Christine Nikolich

Civic Media, MA

Hi, my name is Christine Nikolich and I’m pursing my MA in Civic Media. I’m the Digital Media Producer at a non-profit in Chicago called Mercy Home for Boys & Girls. I love my job and it’s the main reason why I’m pursing my masters to learn more about how I can use media to impact the Chicago community. In my free time I enjoying podcasting, going to concerts, trying new restaurants and breweries and hanging out at home with my boyfriend and cat.

TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT WHAT YOU WERE DOING BEFORE YOU CAME TO COLUMBIA.

After receiving my bachelors in Telecommunications Production at Ball State University I chased my dreams of working in the entertainment industry. I interned at The Late Show with David Letterman, PA’d on The Real World and worked at a post-production ad agency creating commercials with high-profile clientele. While I loved working in the creative field, I knew I ultimately wanted to use my digital media productions skills to make a difference in the world, which is why I decided to pursue working in the nonprofit industry.

WHY DID YOU CHOOSE COLUMBIA FOR YOUR GRADUATE STUDY?

To be honest, I never thought I would want to continue my education after receiving my bachelors degree, but after working in the nonprofit industry my opinion changed. Getting to experience all kinds of jobs has helped me to hone in on exactly what I want to do with my career. While searching for a nonprofit focused media program, the Civic Media MA at Columbia was the first one to pop up and it really spoke to me. I’ve never seen a master’s program this unique before and having the ability to still work fulltime while pursuing a masters made the decision that much easier for me.

TELL US ABOUT A PROJECT YOU’RE WORKING ON THAT YOU’RE EXCITED ABOUT.

I’m currently taking a new media studies class where we are curating a marketing campaign to give a project quantifiable goals. The group I’m in chose to use the podcast that I built from scratch as the case study for the project which I’m really excited about! I’ve been podcasting for a couple of years now, but have done everything from the interviews to the production on my own so having a new set of ears and eyes on the show that I started before pursing my masters has been really humbling. I’m excited to figure out ways to market Obliterate Podcast so it can continue to grow.