In the first of a series of interviews with high-achieving young professionals, we speak to start-up founder and online journalist Hermione Way. The Spectator described Hermione as a rising star of the business world. Read here about her career so far and her tips for aspiring journalists.

Hermione Way on…growing up and wanting to be a dancer
My older brother is an entrepreneur and he was very successful when I was young, which was probably an influence on me, but I didn’t follow in his footsteps until later. I wanted to be a dancer. While I was waiting for news of a dance scholarship, I went travelling. I ended up traveling for two-and-a-half years and ditched the scholarship. By the time I came back to Britain I wanted something different, a challenge. I wanted to do something in news and media, but I had never been good at reading or writing. I decided to do a degree in journalism so I could learn how to write properly.

On going to uni
I started a journalism degree…but it was so shit! I was learning old school newspaper journalism at a time when newspapers were failing, everything was going online and everything was changing. Blogging wasn’t mentioned once on the course. It was very frustrating. I thought: ‘Why isn’t there a way I can get practical, real-world training in this career that will properly equip me? Why is this syllabus totally irrelevant to modern journalism?’

I decided to get hands-on and try and address the problem myself. I had an idea to do a site like Current TV where students would go out and make their own content, upload it and get paid according to their popularity.

On becoming a student start-up
I realised that unless I got lots of investment there was no way I would able to compete with Current TV or a site like Facebook, which is essentially a citizen journalism platform. Then I was at an event one day filming and someone came up to me and asked how much I charged for video production…and then I realised this was a better revenue model. I changed the business from business-to-consumer to business-to-business – I changed to be a service business.

Things have gone full pelt since then. We’ve got some pretty big clients, like Channel 4, we’ve just done a conference in Cardiff where we provided the complete media coverage, and lots continues to happen. We’ve got about 60 students on our books that work for Newspepper.

On starting Techfluff.tv
I started going to media tech networking events in London. I met Mike Butcher from TechCrunch UK. He told me I should start my own show. He said to have a look at what girls like iJustine and Amanda Congdon were doing, how they were reporting on tech, because he reckoned there was a gap in Europe for something similar and because being a visible girl in tech is unusual.

Techfluff.tv was born. We’re still working out what content people like, but it’s been such an amazing vehicle. I’ve been asked to present conferences. I’m doing podcasts for Computer Weekly. I’m at South by Southwest. I’m on Digital Mission. I’m doing this start up competition all around Europe. It’s incredible.

On being involved in tech
The Internet has shaken every industry. It’s so exciting because nobody knows what the future is, and to be at the front of that is such an exciting place to be. Something culturally important is happening right now.

On being properly equipped for a journalism career
As well as a degree I did the NCTJ. A big module is about writing a news story. The qualities needed are the same as writing a Twitter update. You have to fit the ‘who, what, where, when and why’ of the story into 140 characters. This is the future. Journalists won’t be writing for newspapers, they’ll be writing for online. Students need to realise this isn’t a waste of time.

On accelerating your career through personal branding
There is no way I would have so quickly got to do podcasts for the Telegraph if I’d gone down the traditional career path. I would have done my stint on a local newspaper for five years, then maybe promotion to a national newspaper, then in another five years I might have moved on to broadcast journalism. And then I might have a got a job doing podcasts for the Telegraph.

I went back to my old uni recently to do a talk. They’re still in the same mindset. Students think they are heading for a traditional newspaper career when it’s far more likely they’ll be working online. I told them to get on Twitter and Facebook and start a blog. Every journalism student should start a blog the minute they start their course. It’s such a good way to develop your personal brand and make you stand out from the crowd. It creates a digital CV.

On networking and making connections
There are no barriers any more. People ask how did you get in front of people, how did you get listened to. You don’t have to have a dad that’s a CEO or an uncle who knows someone in the company any more, you can just Google them, find their details and email them. I promise you: nine times out of ten they will reply. You make a connection with them. Get out to networking events – most of them are free. Take some business cards. Make some connections with people. Anyone can do what I’ve done.

On getting trolled and raising your head above the parapet
Of course if you put yourself out there you have to be ready for the bad as well as the good. We all need criticism so we can change and improve. I welcome that. What I’m not open to is anonymous bashing. If you’ve got something to say, let’s have a conversation about it face-to-face, but don’t sit behind an avatar like a coward. You learn to develop thick skin.

On change in business and getting used to it
I love change. You have to embrace it and be flexible. You have to be willing to take risks.

On inspirations and influences
The biggest influence on my career has been Michael Smith of Firebox.com and Moshi Monsters. He is very successful yet he remains the nicest person and very supportive – none of this Alan Sugar nonsense. The best thing he ever did was take me to the offices of Simply Media and showed me round; it took my blinkers off and he made me realise I could build something like that too.

On the general election and the World Cup
We’ve got a toff who’s pretending to be cool or we’ve got Brown who has as much charisma as a slug. So we’re in a bad position I think. It’s only going to be Labour or Conservatives and in my view both leaders are crap. I think we need to change to proportional representation in the UK so we can develop people politics and move away from party politics. Otherwise we will never have an Obama. But I do think England will win the World Cup!

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Photo credits richardmoross, kaiban and robingrant

Some other useful resources for young people interested in journalism careers:
Natalie Adcock A media student’s guide to starting social media
Paul Bradshaw How to be a journalism student