My academic journey began closely related to humanities and linguistics, having studied a BA in Corporate Communication and a technical degree in Copy editing/Proofreading (in Spanish). I am deeply passionate about words and languages. But from when I studied for my degree and in the seven years I spent working after that, I also felt that I had an analytical mindset that slightly diverged from the words-based study choices I had made.
At the same time, specialising in digital communications at work, I enjoyed delving into key performance indicators and analytics platforms —at times even more so than writing posts. Building reports and digging into numbers to draw relevant conclusions to inform new strategies captivated me, and time often passed quickly when I performed those tasks.
Still, I felt I could improve my work and take it to previously uncharted territories with more data analytics skills. That was how I searched and came across EFI and the Narrative Futures programme, where I thought I could suitably combine the world of storytelling with data analysis.
My professional aim is to harness the power of well-constructed data to create compelling messages to help counter misinformation. In communication, I believe that not only the media play a role, but also organisations and institutions (public and private) are fundamental in helping combat such a pressing issue as misinformation. And communications professionals within organisations are instrumental in that process.
This path is so broad and versatile that it has the potential to work in any topic, from social movements to health, from education to transportation. So, this is where I stand more hesitantly. I know what I want to do, but I don’t know what I want to do it about. I have a whole range of interests, like urbanism, sustainability, or feminism (very varied, as you can see), but I have yet to make these interests land into something more concrete.
I look forward to continuing my studies at EFI, sparking areas of interest and potential project topics that will help me in the quest for more informed societies that can better assert their rights.
(Paula Lago)
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