Kaitlyn Naples works as the internal communications coordinator at the University of New Haven, where she sends newsletters to faculty and students, informing them about UNH events and news. Naples graduated from Southern Connecticut State University in 2010 with a B.S. in journalism. Previously, she worked as a newspaper and television news reporter.
Interview and photos by Devin Hollister, SCSU JRN ‘23. Answers were condensed and edited in 2022.
What advice would you give to journalism students?
Have thick skin, but also don’t take criticism too personally. Unfortunately, the journalism industry and media is sometimes thankless and underappreciated. There are a lot of bad things that happen out there and we do have to do that hard job of telling those stories. A lot of people don’t like to see them or don’t feel that they need to be told. But, I will say there are a lot of good stories out there and they’re waiting for someone to go out and tell them. When you do tell those great stories, and you feel that connection with the person you’re talking to in your interview, it makes you feel like you made a world of difference.
How did Southern help prepare you for your career?
I got involved in the student newspaper, Southern News, and that definitely prepared me for my career in journalism. Right out of college, I worked at a weekly newspaper in Bristol, and I spent about four years there, and it was a wonderful experience. I took everything I learned from working at Southern News, being a reporter and a news editor, into the real world and working at a real newspaper and then eventually working at WFSB.
How did you get started in your career?
During my senior year, I was still working for Southern News and I knew that graduation was approaching, so I started putting feelers out to different organizations around the state and even around the country. I did have a couple of internships, I interned at WTNH and at a weekly newspaper in Southington. A position opened up at the weekly newspaper in Bristol, which wasn’t far from where I lived. I applied, met with the editor, I got the job. A couple of weeks after graduation I started at the Bristol Observer.
What would you do differently as a college student?
When I was at Southern, I focused a lot on print because I knew that I wanted to write for a newspaper. But looking back, since I ended going from the newspaper to the TV industry, I wished I had focused a little bit more on that while I was at Southern. And had taken some more TV media classes or worked for the TV station here, or even the radio station and got that aspect of media and not only focusing on print.