Defining Media and Communications

For many answering the question, "What do you do?" is easy peasy. It used to be for me too until I realized saying "I am a Media and Communications Specialist" really just makes people think I'm either a glamourous PR Guru or nondescript journalist. Some even call me Paparazzi .... yea I know.

So, whenever I am asked, "What does a Media and Communications Specialist do? I often want to say "I don't know"?????? because it is a technical, functional and evolving role. It is certainly not public relations neither is it journalism. It involves developing and implementing a futuristic communications strategy that speaks to the vision and goals of the organization. It is creating evidence-based content that speaks for itself whilst identifying or creating platforms for collaborative storytelling to influence change. The role also demands for innovation and technology anchored on communications for sustainability if one like myself works in the development sector. Regarding the latter, I am presently researching how mobile phone applications can be used "for good" in Zambia.

So, how does my work life look like on a day-to-day basis? Pardon my poor grammar and lack of coherence but the rantings are reflective of how "dynamic" my daily diary looks like. Indeed, every day is different, it involves a lot of listening - face to face meetings usually the proverbial "quick one" or on skype, pre-planning, prioritizing and yep, shelving plans. There are always those urgent emails or pending work that guilts while you constantly make nice with vendors for timely delivery and quality assurance as they execute your artwork vision - correct font, color usage, pattern, copy editing or image placement - believe me - there's a lot of back and forth here.

Then there's that trying report that just won't come together, the meetings that hold your urgent to-do list; writing and reviewing the length, tone, and newsworthiness of a presser or reactive and pitching to media. Let's not forget managing social media platforms, editing a policy brief from technocratic speak to you and I language, answering media calls, shooting that documentary then editing it all day, all night for probably a month and chasing sign off ????preparing consent forms for images to be taken, selecting five good pictures from a pile of thousands, begging for stories, editing stories from 5,000 words to 250 words in record time on a monthly or bimonthly basis.

Watching and protecting own and partner brands all the while striving for the right visibility and credibility. Engaging with geopolitics and contextualizing (what does the US-Iran fight mean for us in Zambia - will fuel pricing go up again and where can this be slotted in the inequality discourse? BBC did a story on hunger in the south, can I engage them to do a follow up one or would the guardian be ideal to reach key donors?).

Then there's travel and talking with communities and amplifying that voice (my favorite part of the role - from inception to impact) during high-level discussions, campaigns or in key reports; there's also creating spaces for dialogue and collaboration or corroboration internally and externally, supporting investigative journalism (favorite too) organizing events while praying the branding is right and people show up and when they do, they get the right message.

It also involves writing a to-do-list in the morning (did I say this already?) and letting it torment you in the evening for not completing it, developing presentations, asking seemingly ignorant but key questions; loving critic of my write-ups before sharing them publicly (learned years ago that constructive criticism from a colleague is way better for growth than from people that don't know you). And reminding yourself that it is OK to "knock off and rest" yet when you get home, you still open the laptop lie to yourself that it will only be for a few minutes??????

That's a fraction of what I do. In short, I tell stories of impact with others to enable sustainability. Nah that doesn't sound quite right... I'm a ... don't know... I guess, an invisible change maker.