Joe Shepherd
@JEJShepherdMy name is Joe and I am currently in my third year studying Sports Journalism at the University of Gloucestershire. I have a passion for working in the sports media industry because I enjoy obtaining stories and shaping the news that I know football fans will want to read. I try to interview at least one person per week to maintain confidence when speaking to professional sports people, but also doing this helps develop my relations with fellow media professionals in the industry. I have just finished my first year in the industry working as a Press Office Intern at Cheltenham Town while occasionally featuring in Gloucestershire Live covering the Robins, where I feel I've honed my skills to a high standard in preparation for jobs. When I'm not writing about sport, remaining optimistic about England's biggest sleeping giant (Leeds United) and keeping up to date with the latest boxing events are a few of my main interests. I have already enjoyed several experiences working as a multimedia journalist covering a range of different sports; including football, darts, cricket and cycling. These industry placements include three separate placements writing for the Stoke Sentinel newspaper (or StokeonTrentLive), LeedsLive, respected Leeds United blog, I'd Radebe Leeds, and one of the most popular outlets for online football news, 90MiN. Opportunities like this have helped me develop and understand the requirements needed to be successful in the media industry, where I've found that using your initiative is one of the most valuable skills you can have to your skill-set in the media. Many would argue that constant technological changes are the most important thing to keep on top of, but in addition to this using your initiative is one of the most desirable skills that I aim to maintain as future employers will, to a degree, assess my level of confidence through this - one of the most coveted attributes that organisations require from their workers. That confidence has provided me with several useful contacts within the industry, which has led to the privilege of speaking to several sporting figures; former Manchester United player and Stoke City boss Lou Macari, Olympic gold winning cyclist Yvonne McGregor MBE, Stoke City defenders Kevin Wimmer and Tom Edwards, as well as several members of Cheltenham Town's first team. Invaluable experiences in both Premier League and lower league press boxes such as Stoke City, West Bromich Albion, Leeds United, Cheltenham Town and Gloucester City has given me a wider knowledge and appreciation of the different ways that teams at opposite ends of the football ladder utilise the resources at their disposal for their media output.@JEJShepherd has not made any collections public yet.