Photojournalist finds passion producing podcasts

‌

Jonathan Capehart/The Washington Post

Carol Alderman '14, left, records a podcast in November 2017 with Hillary Rodham Clinton for Cape Up, hosted by The Washington Post Jonathan Capehart.

Carol Alderman’s ‘ah-ha’ moment came late in her junior year of college. She didn’t want to leave a family gathering to work on her own photojournalism project, but when a classmate asked for help, she was willing to put her family on hold.

She met with William Snyder, chair of RIT’s photojournalism program, and they came up with a pathway to becoming a photo editor. And that led to a job as a multimedia editor for USA Today College right after graduation.

“Just because you are in a certain degree or learning a very specific thing doesn’t mean that’s the path you have to follow,” said Alderman ’14 (photojournalism), whose path has taken a few turns since graduation.

Today, Alderman is an audio producer at The Washington Post working on podcast production and development.

Alderman said she got to where she is today because she never turned down an opportunity. As a student, she landed a photo editor internship at USA Today after meeting the newspaper’s photo editor during a class networking trip to Washington, D.C.

When the internship was ending, she met with the general manager for USA Today College and pitched a full-time position.

“I said, ‘I made myself a job. Can I have it?’ And he said, ‘sure,’” Alderman said. “Knowing what I know now, I might not be so bold, but it worked in the moment.”

She managed the Collegiate Correspondent Program, overseeing a team of 10 student journalists. Since her title was multimedia editor, Alderman’s boss assumed that she knew everything about multimedia and one day asked her to produce a podcast.

“I said, ‘OK,’ because I just say yes to everything,” she said. “I went home and Googled how to make a podcast.”

It was a steep learning curve that included talking to experts and reading books, but Alderman realized that she enjoyed telling audio stories. In 2016, she joined The Washington Post where she could do podcasts full time.

She does everything from episode conception to recording interviews with hosts, writing, editing, finding music and publishing. She also works with public relations to promote the final work.

Two of her favorite podcasts have been Can He Do That?, which explores the powers and limitations of the American presidency with host Allison Michaels, and Letters From War, a mini-series highlighting letters written between brothers fighting in World War II. The letters are read by veterans.

“Storytelling is the one constant through this weird little path I have taken,” Alderman said. “I am constantly telling stories and crafting these narratives that I think are really important for the world to hear. I learn something new every single day, no matter what I’m working on.”