As many of you might know, I graduated from Sunderland University with a first class degree in magazine journalism last week! I still can’t believe it. All of my hard work has finally paid off, and for the first time in my life I feel like I’ve reached my potential.
My degree class is largely thanks to my dissertation magazine, Gay Life. I’ve always loved magazines, and getting to make my own was a dream come true. I love the media in general, but LGBT issues are something that are very close to my heart. In particular, I love real life stories. There’s something truly captivating by reading stories you can relate to, and that’s something that I wanted to be at the heart of Gay Life. I am so proud of the end result! I’ve also put it on the App Store for iPad. You can download it here.
I have lots of people to thank for the success of my magazine. My tutor and course leader Jenny McKay believed in my idea from the very beginning, and gave me the belief to turn it into a reality.
A massive thanks goes to both Ashleigh Walker and Jess Stephenson, who helped me with the magazine’s fashion shoot and were around throughout the entire time I was making the magazine.
I’d also like to thank my friend Wyatt Hunter, who kindly modeled for the fashion pages.
Thank you to Stuart Hatton, Peter Tatchell, James Wharton, John Bosco, Wayne Dhesi, Tom Hayes, Sam Thomas, James Preece, Dominic Davies, Frances Lloyd, Ophelia B, Jordan Hogan, Chris Doyle, Calum Sherwood, Tom King and David Adams too. They all took the time to be interviewed for the magazine, and their stories are amazing.
Back to graduation day…
The day of my graduation was one of the best days of my life. The ceremony was absolutely beautiful, and it was amazing to have my mam by my side. She has always supported me, and always encouraged me to do something with my life that I’m passionate about and enjoy. Both my mam and my dad have helped give me such an amazing amount of determination and ambition, and I am forever grateful for that.
After an action packed day, it was on to an awards ceremony at the university, where I was nominated for the best student magazine award. The other two nominees produced amazing magazines, so I was completely shocked to win the award! It was lovely to see that others loved my magazine as much as I did, and it was the icing on the cake for what was an amazing day.
After that I had lots of cocktails with my friends, and I finally headed home ready for an interview the next day…
The interview
If my graduation and the awards ceremony wasn’t enough, the next day I had an interview for a job at the university, working in their media hub on Fashion North, Northern Lights and SR News. Apparently all of the candidates were outstanding, and they decided to hire two of us instead of one, and I was over the moon to be offered one of the positions!
So here’s to the next chapter. I can’t wait to see what the future holds.
JORDAN MANN 