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After graduating in 2009 with a Journalism degree Lisa found herself in the “real world.” She describes her entry as “less then glamorous.” She spent the summer after graduation painting houses in her hometown. By August, she decided that she wanted to relocate to Portland. She attended a networking event put on by the UO Career Center Portland that summer; from there she decided to re-strategize, regroup and focus on networking.  

Currently, Lisa holds several different jobs in the Portland area. Her job titles include law assistant (Troy, Rosenberg & Wolfe, PC), editor (Haberdashers Magazine) and social media specialist (international women’s non-profit organization, The Global Kitchen).

Lisa found her law assistant job through a post that her friend made on Facebook. Although she doesn’t intend to pursue a career in law, she values the work environment and experience. Through working in the law office she has gained experience with multi-generational coworkers as well as experience in social justice cases, which piques her interest as a writer.

As an editor for Haberdashers Magazine she has found herself working alongside six other UO School of Journalism and Communication graduates, where she continues to build her writing skills and experience. 

She found her social media position at The Global Kitchen on idealist.org. Lisa, a Women and Gender Studies minor, finds working for a women’s non-profit personally rewarding and has met two of her favorite journalists, Nick Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, through the position. 

Advice Lisa gives to upcoming and recent graduates is to relish in the possibility. She encourages them to seize job opportunities they wouldn't have necessarily pursued, even if they aren't directly related to their field or career direction. You never know where these positions will lead. She also recommends that grads volunteer for organizations related to their field and interests. 

Although Lisa holds three job positions in Portland, she has plans to eventually move to Mexico to teach English for a year. She has also contemplated moving back to Mississippi, where she interned for a summer, to take a position working for a newspaper there. Lisa says she is okay with the ambiguity of her future plans and when they will happen. She says, “We’ll see where the adventures lead.”

To learn more about our alumni career services in Portland, give us a call at (503)412-3701 or e-mail careerpdx@uoregon.edu.