Member Spotlight: Sarah Beckham of the McCombs School of Business

Each month AWC Austin highlights one very special member making a difference in the communications industry in Austin, Texas. Just after the New Year, we met Sarah Beckham, communications coordinator at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin, at Trianon Coffee. Sarah is smart, lovely and a true joy. Please take a minute to meet Sarah.

AWC Austin: Hi Sarah! Thank you for sitting down with us today. To start, please tell us a little bit about your background.
SB: After college, I began working as a newspaper copy editor in Georgia. I worked the night shift for the first seven years of my career. In 1999, I moved to Austin and became a copy editor in the Life & Arts section of the Austin American-Statesman. I started working during the day and had weekends off for the first time. To say the least, it was life changing!

I did Features copyediting at the Statesman for five years. After that, I changed jobs and became an assigning editor. I’d assign stories and deadlines, and work with writers, photographers, the online staff and graphic designers.

AWC Austin: As the digital era was quickly taking shape, what was it like working for a traditional newspaper?
SB: It makes me feel slightly old to admit we used typewriters in my first college journalism lab classes. When society moved to computers, the small Apple computers were so high-tech, totally “Starship Enterprise.” My senior year, I got my own computer and people were very impressed. I felt so cutting-edge.

Back then there was no Internet, online journalism or social media. The first time I had Internet at my desk was 1997, and it blows my mind to think about the changes in the field from the time I graduated college in 1992 to when I left journalism last year.

The fundamentals of journalism have always been there: good writing, good judgment, and curiosity. Now that the print component is fading, it’s bittersweet. There’s the excitement about the potential technology holds, but it’s really challenging to serve those readers who still desire to get your product in print.

I think people my age were a bridge generation between print natives and digital natives. I’m a total online fanatic now as far as news sources are concerned. I still get magazines in print and read books in print, but I don’t have the need to hold the newspaper in my hands.

AWC Austin: Tell us about your transition from the paper industry, to your current career as a communications coordinator at McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.
SB: My transition has been a huge change. The desire to move came because I knew if I was ever going to make a career change, the time was now.

I started looking around seeing what was out there and I was drawn to my current position because it was a very publications-oriented job. I knew it would be a natural transition. I didn’t struggle with the decision to leave the Statesman, but it was very hard emotionally because that had been my home and family for 13 years. Luckily, I started working at UT, which has such a beautiful and stimulating setting. There are many smart people and lots of cool stuff is constantly going on around you.

AWC Austin: You oversee two websites and print alumni magazine – those are very different mediums! Can you identify similarities/differences? Do you have a favorite?
SB: I’ve always been such a big magazine reader and fan, so I am really looking forward to working on the alumni magazine (Editor’s note: the magazine is only published twice a year, and Sarah will begin the process for her first publication this year).

I’m excited to have a little more time and flexibility without daily deadlines of a newspaper. The websites that I oversee are updated 2-3 times per week, which is definitely manageable! McCombs TODAY is focused on news about the McCombs Business School and all the cool things students, faculty and alumni have done. It heavily targets an alumni audience because we want them to still feel close to the school after graduation. Texas Enterprise’s goal is to highlight research from the University that’s applicable to business people. This way, they can use our published information as part of their daily jobs.

I like thinking of new ways to tell stories and in a way that is most relevant to readers. This is something that was true of me at the Statesman. I really believe in being nice to readers, so I make every effort on our end to make things easy and give people something useful and pleasurable to read.

AWC Austin: When did you first join AWC Austin? What is your history with the organization?
SB: A couple of people recommended AWC Austin to me over the years. Patti DeNucci and one of my former bosses, Sandra Kleinsasser, spoke favorably about the organization. As I started seriously thinking about branching out from newspapers, I thought: “Quit putting this off, you need to go and do this.”

My first event was Connect Over Cocktails in August 2012. I have volunteered for the scholarship committee and I’m looking forward to get that underway this month.

AWC Austin: What is your favorite restaurant/live music venue/theater/etc in Austin?
SB: (ponders) My favorite restaurant… that is such a hard question in Austin.

For special occasions: definitely La Condesa (their “El Cubico” is the best cocktail in Austin). The last time that I went there, my husband and I were having brunch to celebrate my new job. He saw Ryan Gosling coming into the restaurant (he was in a movie filming there that day). Natalie Portman also came in, so I’m told. I have this curse where I never spot celebrities.

AWC Austin: Personal motto?
SB: “Progress, not perfection.” I tend to be a big perfectionist. I’m trying to shift my paradigm, understanding that the goal is not to get something perfect, but to get better.

My favorite quote is from a Mary Oliver poem: “I was leaning out, I was listening.”

AWC Austin: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
SB: The advice to network even when you think you don’t need a network. That came to me from a variety of sources over the years until I finally got through my thick head! I try to approach it from the standpoint of “How can I be generous with my time and expertise for others?” I’ve realized the more that you do that, the more you believe in yourself.

The genius behind this advice is that it’s not really finding people who can do something for you, but realizing your own generosity. The more you feel like you’re a person who can give something, the more confidence that brings to your career or job search, and life.

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?
SB: Be really gentle with yourself about the change. Be nice to yourself.

Whatever you’re doing, I think that it always helps to introduce some small changes into your life so you’re in practice for the big changes. I feel like change is the new normal for all of us in our careers. It’s probably not possible to set your course at 22 and have that stay your course.

Even the smallest thing you can do to meet someone new, or teach yourself something new, is exhilarating and energizing. It helps you prepare for changes you choose, or changes that happen to you.

AWC Austin: Any parting words you’d like to share with the readers about AWC Austin?
SB: I’d like to say thank you to AWC members. I am an introvert and a shy person. It takes a lot for me to go walk into a happy hour. From the first time started exploring AWC Austin and Connect Over Cocktails, to attending the Get Smart conference in the fall, unfailingly everyone has been so smart and so nice and I’ve made friendships through this organization. So, thank you.

Sarah Beckham’s Resource Rundown: