Vanessa Green

Owner, Greenlight Content

Bachelor of Journalism (Hons), Journalism and History, 2007

Having a journalism degree on my resume has changed my life.

Vanessa Green has always been a go-getter. One of her first jobs after graduating was with Yahoo! Canada, which kick-started her editorial career. Before long, she found herself in London, launching the lifestyle channel for Yahoo! UK.

It’s no surprise, then, that when Vanessa found herself on maternity leave in the midst of a global pandemic, she took a leap of faith and launched her own business.

“COVID has completely transformed the entire world. But as scary as that is, there are silver linings,” says Vanessa.

Greenlight Content, her content marketing consultancy, provides, “straight up digital content that gets noticed.” So far, she says, the experience has been, “humbling”, describing entrepreneurship as “an emotional rollercoaster”, without the security and routine that comes with a 9­­-5 job. She is enjoying the challenge so far, however. “It’s worth the risk for me; getting to be my own boss.”

Attending journalism school was always on the cards due to Vanessa’s passion for writing. At the time, she had no idea that the skills she would learn in the classroom at King’s would allow her to pivot from an editorial career into the newly emerging world of content marketing.

“I wanted to try something different, something new and challenging.” She went on to work for various agencies in the UK and Canada, gaining extensive experience in digital and content marketing for a range of global audiences, from Dubai to New Zealand.

Over time, Vanessa had been proactively developing her professional network, so when COVID-19 came along, she saw the opportunity and decided to take the plunge, launching her own consultancy in September 2020.

Throughout her career, Vanessa has relied heavily on the skills she developed as a young journalist at King’s. “An obsession with deadlines, accuracy in reporting and an eye for detail have helped me so much in all of my jobs since graduating,” she says. She reflects on the late Michael Cobden’s Narrative Nonfiction class and Tim Currie’s Online Journalism class as definitive and enlightening experiences.

“Having a journalism degree on my resume has changed my life. It’s something that every employer wants to talk about… It shows that you can write, edit and think critically; it’s amazing how many jobs require this skillset.” Vanessa is a huge advocate of the journalism program and is proof that it opens many doors into innovative and dynamic work, particularly in the digital sphere.

Whilst Ontario is home for now, Vanessa still has a strong love for the east coast. With family and friends on the Eastern Shore, she enjoys returning to Halifax, and to King’s, fondly recalling a campus tour she took two summers ago.

“The experience I had at King’s is truly unparalleled – Foundation Year, tutorials, j-school – it was so unlike anything my friends experienced at other universities,” she says. “I have such fond memories of being there and I’m so lucky to have spent my university years in Nova Scotia.”

Date posted to King’s Community: October 2020