MyBindi interviews Sharlene Azam January 2002

Although best known for her time as the Toronto Star's boom! section columnist, Sharlene Azam has had quite an impact on the Canadian magazine and newspaper industry. Shortly after receiving an Honours English Literature degree at the University of Toronto, in 1995 she founded "Reluctant Hero," the now-popular quarterly magazine written by Canadian girls for Canadian girls aged 11-19. While still continuing to edit Reluctant Hero, in 1997 Sharlene started up "Squeeze Magazine," a career-focused publication written by Canadian youths and distributed in high schools. That same year, she was named one of the "100 Canadians to Watch" by Maclean's Magazine.

Impressed by her success, the Toronto Star offered her a job as a feature writer. While there, she was asked to redesign and edit their weekly youth section in September of 1999, when it was renamed the "boom!" section. She continued to write weekly columns for that section until she left in October 2001. During her time at the Star, Sharlene wrote about a variety of youth-related issues, many with a focus on South Asians. The topics of her articles ranged from Toronto public libraries and local musical talent to her travels to India and China in 2001.

Sharlene still continues to work on Reluctant Hero and Squeeze Magazine, and has just published her first book with Harper Collins called "Rebel, Rogue, Mischievous Babe." As well, last year The Body Shop named her one of "Twenty Women We Admire."

Recently, MyBindi.com contributor Richard Young caught up with Sharlene and talked with her about her career and time at the Toronto Star.

When you first entered the magazine and newspaper industries, how did your parents react?

Well, my parents have always been really supportive of anything that I've wanted to do, but I think my dad was a little bit disappointed that I went into journalism, since he always thought I would go into law. But that changed as soon as the magazines started doing well, and they were very proud when I started working at the Star.

How would you define the Toronto Star's boom! section and your role as the editor of the section?

The target market for boom! is 16 to 30, and the section is really a combination of arts, entertainment, and information relevant to that group. My job was to seek out and nurture writers, but also to do a lot of writing myself. As the editor, I really enjoyed starting the section and giving it shape and direction. But later on I found that I was just getting embroiled in the details, so I just went to writing and kept my column.

What was an average week like as a boom! section columnist?

There's no average week, although every Wednesday and Thursday you have deadlines to submit material. As a columnist, deadline pressure was both exciting and exhausting, because you have to have something to say every week that is important, relevant and sometimes a little personal.

What were some of your most memorable moments at the Toronto Star?

There were a lot of highs. Hosting the star's high school newspaper awards two years in a row was definitely one of them. Every year, students enter their work and after the judging they attend the awards ceremony. It was really exciting to be able to share my experiences as a writer and encourage young people to follow their passion.

The best thing about my job was probably the mail that I received in response to my work. Most of it was really positive, and some of it was negative. But I valued feedback from people that hated my work told me how much they hated it, because at least I knew that people were reading it.

What are your thoughts on the South Asian presence, and of the minority presence in general, in the newspaper industry?

Well, one of the things that I tried to bring to the Star's attention, and this came through in quite a few of my stories, is just how few South Asians and minorities are at the Star. On my floor alone there were 400 reporters, but only about five or six of visible minority full-time staff. The Star is a fairly progressive organization and, I think their internship program is one area in which they lead most of the media in this country. A lot of the interns are now visible minorities.

At any time during your career in the media industry, did you ever feel that your South Asian background was a barrier to your success?

I don't think so. If anything were a barrier to my success, it was probably my age. A lot of people don't take someone who's 23 or 24 seriously when they're requesting interviews with publishing companies about starting up a magazine.

Any surprises or problems that you encountered you when you started working at the Star?

I had never worked in a corporation before, so I didn't know what to expect. But one of the things that surprised me was that they really want to see you in the office; I thought writing was a solitary pursuit done in the middle of the night, not necessarily between the hours of 9 and 5.

One of the main problems in the industry is that there is a sink-or-swim mentality. There's not a lot of nurturing, and I think that's actually a problem in the industry. There's no real mentorship.

Why not?

Well, look at the climate. Everyone is worried about their jobs. At most places, people are looking over their backs, thinking that the "new young thing" is going to take your job if you're not careful. The morale just isn't there.

At the Star, I tried to form relationships with people who I thought were exceptional writers, and they would often be willing to look over my work. But the problem with not having "formal" mentorship, and this was one of the reasons I left, is that I felt that I wasn't growing as a writer. I felt I had peaked and that something had to happen. Either I needed to move into another area or I needed some attention.

So what's next on your agenda?

I'm taking the next couple months to think about what I would like to do next. I'm not in any hurry, simply because I feel like I've worked really hard over the past seven years. I'm not going to embark on a project that I'm not really passionate about because I've learned that, although there is a lot of satisfaction in making some money, there is much more satisfaction in doing something that you really care about.

Lastly, do you have any advice for the budding writers or journalists out there?

It's wise to specialize, or at least know a lot about a particular area. My area of interest is youth. I personally don't like telling people to specialize, because I think that there aren't enough renaissance people in the world. But there is great value in knowing a lot about a subject you care about and being able to write about it well.

Thanks Sharlene, and good luck in all you do!


Links for Sharlene Azam:

www.thestar.ca (Sharlene's archived columns at the Toronto Star)

Sharlene's book "Rebel, Rogue, Mischievous Babe" (Indigo review)

To contact Sharlene, send an email to sharleneazam@hotmail.com