and said even though she has gone into marketing, being an LTU graduate has been beneficial to her career. “We left with such a big portfolio of work,” said Ionescu, “What I learnt in journalism is what made me be the writer I am today”.
The panel also discussed overcoming career obstacles such as burn-out and finding long-term roles. They advised that keeping a routine and setting boundaries is essential for work-life balance, and not to be discouraged by failure.
Joe Drabble said that he struggled to find permanent work for six months post-graduation but encouraged students to not lose hope. “You’re gonna take a few knocks when you finish but I look back at that period and I’m so pleased I kept going,” said Drabble.