“Trying out a bunch of things is how you find the lane you want to go in.”
Shyla Duff has been a Social Media Associate Producer for PBS News Hour and Washington Week with the Atlantic. She grew up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and she graduated from Coastal Carolina University with a BA in Digital Culture and Design and a film minor. She held multiple internships at PBS NOVA and the Wall Street Journal.
About
Shyla Duff grew up in Myrtle Beach, SC. She first attended College of Charleston, transferred to the University of South Carolina, and finally transferred again to Coastal Carolina University where she majored in digital culture and design and took a minor in film. Duff’s determination to find the best fit for school paid off quickly. “Trying out a bunch of things is how you find the lane you want to go in,” she says. At Coastal, she also discovered her passion for history and local stories while working as a videographer and video editor at The Athenaeum Press, the university’s student-driven publishing lab, on the Gullah Geechee Digital Archive.
Duff’s first internship was at PBS NOVA, breaking down complex scientific documentaries into more readily consumable video clips on social media for a younger audience. She produced a top-performing video for NOVA on the origin of cannabis which featured women scientists of color. She then interned with the Wall Street Journal’s podcast, The Journal, creating 20-minute segments on business and political news that regular people could digest on their commute. “I was missing video that whole time,” she says. “But it gave me, like, firsthand newsroom experience.” She used that experience as an associate producer for PBS News Hour. She worked with their two political shows, including Washington Week, a partnership with The Atlantic magazine. She focuses on producing videos for social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram.
Duff recommends that people looking for jobs in a creative field make sure they have a strong, attention-grabbing cover letter. She believes in the power of a good portfolio, specifically one that includes an editing reel for aspiring videographers. She also emphasizes the importance of maximizing one’s educational background while one can. “If someone’s interested in video specifically, I would say add the film minor,” she says. “One hundred percent, do the film minor, and do an internship.” Her outlook on tackling a new job is one of refreshing confidence in herself and her managers. “You can’t really do a bad job unless you’re not trying,” she says. “They want to see me succeed. They want to see me learn. I can do it.”
