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Sonja Steptoe, AB '82, BJ '82

What do you do?
In September 2007 I left a job at TIME Magazine to become a client development manager based in Los Angeles for O'Melveny & Myers LLP, a global law firm. In that position, which is heavily influenced by marketing considerations, I help the firm develop and execute strategic communications initiatives to advance its business development goals.

How did you get your job?
After more than 20 years in print, broadcast and digital journalism, it was time for a change. I went to law school at Duke University after graduating from Mizzou, and I thought that a job in strategic communications and marketing for a law firm would be a good match with my set of skills. Luckily for me, the nice partners at O'Melveny agreed and took a chance on hiring me.

What is the best professional lesson you learned at the J-School?
Even though I planned to work in news editorial after school, I was in the advertising/PR sequence and had to sell classifieds for the Missourian. That coursework opened my eyes to the business side of journalism and the crucial role it played in the profession, which helped me navigate and plot career moves. Sadly, all journalists have been made acutely and painfully aware of this reality recently. I think the perspective on the financial side of the profession I took away from the advertising sequence at the J-School was an invaluable professional lesson that served me throughout my career.

What advice do you have for current students?
What else...learn as much as you can about the economics of the profession. Also, try to double major or load up on a liberal arts subject such as economics, international affairs, history, or a business subject such as accounting, history, or marketing. One big problem with journalism at all levels these days is that reporters and editors have no perspective of their own on how the world works and so they are too vulnerable to spin and nonsensical logic advanced by people with agendas. One last thing: make it a personal requirement to take any course from Steve Weinberg. His classes offer a rare opportunity to learn how the hard work of real journalism is done.

What is your favorite J-School memory?
I recently wrote Prof. William H. Taft a note thanking him for inundating us with details of the history and principles of journalism. At the time I thought that class was kind of comical, and I did a fair amount of cutting up in Gannett Auditorium during his slideshow on William Randolph Hearst and San Simeon. But the images and stories he shared have stuck with me. There are so many parallels between the actions of Citizen Hearst and some of the modern-day media moguls that knowing that history helps you put the current developments in perspective. And it has made watching Citizen Kane and Marion Davies films on Turner Classic Movies that much more fun!

News Releases

Oct. 19, 2005: Award-Winning Journalists Among Those to be Honored at the 2005 MUAA Faculty-Alumni Awards William L. Miller, AB '51, Randall D. Smith, BJ '74, and Sonja Steptoe, BJ '82, AB '82, will receive awards for their successful careers, service to Mizzou and dedication to community at the 38th Annual MU Alumni Association Faculty-Alumni Awards program, where a total 18 recipients will be honored. The event is scheduled to take place Friday, Oct. 21, in the Reynolds Alumni Center on the MU campus. [More]