By Ava Partridge and Olivia Sperbeck
A Discover the World of Communications alumna reflected Saturday on her path from student to professional digital producer.
Bri Crummy, 23, attended DWC in Summer 2015, and initially discovered her passion for reporting by accident.
She stumbled upon an elective journalism course in high school and proceeded to explore summer programs in journalism. Wanting to go to college in Washington, D.C., Crummy found the DWC program at American University.
“Being in D.C. and in that environment really struck home that that was where I wanted to be, and politics was what I wanted to be working in,” Crummy said in an interview.
Crummy continued her journalistic career at American University, where she majored in journalism and worked as a writer and editor of The Eagle, a student publication on campus. While her time at The Eagle came with sacrifices, Crummy felt her experience at the newspaper was more valuable than anything she was giving up.
For Crummy, having the responsibility of disseminating information on campus was difficult but satisfying. The experience of being the messenger of information on campus developed Crummy’s passion for reporting.
Being promoted to managing editor of The Eagle came as an unexpected validation of Crummy’s work.
“Knowing that other people believed in me kind of kept me in journalism,” Crummy said.
As a sophomore, Crummy got the opportunity to be in an advanced journalism course in which she became the primary contact between the class and NBC Washington. By making connections at NBC, Crummy eventually became an intern for NBC Washington in 2018 and landed an editorial internship at Forbes in 2019.
In February 2020, NBC Washington asked Crummy to fill in full-time as a digital content producer. Soon after she started the job, the country was forced into quarantine.
The pandemic brought emotionally devastating news cycles without the collaborative atmosphere of a newsroom. Crummy said she worked alone on Saturdays and Sundays, and she was responsible for all online content.
“It felt like a really big burden to bear,” Crummy said. “I had this sense of impending doom and sense of anxiety welling up inside of me the entire time I was at NBC.”
In August 2020, NBC Washington let Crummy go, which she called a “double-edged sword.” While it forced her into a job hunt in the middle of a pandemic, it also lifted the weight of such a demanding position.
In the beginning of 2021, Crummy and her two friends, Alexis Arnold and Mariah Espada, were inspired to start the Journeys to Journos podcast. It was important to share their experiences entering the journalism industry, as they believed much of that information could be subject to gate keeping in the competitive journalism community.
In Fall 2020, Crummy heard from a friend at The Eagle that there was a job opening at POLITICO. She seized the opportunity to apply, and they hired her as a digital producer.
Hearing about the job at POLITICO through a friend demonstrated to Crummy the importance of a network of peers in the journalism industry. While networking with peers opens up job opportunities, she believes its primary value lies in building a support system.
“They’re the people really in the thick of it with you and are going to pull you along, and you’re going to do it for them,” Crummy said.
Crummy said that sticking with the people she met along her journalism path has been valuable, and that she suggests all young journalists do the same.
It was at the DWC program that Crummy became interested in attending American University. Through her connection with DWC professor Margot Susca, Crummy arranged to sit in on a college class and then she fell in love with the school.
Sarah Menke-Fish, associate professor at American University and founder and director of DWC, described the program as “a safe place you can have a failure.” Menke-Fish explained a primary value of DWC is in the relationships and community formed within the program.
“Our answer to students was ‘yes’ and not ‘no,’” Menke-Fish said. “‘Yes you can, yes you should, yes you must.’”
That’s a message that has inspired other students, too.
Gabriel Ferris, a 2017 DWC student, believes that the connections he made with professors during his time in the program have aided him at American University. Ferris has also found other DWC alumni working at The Eagle.
“The DWC kids all sort of find each other somehow some way,” Ferris said.
Crummy worked her way up to become a DWC teaching assistant in 2017. Just as Crummy found community and resources at DWC, she became a mentor for other DWC students, including Ferris.
He reaches out to her frequently for career advice and guidance.
“I always look to Brianna for advice and just a friendly smile,” Ferris said.
Bri Crummy graduated from American University. Photo courtesy of Crummy.