Stephanie Ramos, a national correspondent for ABC News, visited Colgate University’s Africana, Latin, Asian and Native American (ALANA) Cultural Center Multipurpose Room to discuss journalism and storytelling on Tuesday, April 8. The talk was intended to appeal to attendees interested in diverse kinds of storytelling, whether that be journalism, film, novels or music.
Dean of Students Dorsey Spencer Jr., an organizer of the event, began the talk by introducing Ramos. In addition to her work in journalism, Ramos is also a major in the U.S. Army Reserves. She occasionally steps in as an anchor for the network’s shows. Ramos started off her TV journalism career in Topeka, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo., reporting for local news outlets.
Ramos opened with a message about the role of limitation in creative endeavors. She emphasized how both time and the scope of a project can serve as helpful limits to being creative.
“Creativity is forged in constraints,” Ramos said. “News is creative work forged with pressure, built on discipline and driven by heart.”
The emphasis on the importance of limitation in the context of creativity particularly resonated with first-year Juhyun Park, who attended the talk because of his storytelling interests in film and music forms.
“I learned to not be afraid of deadlines because they could help push that creativity out of you, since she mentioned that endless time or a totally blank canvas can be intimidating and [take] a lot longer to produce something,” Park said.
Ramos shared in-depth examples of stories she covered to demonstrate how certain limitations took shape in her career. One story in particular that Ramos shared was the disappearance of Vanessa Guillen, a soldier who was originally thought to have gone AWOL, or absent without official leave, but was assaulted and killed by another soldier.
Ramos explained that fostering a connection with sources is important, specifying that a reporter must understand that their sources are people.
“You have to show empathy,” Ramos said. “You can’t just show up with your reporter hat and shove a mic in front of somebody’s face; you have to go into it as a human, as a person.”
On the other hand, Ramos shared how the work can affect the reporters themselves, especially when covering tragedies and getting access to footage of crimes, such as shootings.
“As a journalist, you learn to compartmentalize […]. It’s important to compartmentalize because you’re there to do a job,” Ramos said.
Also in attendance was Kelvin Nuñez, who is a fellow for academic belonging at Hamilton College. Nuñez heard about the event and was interested in the opportunity to connect and grow as a storyteller himself. Nuñez explained how he cemented his interest in storytelling with the potential to make a positive impact on the perspectives of others.
“I realized one day that if I could just make one person consider something about some topic differently after my story, I was set. I was happy with that,” Nuñez said. “It’s really just trying to contribute to someone’s perspective by bringing your thoughts forward.”
Throughout Ramos’s talk, she chronicled her journey toward getting where she wanted to be and telling the stories she thought deserved to be told. She previously worked for local news stations until she landed the opportunity to work at ABC. This perseverance and determination in the process of storytelling stuck with Nuñez as a worthwhile challenge.
“My biggest takeaway is definitely sticking with your main goal,” Nuñez said. “I think that’s what really resonated with me so much, knowing that it’s not going to be ‘A to B.’ You’re going to bounce around a little bit until you are on the path that you really want to be on.”
In addition to the encouragement of pursuing career-oriented goals, Ramos further elaborated on the importance of pursuing journalism since it has the ability to inspire or even create change.
“Journalism is important,” Ramos said. “It matters so much to have people throughout different communities investigating and telling the stories of what’s happening in our country and communities throughout the world to inform others in order to actually make a change.”
Concerning the impact of storytelling at large, Park believes that it’s an important way of illuminating the voices of other people.
“I think it’s a way for people’s voices to get out in the world when they might not necessarily have that power,” Park said. “It’s also a responsibility that people who have that power and gift use it.”
