Today we’d like to introduce you to Anna Kachikyan.
Anna, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I knew from a very young age that I wanted to become a journalist. Looking back now, from the age of five I subconsciously began to prepare myself for my career. Little things like curiosity for other people’s stories, building trustworthy connections with people, and focusing on my writing skills throughout my education were things I did to help me get to where I am today.
High school is not my favorite memory. I lost my grandmother at 15-years-old and grew up fast thereafter. Upon doing some legal research, I found out that by law I can graduate high school one full year and start college without having to take the SAT exam. I also convinced my childhood best friend to join me. Summer of 2002 was extremely busy for us. But I was fortunate to not be alone. We had to pass high school English, college English 101, Economy and Government all in a couple of weeks during rushed summer courses. Let’s just say we passed but the bunions on my fingers lingered.
In college, my major was clear — Journalism.
Fortunately, the J-School I set out to get my education was one of the best hands-on journalism programs in the state. California State University, Northridge has a wonderful Journalism program and I’m so happy that I went there because I walked out of there debt-free! Correction, I had debt. The debt I accumulated living a lavish Hollywood nightlife as a college student. My friend and I were on a mission to graduate, get great jobs and pay off our debt. In hindsight, that was a huge risk but it worked out for the both of us.
In 2007, less than a year before the 2008 market crash — I started my career as one of the original cast members of TMZ-on-TV where I spent nearly a decade reporting on the latest in Hollywood news. Young, dumb, and completely unaware of the devastation the rest of the country was going through. Ignorance is bliss!
In late 2015, I left TMZ and started The Anna Report in an effort to expand my journalistic contributions.
Then in April of 2018, I began “keeping up with Armenians,” just as Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan’s revolution was sweeping Armenia. The Velvet Revolution gave me a huge journalistic awakening. I quickly combined my social media and journalism skills to share with my thousands of followers the events taking place in my homeland. As a New Armenia began to form, thus The Armenian Report was born.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Nothing has been smooth. Literally nothing! Contrary it feels like everything I touch breaks first before it functions. I’ll spare the readers of each struggle and just summarize and say — EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE A STRUGGLE. Prepare yourself for the long haul. Minimum 3-5 years but in reality probably 8-10 years.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with The Armenian Report – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of and what sets you apart from others.
The Armenian Report breaks down complex political and cultural news from Armenia and around the world then presents them through video stories and photos with English translation.
Along with daily news stories on Instagram and Facebook Stories, The Armenian Report also offers live podcast interviews featuring fascinating Armenians and their inspiring contributions to the community.
Keeping small countries such as Armenia alive and thriving starts with our curiosity. Often this curiosity is born with exposure to information and stories about countries we normally do not hear about in mainstream media. The Armenian Report longs to spark that curiosity and spread the platform far and wide.
The Armenian Report is evidence that young Armenians of the diaspora care about what is happening in Armenia. We see the increased curiosity and engagement with Armenian events worldwide and we proudly present the news in English to help further foster and cultivate that engagement.
We are proud to be an independent news platform that focuses on what the people want to know versus what political agenda a specific government or corporation wants to push.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
Our plan is to grow our platform by increasing our reach and providing jobs for aspiring young journalists in Armenia, Artsakh, California, Massachusetts, New York, Australia, England, and Canada.
But our immediate goal is to surpass 10K followers on Instagram. Given that The Armenian Report shares news stories on Instagram, it is crucial to include the original source link for our followers. Unfortunately, a business Instagram account is not granted that feature until you’ve reached the 10K follower count. So we urge everyone to please go support and follow @thearmenianreport — we plan to reach this goal before 2020.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thearmenianreport/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thearmenianreport/?modal=admin_todo_tour
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheArmenianReport
Image Credit:
Anna Kachikyan
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