Kristen East has been pursuing her passion for three years, and she’s only a junior. East is the Editor-in-Chief of the largest college news organization in the country, the Daily Iowan.
Her gig, lands her as only the second junior in the history of the Daily Iowan to have the job. The initial concern was East’s age and could she be able to adapt to a role that’s normally fitted with seniors.
An obstacle that East has easily overcame.
“I think I’ve pretty much proved them wrong,” East said. “I don’t think age is what matters in this position. It’s all about who you know, how much you know, and what you want to accomplish.”
Landing the job as EIC wasn’t the first time East put to test her talent, despite her youth. When President Obama came to the University of Iowa in 2012, East, a Metro reporter at the time, was selected from her colleagues to cover the event alongside reporters from CNN, Reuters, and the Des Moines Register. East says she remembers it being a big deal that she had been chosen and looks back at the moment fondly.
“I was doing exactly what I want to do in my professional career as a freshman,” she said. “It was that day, April 25, 2012, that I realized that this is exactly what I wanted to be doing, and I knew that this was only the start of the great opportunities to come.”
Her responsibilities don’t come with a normal daily routine, either.
“Every day is just as wild and crazy as the one that preceded it,” East, who said it’s impossible to decipher just how long she spends in the newsroom each week, said.
Post-graduation, East said she wants to be involved in a daily news organization and ideally in Washington, D.C., covering either Congress of presidential campaigns.
“But who knows. Journalism is constantly changing, and so am I.”