Regina Cho 24 from Cliffside Park, NJ is a young resilient journalist with a bubbly personality based in New York City. Cho has pushed the pen for some of the top Media Outlets in the country such as Billboard, Genius, Hot97, VIBE, DJ Booth, and Complex. The young writer has always had a gift with the pen, but it wasn’t until highschool that she started writing about music on a few different blogs. While in college in 2015, Cho and some peers started the first Hip-Hop magazine in existence at Syracuse University. She was the executive editor for the magazine, and this experience showed her how dedicated and passionate she was to push the culture and herself.
In a candid moment, Cho spoke about the most challenging thing about being a journalist in the music industry is dealing with the rapid pace of content consumption and how people are always attracted to the more “scandalous” topics rather than indulging in deeper, longer stories. “My passion is telling meaningful, inspiring stories.”, Cho explains. Often the stories that get the most clicks are about dating and drama, so that’s what the outlets mostly put out. However, Cho feels as long as you keep your mission in mind, it becomes easier to keep your integrity and continue to pursue the stories that matter.
Although Cho’s output is mostly through online articles, she does see the potential in expanding to on camera interviews. The visual element will generally make it easier for her personality to shine through. One of Cho’s favorite moments this year is when she interviewed mogul Rihanna. It gave Cho reassurance about her place in journalism. Cho was supposed to be covering the event that night but got to interview Rihanna in the process, one of the biggest artists in the world, and Cho interviewed her with ease. Cho held her own composure and realized she can handle anything in the industry no matter the pressure, preparation time, or magnitude.
When entering the world of journalism you need to focus on a few things: how to file your taxes,your ability to trust the process, and engaging with others while making them feel comfortable. Cho cites tax season as a source of anxiety each year. She says, “If I was taught more details beforehand it would have been way smoother.” When being in the journalism world, you must trust the process and understand real success takes time. All the people you look up to in Journalism put years and even decades to climb to where they are. Always shoot your shot, whether it’s in terms of internships, interviews, connections. The worst someone can say is “no.”
Lastly, remember the truth is the most important part of your job, as a journalist, no matter how cool or trendy the story, even or news is, never lose sight of how the truth is what you need to spread. When an interview subject isn’t being open, Cho explains the best thing to do is not to push, nine times out of ten the conversation will move on and the subject will eventually open up if they are comfortable enough, if not take what you have and make the best piece you can make.
On My Sole 