Exposed/UnLTD Magazine

In October 2024, I joined the Exposed/UnLTD team as an Intern writer. I produced a lot of content for both their website and physical print editions, including top picks and recommendations for places in the city, and rewritten press releases. 

I was also given the chance to carry out my own interviews for articles that were published. Some interviews include a woman who was offering free dot tattoo removals for cancer survivors, Shaun Doane of the Everly Pregnant Brothers, and Dexter Johnstone of CycleSheffield.

The interview with Dexter was actually part of my wider piece on whether or not Sheffield should introduce a rental bike scheme and was published in the November issue of UnLTD. Other published articles include my City Views piece, which features an exploration into my own personal experiences with Sheffield. 

I ensured all stories were fit for the Exposed brand, and SEO was always a top priority. I was also heavily involved in proofreading pages of the physical magazine, a task which I excelled in and led to the detection a few key mistakes. 

(You can read the web version of my bike article here.)

This Ability: Adaptability in the UK

Written as part of an assessment on producing features. I discovered this blind baseball team and thought it would be an extremely interesting sport to cover. I made contact and, although I did not hear back for many weeks, eventually managed to organise a date and time to meet and inteview.

I went down to Sheffield's Royal Society for the Blind and interviewed three members of the team - however only two interviews made it into the final piece. 

I put it all together on Shorthand, to make it read more engaging and immersive.

You can read the piece here.

Forge Press

The Optimist

For the final semester of my university degree, I, alsongside a team of 8 other hard-working journalists, produced a magazine brand. We researched, planned, and built the brand as if it were something real, and produced stories for it that aligned with it's values. 

Our brand, 'The Optimist' highlights the ordinary people doing extraordinary things and takes a constructive approach to news. 

To adhere to its values I produced stories highlighting Heroes of Hope - a charity in the UAE set up by one dedicated woman, Tim Friede - A man who injected himself with snake venom to create a universal anti-venom, and many more. 

You can find all my stories here: https://theoptimistmagazine.co.uk/author/joa21zd/

Third Culture Crisis

As part of my final project at University, I was tasked with developing a 'print project' - a 4000 word feature piece that follows the guidelines and themes of a real publication. I chose to create my piece for The Guardian, using InDesgin to mimic the G2 Features pullout section of the physical editions. 

My piece is an exploration into what it means to be a Third Culture Kid - using expert voices (like from Ruth Van Reken - a leading researcher in the field), and more 'regular' stories to create a balance between an informative, educational, and relatable piece. 

I have always been intrerested in the topic of Third Culture kids and, as one myself, have always been dissapointed in the lack of content and information out there about them. That's what inspired me to begin the project in the first place - to help educate people on this growing group of individuals, and to let readers know about the completely unique experience they all seem to share.

In the end, I received a first on this piece.