#MediaMonday – Katarina Kovacevic
Love to travel?
So does Katarina Kovacevic.
So much so, she is making a living out of it as a freelance writer and blogger.
Today, we are pleased to have her as our #MediaMonday profile, and have asked her to share her wild ride into writing as well as her upcoming projects in Arizona and beyond.
(If new to #MediaMonday – it’s a weekly profile of some of our favorite media peeps. A full list of past profiles is available here.)
Katarina, what do you want to tell the blogosphere about yourself today?
November 22 marked my one-year anniversary as an independent content marketing specialist and travel writer/blogger. Today, I am reflecting on how lucky I am to have a job that I love and taking a moment to be grateful for the clients and publications I get to work with.
I’m also just shy of my 26th birthday. Sometimes, when I tell people that, they’re impressed. But I don’t really understand why. What I am doing is quite simple really…the job I wanted didn’t exist full-time anywhere, so I had to create it.
Has it taken a certain amount of courage and determination? Sure. The same is true for any business owner. But mostly, for me, it’s been a small dose of that mixed in with a whole lot of support and good timing. I have a community of family, friends and colleagues who have been kind enough to help me along the way, and I also have no mouth to feed other than my own. Thank you!
So, right now, I am looking for a way to pay it forward. In fact, I am always on the lookout for a way to give back. If you’re a young professional who is a bit unsure of your career path and want someone to bounce ideas off of, my e-mail address is Katarina@redefinedcomm.com. Drop me a note.
On a professional note, I started my career in public relations for the travel industry and then went to work at a local agency. But, writing has always been my number one passion. So, last year, I decided to go for it.
Now, I write about travel and hotels for publications like SheKnows.com, USA Today and Sunset Magazine. My first book, The Food Lover’s Guide to Phoenix & Scottsdale comes out in December. I’m also starting my own blog about fashionable travel and look forward to sharing that with all of you when it is live.
I also get to work with companies on fun things like their content strategy. I’ve worked with agencies, small businesses and corporations on blogging efforts, advertorials, newsletters, brochures and more.
As we wrap up 2011, I am looking forward to an exciting New Year in the media industry. Specifically, I am willing to buy a 10-year subscription to the first Arizona newspaper that realizes slashing departments might help in the short term, but it will fail in the long term.
Eventually, consumers will catch on to the secret we in the media have been trying to keep for so long – that they can get the same stories in national newspapers and that blogs and online publications oftentimes break news before traditional media. It’s time to make quality content and reporting a priority over the bottom line.
Easy for me to say? Probably. I don’t own a newspaper and am not responsible for anyone else’s paycheck.
But we can’t keep denying this one simple fact: consumers have limited funds and they would rather spend their money on quality products with a lot of value. At a conference I attended recently, a futurist by the name of Faith Popcorn said something that really stuck with me:
“Consumers buy brands. Human beings join brands.”
Perfect. Now, what do we do with this information?
