Each month AWC Austin highlights one very special member making a difference in the communications industry in Austin, Texas. On a cool November evening, we met Joshunda Sanders, writer and journalist for more than fifteen years, at Cenote (rumored to be one of the sets where Ryan Gosling was recently filming!) Joshunda is a brilliant communicator, and a fantastic example of how success can be achieved in the face of adversity. Please take a minute to meet Joshunda.
AWC Austin: Hi Joshunda. So, we’re dying to know: how did a Bronx native wind up living in Austin, Texas?
JS: It’s kind of a long story. I went to boarding school in upstate New York and then Vassar, where I studied journalism. After graduation, I accepted a fellowship with Hearst Newspapers, which was a golden opportunity to learn the business before joining the industry.
I moved every six months for two years. My first rotation was in Houston, Texas, where I learned how to drive for the first time at age 22. I definitely got lost a lot and even wound up in a couple of minor accidents. This was a growth period for me: becoming an adult, adjusting to a full time job with the Houston Chronicle, and on top of it all, learning all this stuff that Texans did! After a short stint at the Beaumont Enterprise, my time in Texas came to an end.
I left for Seattle, Washington where I began my third rotation the day before September 11, 2001. As you can imagine, I primarily wrote about the war on terror, with a focus on the military bases in the area.
My last rotation was in San Francisco and I was hired on full time from 2002-2005. However, a desire to be closer to the East coast, and a familiarity of with Austin, drew me back to Texas. Newspaper advertising structures were starting to fail because of the Internet, and subscriptions were going down. I decided I wanted to fulfill a lifelong ambition to become a librarian. I’d always loved libraries, and I was ready to try something different. I attended library school at the University of Texas School of Information (ranked #1 when I applied). The program was highly competitive, placing emphasis on digital information, online archiving, the ins and outs of metadata, search terms, and more.
Soon after, it just so happened that Before I left California, I applied for a job at the Austin American-Statesman had a job opening. I and I began working there in July 2005 in a number of different capacities until 2011.
AWC Austin: As the digital era was quickly taking shape, what was it like working for a traditional newspaper on the west coast?
JS: Working in the Bay Area, I was in the midst of the technology/digital boom, where companies like Craigslist were based and taking off. I could see how the web was influencing my generation, but many people I worked with in newspapers were significantly older. Several were and still are adaptable, but the newspaper follows an old business model: print first in a web-first world.
In the 24/7 media landscape, how do we do that? How do we create value for readers and also reward those who have been in the business for 30+ years? How do we reward them and pay them well if they’re just writing one story a month? How do we deliver quality, hyper local content when our newspaper is essentially old news before it reaches peoples doorsteps? I didn’t have an answer for that.
At the time, COX Cox Enterprises were working on it from an executive level. It became one of the most web-savvy newspapers I worked for. This revelation ultimately led to my next step.
AWC Austin: Tell us about your transition from the paper industry, to your current career as a freelance writer.
JS: I work really hard to cultivate happiness and avoid being jealous and greedy. I found I really envied my newspaper colleagues who had taken buyouts. I knew people who were doing what they really loved full time and I thought, “I want to be like that when I grow up.” But, I realized I was already grown! I was afraid and scared, but after working three jobs, I finally saved enough money to create my own business.
I decided I wanted to leverage many of the skills I’d learned. I was a lecturer at UT at the School of Journalism for four semesters. I began doing outsourced writing and media critiques for organizations such as like the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education.
I’ve always been a huge social media fan. I learned about Twitter in 2008 during library school and the VA Virginia Tech shootings. So, I taught myself to be someone who is familiar with how to brand people as social media savvy-writers and freelancers.
The goal of my business really is for me to have a platform where I can help other writers figure out how do you do “this stuff.” I guide people, like me, who are transitioning from newspapers and traditional journalism, or those who are just afraid to write/blog/tweet as a writer, and how to balance saying too much versus too little.
It’s a clearinghouse for content of all kinds: feminism, social justice and content creation. I don’t have an advertising infrastructure for my website at the moment, so it’s more followers through social media (Twitter/Facebook/Pinterest), so my business is community-oriented. People find me through word of mouth or LinkedIn. I’m now launching a book in January 2013 called Single and Happy.
AWC Austin: Describe a day in the life of Joshunda Sanders:
JS: I typically have at least one cup of coffee before I get online. My days usually include meditation and running with my dog (on days when I’m being responsible). Beyond that, it varies! I might have an interview scheduled during the day for a freelance assignment; I might be reading a book for a book review. I spend an hour or two writing, but the majority of my day is dedicated to my the business and promotion of writing. I operate out of my home office but most of the writing gets done at my 10-year-old IKEA kitchen table.
I regularly update Buffer, the tool that I use to update my social media platforms. I might get on Pinterest/Instagram if I need a break from words, and I am always checking email. When I get oversaturated with information, I simply step away from the computer. Occasionally, I edit by hand.
AWC Austin: Would you say that women are a key theme in your published pieces? Are there any additional key themes?
JS: BITCH Bitch magazine, a publication focused on feminist responses to popular culture, is a place publication I’ve been writing for a long time. Texas is a conservative state, so it makes sense, but there’s a general angst about the word “feminist” here that I find curious.
I was raised by a single mother. Most of my champions and mentors have been women. I’ve had some key mentors who are men and I love them, and I’m sort of boy crazy in general (laughs), but generally I get so much strength and feedback and support from women that end up being very woman identified in my work. I tend to write about people of color. I grew up poor so I like to write about class and race. I sort of analyze gender issues and relationships in popular culture.
My mom had mental health issues: She was bipolar, manic-depressive, and had borderline personality disorder, all of both which were untreated. Some of the symptoms included euphoria, excessive spending, living in fantasy world, and paying bills inconsistently. My mom never took medication. She lived life on her own terms and did what she wanted to do. It led to some pretty traumatic abuse.
I went to a dozen different schools when I was little in NYC. We were nomads: sometimes we lived in shelters, other times hotels, and moved around a ton. It was really rough, but after finding school and books, I realized I wanted to write from a young age. At age 12, I decided I wanted to be a writer (I kept a journal and wrote every day). For me I had a safe space in my notebook. It meant that I could be a nerd in the library and hang out after school, read Sweet Valley High, Babysitters Club and Judy Blume novels.
School was a place of salvation for me. Teachers and administrators told me I could go really far if I didn’t give up. After my 6th grade teacher gave me an application, I got into De La Salle Academy, an academy school for gifted students on the Upper West Side. I received financial assistance through a program called A Better Chance for minority students from a disadvantaged background. Going to Emma Willard was a total shock. It was a beautiful, serene, stable place, and there were a lot of students from International schools and a long list of famous alumni: Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Jane Fonda, for example. It was a completely different world than I was accustomed to.
I became very active in school and extracurricular activities. My commitment to writing helped attract offers for scholarships. After graduation, I attended Vassar. My mom was in the Bronx during this time. She didn’t really want me to go, but the alternative wasn’t a safe place for me. At some point I had to tell her, ‘I have to live my life. I want to take care of you and want you to be well, but you won’t cooperate, so I have to go make my life.’ It was a difficult decision, but she respected it.
My mom passed away in January of 2012. She had cervical cancer and she was one of the reasons that I left my full time job (Joshunda took leave in Oct ’11 to take care of her mother in Philadelphia). Mortality really makes you rethink your path and what really matters to you in life.
AWC Austin: We’d love a sneak preview about your first book: Single & Happy. What can readers expect when they pick up a copy of your book? When/where will it be available?
JS: It’s my first book and I’m self-publishing it. When I turned 25, I realized a lot of my friends were getting married and having kids. It was right after the big 2000 census in 2010 came out that I started seeing these stories about successful black women being the largest percentage of unmarried adult married. The single black woman meme: they’re unmarried because they’re too independent, make too much money and intimidate men (whatever that means). Now we’re starting to see that a lot of women fall under this category. I started getting invited to weddings and baby showers with no plus one. People questioned it and wondered why I was still single. I didn’t have an answer. I was pretty happy being single, and I didn’t feel like I needed to get married or be in a relationship. More than that I knew there was a group of people out there, more people than I knew about, who are fine being single. Yes, they want to have companions and be in relationships, but they also have to develop the relationship they have with themselves before finding what they really want. It’s about learning how to cope with the expectation that women are supposed to be in a relationship.
AWC Austin: What is your favorite live music venue/theater/etc in Austin?
JS: I’m a huge movie fan so I spend 80% of my waking life (when I’m not working) at the movie theater. I love Violet Crown Cinema and Alamo Drafthouse. East Sixth Street has a lot of great venues like Gypsy Lounge, I like the vibe in there. I’m also a closet foodie, so I love the East Side King’s trailer at Liberty Bar.
AWC Austin: Personal motto?
JS: “Clear Eyes, Full Heart, Can’t Lose.” – Friday Night Lights
AWC Austin: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
JS: Be gentle with yourself.
AWC Austin: Any words of wisdom for someone wanting to make a change in their career? new or seasoned communicators starting (or restarting) a career?
JS: Stillness and retreat and pausing in our culture are kind of foreign and outdated, but I think it’s really important to make space for reflection when you make a change in your life. My meditation is the one area of my life where I’m not allowed to go hard or go home. I’m just with whatever is happening in my body and in my brain or in my heart.
I think especially when you’re talking about change (which is very scary), it’s really important to connect with yourself about what your intention is/what your goals are, not judge them, and acknowledge that this is where you are and think about why you want to make that change and strategize how to get to that next place.
AWC Austin: Any parting words you’d like to share with the readers about AWC Austin?
JS: I’ve had a lot of really amazing women in my life. My mom was one of them in spite of her illnesses. But, a lot of the stuff she couldn’t teach me I learned from really strong, independent women, some of whom I’ve never met. That’s why I’m really passionate about connecting with women and have a special sense of pride being part of organizations like AWC Austin.
Joshunda Sanders Resource Rundown:
- In Memoriam: Pam Baggett-Wallis - February 5, 2024
- Anne Lasseigne Tiedt, APR - January 6, 2024
- Cindy Friedman - December 6, 2023