I might just be speaking to myself here, but if even one person sees this and it helps, that’s all that matters. I’m always here for a chat and happy to receive any advice as I'm still learning, too! 💫

It’s the best and most privileged job in the world! People let me tell their stories and invite me into their lives and that’s something I never take for granted. Next week, I have my biggest and most exciting reporting trip to date and I feel like I'm just getting started.

As my housemate said the other day: "You have to work to get work, then work, then work to get paid for that work." Lol. It’s genuinely draining and can be demoralising to spend so much just doing your job. But despite all that, I love it.

But the topline is (aside from being good at what you do!) that tenacity, friendliness and hard work go a long way. None of my work has come from luck. All hard work. For example, to get shifts at one place, I emailed every month for six months. Don't give up!

I often get messages from young journalists or students asking for advice and I’m always more than happy to chat — especially with those from less privileged backgrounds. I’m not sure how much I can help since I still need advice myself, but I’m always happy to try 🥰.

I'm so lucky to have an incredible support system, but I didn’t go to private school and my parents are nurses. I’ve worked very hard to get here, yet I still don’t feel like I’m where I want to be.

In November, I went to Cambodia. The charity covered all expenses except my spending money, which was a huge boon. I made £1,400 in commissions (minus about £300 in expenses, so £1,100), which was more than I would have earned from two weeks of shifts. So I was thrilled!

Payments were also delayed (sadly, standard in the industry). I’m V lucky to have a supportive partner who helps offset income irregularities. This isn’t the case for everyone, but it’s important for transparency. Plus, with 3 of us in a 2-bed, our London rent is unusually cheap.

It's shocking to be paid just £200 for a dispatch from a hostile environment (less than my insurance cost)! I'm grateful to the charity that helped fund part of the trip, but I spent £1,300 and earned only £400. To compensate, I took extra shifts and ended up burning out.

My first reporting trip to Iraq was incredible for my portfolio and proved I could report abroad after years of remote. Especially from the Middle East — a region I’ve built up so much love and knowledge of and contacts in. But financially, it was a loss.

But I’ve learnt SO MUCH. A year ago, I had no idea how to edit audio and had never done a producing shift before, now, I can do both of those things and do so for the World Service 😇.

Comparison truly is the thief of joy. Despite a great year of growth and opportunities (while based in London), I feel I should be producing bigger stories. It's why I’ve only gone on foreign trips with NGOs, as I couldn’t afford it on my own at this stage in my career.

My work output is still very much shift-based and not story-led. I spend 3-5 days a week in an office, either producing or reporting. There are no big investigations because financially, I cannot spend time doing pre-reporting with no guarantee of income.

I also had major knee surgery in January, stymieing how much I could work — time that would have been six weeks of paid leave if I were employed. I also took holiday in summer to not go insane, which was all unpaid. My highest earning month was £4,600, while my lowest was £963.

When I crunched the numbers, I felt a bit deflated—earning what feels like an average salary has been a real hustle. Some weeks, I juggled 3 newsrooms; others, I worked 50 hours or just 10. It's hard not to be tough on myself, especially when friends earn more in other industries

I left with just two weeks of shifts lined up on the BBC’s Global Story podcast (despite having zero broadcast producing experience) and no real plan beyond that. A year later, I’ve matched my full-time salary of £33K.

Leaving my job was not an easy decision, as I desperately needed financial security. But despite being at a national paper, my career felt stuck. The World News team was disbanded and I was churning out eight articles a day 🙃 with no direction.