Communiqué
Former Student Learned Value of Public Service at WOUB
< < Back toShawnda (Wolfe) Vega graduated from Ohio University in 2003
ATHENS, OH – When Shawnda (Wolfe) Vega came to Ohio University in 1999 from Plain City, Ohio, she thought she had a passion for television broadcasting. However, what she learned during her time as a student working at WOUB Public Media was that her true calling was serving others.
“When I came to visit Ohio University for the first time, it was in the fall and everything looked gorgeous. I fell in love with it. The journalism school was also highly valued, and I thought I was coming to school in Athens to learn how to be a TV news anchor and reporter,” said Vega.
She got involved as a student at WOUB during her sophomore year. Vega worked in the WOUB newsroom for the rest of her time in college. She did both radio and television news and weather. While she enjoyed it, Vega was learning that maybe this wasn’t exactly what she wanted to do.
“What I ended up realizing during my time at WOUB was the impact that a public broadcasting station can make in a community. I was going out in the region and telling the stories of the people there and providing an important public service,” said Vega. “This information was going in front of people and WOUB was their main news source. We had to get it right. The precision had to be there.”
Vega got a paid internship at WCPO in Cincinnati during her senior year. That experience reinforced the fact that Vega enjoyed doing public service work, but not necessarily journalism. She knew she no longer wanted to pursue a career in broadcasting. But Vega still wanted to be involved with people and serving the community. When she graduated in 2003, Vega got a job as program manager at Junior Achievement of Central Ohio.
“That kind of work felt like the right fit for me,” said Vega.
Vega worked her way up to become the director of marketing and communications. After a few years, she moved into a position at Cardinal Health and then Bound Tree Medical. Vega now works as a sponsor relations account executive at Nationwide.
“Because of my time at WOUB, I feel confident and prepared to give remarks on behalf of Nationwide at events or meetings. I’m very comfortable speaking in front people,” said Vega. “WOUB really taught you how to relate to people by developing your writing skills. That experience cannot be replaced by anything else. You were writing for audiences and having to take difficult topics or stories and condense them down to tell in a compelling manner.”
“At Nationwide, I am involved in women’s groups, LGBTQ pride events and many things our foundation does that has altruistic components to them,” said Vega. “It became clear during my time at WOUB that those kinds of things are important.”