By Jillian Doria Ogawa

I started my day on Sept. 17, 2008 by interviewing sources for a follow-up story to my front-page article published in the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader.

By 12:30 p.m., I received an unofficial pink slip through the rumor mill — I found out through coworkers that I was going to be laid off.

By 1:30 p.m., I no longer had a job.

Throughout that day and the following weeks, I felt as if someone was slowly peeling duct tape off my skin. I was overwhelmed and numbed with pain. The layoff was about more than losing a job – I lost my sense of identity. I loved writing stories, bringing awareness to trends and conveying information about complex issues. Like many in the profession, journalism was the only thing I ever wanted to do.

Nearly a year later, in August 2009, I attended the Freedom Forum Multimedia Bootcamp to learn multimedia storytelling for my new job — as a public relations assistant.

I found light by turning to “the dark side,” a term that journalists use for the public relations profession. As a public relations assistant, I still write stories, bring awareness to trends and convey information about complex issues. I believe public relations is a field that embraces new methods and mediums of communicating. And with my journalism background, I still seek to apply ethical and credible standards as I disseminate information.

Many journalists and non-journalists have expressed their thoughts on the future of newspapers. There are the sobering realists, the ones who saw or experienced the layoffs first hand. As the rug was pulled from underneath them, they realized that journalism would never be the same. Even those who still have newspaper jobs are building a plane as they fly into an uncharted future.

And then there are those who hope the essence of journalism will weather the economic storm. People still want news, insight and watchdog stories; those things are the essence of journalism. Such optimism drew many journalists to the field and they’re holding to it.

I am a hopeful realist. I know that I may never go back to working for a newspaper. But when I attended the multimedia boot camp, I realized that my skills as a journalist could be applied to any profession. People still seek information, context and opinions on products they may buy, the colleges they may attend or other services – I will just present this information in a different medium or industry.

Future journalists should continue to develop their writing and multimedia skills, but they need to be open to applying these skills to other industries. It’s the adaptability and the entrepreneurial spirit that will help keep the journalism profession alive.

As I reflect on the past year, I realize I have reached a point where I can look back and appreciate the good things I learned during my three years at the Lexington Herald-Leader.

I now look with excitement toward the future, knowing that the skills and the passion I have for journalism will always be with me.

Jillian Doria Ogawa was a Summer 2004 Chips Quinn Scholar at The Salt Lake Tribune in Utah. After graduating from Brigham Young University in April 2005, she was a summer intern at the New York Daily News. In July of that year, she took a job with the Lexington Herald-Leader. Since January 2009, she has worked as a public relations assistant for Bluegrass Community and Technical College in Lexington, Ky.