Just because my dreams are different than yours, doesn’t mean they’re unimportant

Tanya Fedak, JOU ‘26, participated in CJCxNYC Immersive Fall 2025. 

If you took a look at my bedroom at any stage in my life, you’d find an unorganized hoard of magazines scattered across my desk. There’s some carelessly stuffed in random drawers, piled up in my closet and some thrown underneath my bed. I wouldn’t be surprised if there were some hiding between the covers, too.

At 10 years old, it was Tiger Beat Magazine. I switched to Seventeen magazine at 13, Teen Vogue at 15 and got gifted an archive of Rolling Stone magazines for my “sweet 16.” 

I grew up with magazines. They were a break from the trials and tribulations of my teenage years. They were a way to connect with the distant celebrities I loved and bring their fashion trends to the quiet suburbs of Chicago. Magazines were my holy grail, and I knew I wanted to write for them one day.  

“Why don’t you try picking up a copy of The New York Times?” my grandpa asked me during one of our weekly Canasta games in high school. “Maybe you can learn something.”

He said it jokingly, but I couldn’t help but find the truth in his words. Was I getting ready to embark on the wrong path by choosing to major in journalism for the next four years? I couldn’t decide the answer to that question, so when I arrived at the University of Florida, I figured I’d keep my major but specialize in political correspondence. Nobody was surprised when I phoned home and said it wasn’t working out. 

I tried out broadcast reporting next before switching to a radio specialization. Then it was breaking news, then environmental reporting, then a brief stint in data journalism. It was when I was making an interactive map showing the distribution of Florida’s population that I realized I really needed to at least try the magazine route.  

My dreams are different

When I first told my parents I wanted to make a career out of my love for pop culture, they thought I was joking. To be fair, the initial thought was kind of laughable. While my classmates were out reporting on the violence among unhoused communities and exposing the illegal spendings of our public officials, I would be covering how much money Kim Kardashian brought home from her newest Skims collection. That’s the real, hard-hitting journalism, right?

While at undergrad, I found there weren’t many opportunities to practice entertainment journalism. There was the arts and culture section of the school newspaper and on-campus magazines, but I still found myself aching for something more. 

In the 2019 adaptation of Little Women, the eldest daughter of the March family, Meg, is the first to get married. Her younger sister, Jo, was very anti-marriage and begged her not to go through with it. 

“Just because my dreams are different than yours, doesn’t mean they’re unimportant,” Meg told her. 

I always remembered that quote after watching the movie. I certainly had no plans of getting married when I was 17 and first heard that, but it resonated with me in many aspects of my life. One of those being my passion for entertainment journalism. 

Well, it got to the point where I started thinking Meg March was a filthy liar. If my university provided little to no resources for my specialization, was it even important? The voice in my head that consistently cheered for me and gave assurance I was meant for this career slowly started to dwindle. The voice first lost its confidence. Then, it just got quieter – barely a whisper as time went on. By the time spring of junior year began, I was only hearing that quiet, unsure voice once a week after writing a story that did well. 

But then came New York. 

The CJC X NYC program was the first time I truly felt like I was in the right place. It gave me all the resources to succeed and put me in the position to land an internship at one of my dream magazines, TV Guide Magazine. I finally heard that voice in my head again, but it was louder and more certain this time. It told me, “You belong here.” 

This program gave me the space to try, fail, learn and grow in the exact field I always wanted to be in. I was set up to network with industry leaders and learned how to carry myself in professional spaces. Most importantly, it also gave me a community of passionate, supportive students that turned into lifelong friends. 

Doesn’t Mean They’re Unimportant 

One thing I realized is that not everyone is going to get it. Some people will look down on pop culture writing, but they’re not who I write for. 

Entertainment journalism is all about culture. It captures the world as we experience it through stories, soundtracks, films and shared moments. It’s how we process all of the things life throws at us. 

Someone has to write it, and I’m so thankful that someone gets to be me. 

So, sure. Maybe I’m not trying to win a Pulitzer for covering government corruption, but I am trying to make people feel seen in the same way I did when I flipped through those glossy pages at 10 years old. And, honestly? That feels just as important. 

Category: CJCxNYC Blogs, Student Author
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