Ashley Calloway

Four years after graduating from the School of Communication with a major in journalism, Ashley Calloway is working in New York, in the fourth largest newspaper in the country.

She is a copy editor for the New York Daily News website.

“I’m a very curious person, so I suppose that helps in this field,” Calloway said. “I’m also a bit of a perfectionist, which definitely comes in handy when I’m editing.”

Calloway said she is fascinated with her job, which keeps her engaged and “on her toes.”

“I love it,” Calloway said. “There is something special about being in the newsroom and seeing the covers before the rest of the city does.”

Aside from working at the Daily News, Calloway has a “blogazine” called @ArtinfactMag, which she started with three classmates from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she studied for her master’s degree. Artinfact is a creative outlet to cover stories that they may not be able to tackle in their day jobs, she said.

The topics of her recent articles for the online magazine include Facebook’s policy on post-mastectomy photos; the superstitions associated with menstruation in many cultures; and the rapper Drake’s personal chef.

Right now, the editors are working on renovating Artinfact to make it more of a “content marketing platform” for entrepreneurs in New York City.

Calloway said she has a love-hate relationship with New York City. She loves that there’s always so much going on and so much to explore, but sometimes she finds it too crowded or too busy. In Miami, she felt like it was much easier to control her environment.

“You’re in your car or you’re at your destination, and most of the time you know what to expect,” Calloway said. “In New York, because you’re traveling by subway or by foot a lot, you never know who or what you’re going to run into.”

Right now, she says she prefers to be in New York, because it’s one of the best places for journalists to be.

Ever since she was in high school, Calloway said, she has been interested in journalism and social issues related to the black community. She has interned and worked for Essence Magazine and Black Enterprise Magazine.

The African-American community is a topic that she has explored with her freelance writing and by working on different projects in graduate school.

“As a black person, I’m extremely interested in how being black shapes certain experiences, for better or worse,” Calloway said.

An editing job at the Daily News makes certain demands on as a journalist. Right now, Calloway works an evening shift starting at 6 p.m., which keeps her at the office until well past midnight. But, she said, the assignment is helping her fulfill her life career goals little by little.

“I can say that when I started undergrad,” she said, “I never imagined that a few years later I’d be in New York City, working for one of the largest papers in the country.”