A property journalist with the WA business news, Katie Mcdonald has earned several awards going as far as receiving the best culture and arts report at he WA state media awards two years in a row.

Coming from an Irish background, Katie recalls that according to her family storytelling is a national past-time, one that she indulged while being as young as three years old when she would fill her notebooks with “random ramblings”.

I’ve never been an avid reader. Much prefering audio books and podcasts. Nevertheless, I was thrilled to talk to this extremely talented young woman about her work, life and mission as she changes the writing and journalism game by winning it.

Natural Inclinations

Originally Katie got into UWA on the psychology course with the objective of pairing marketing and psychology “to understand what makes people tick”, which she assured me was much less evil than it actually sounds like.

Yet as she progressed in her studies Katie began to “miss English” a feeling that soon drew her to more and more “broadening classes” related to communication and writing until she eventually decided to shift her area of studies completely.

Katie defends this decision as one of the best she ever took, highlighting interaction with amazing writers in her classes expanded her horizons and brought to her broader understanding of who she was.

Indeed, often when we must decide on a road it is perfectly reasonable to simply ask yourself “what do I want to do?”, in fact a lot of the time your heart will already be telling you and its always a good idea to listen.

Why? Because understanding what benefits a career offers is not enough, you need to love what you are doing, without that passion there is no changing the game.

The Multiplicity of Stories

As I revealed in our talk and here on this article as well, I’ve never been much of a reader, yet to this Katie keenly replied that stories come in a variety of forms like movies, podcasts and audiobooks which she incentivised me to try out.

Indeed, there is quite a lot of truth to that as those seeking to change the game soon find themselves with an ever-increasing demand for education on a multitude of subjects and must find whatever way they can to fulfill this demand.

And that includes audiobooks as well, which have been my way of covering several important titles in very little time (even if my wife claims that’s cheating).

So if you are not much of a reader try going to the theater or to a museum, listen to poetry sessions and podcasts, gain as much culture as you can from as many places as possible.

The world is full of lessons for those willing to listen.

The WA State Media Award

When Talking about her many accomplishments, Katie humbly attributes the praise she has received to her editor David Turnock who “nurtured her journalism skills” as the award came very early on in her career.

Her “best art and culture report” award on the other hand came from her investigation onto the funding for different Australian artistic groups which revealed that despite the fact that WA did not receive its fair share, it still managed to punch above its own weight.

By doing such important work within a business publication, she captures the attention of business readers who are often the ones making decisions within companies and turning it towards the central role of the arts within society.

In bringing the importance of the arts into the public eye, Katie reenacts that same broadening of vision that she experienced in college, though on an even larger scale, and she does so in a way that helps not only appreciators of art but its producers as well.

After all, if the arts are seen not only for their benefits on an individual level but also for their potential as an investment opportunity, more artists may see their talents properly rewarded.

Art and Business

Eventually our conversation got into the realm of relations between art and business which in itself can be seen as the relation between art and everything else, as Katie herself points out “art is in more places than we realise”.

To illustrate this she used something most people today are quite familiar with, a little obscure company called Netflix.

When we watch a netflix series we are actually watching the combination of several different art forms from the music that makes the score, to the writing of the scripts and the very aesthetic of the scenes.

Which serves to show any artistically inclined member of my audience that art does not limit your options for a future, but rather it can take you wherever you want so long as you find new ways to employ your talents.

Hardship

Being young, intelligent and well accomplished Katie may sometimes give off the image of someone with an absolutely perfect life, yet she is the first to remember us that life is always full of challenges.

For her this comes in the form of a general lack of acknowledgement for the journalistic profession, but also in the shear load of work she had to take on going from art and culture into property.

There was also the challenge of going into an industry that like so many (too many) others was dominated by men, which meant that along with her usual work to bring information to the general public, she also had to fight for her own space.

That is to say, there is no success that does not come with its own fair share of struggle, and that is something we must keep in mind as we try to exact change upon the world, that this change will come at the price of monumental effort.

Conclusion

Katie McDonald is truly an extraordinary person that has managed to reach great height simply by pursuing her interests and using the talents and interests she naturally developed for the benefit of society as whole.

If our conversation leaves any lasting impression on you, let it be this: If you want to change this world for the better and pursue the things you love, the very first thing you need to do is become aware at the tools at your disposal.

Which leads us to our thought exercise for today: Think about the ways in which you would like to change the game, translate that into concrete goals and then think about what skills and talents are at your disposal for fufilling those goals.