Where I carved out my identity as a journalist

It’s impossible to capture my time at The Independent in just a few words. I joined The Indy while I was still in journalism school and stepped into a full-time position right after graduation. Over the past three years, I’ve carved out my identity as a journalist, the type that I strived to be — someone committed to telling the stories of marginalized people whose lives I rarely saw reflected in the news when I was growing up. 

Through this work, I came to know Newfoundland and Labrador in a way I never had before, even though it has always been home. 

I always understood that the fisheries and the waters surrounding us were central to the province. But at The Independent, that understanding deepened. I met women who rise before dawn to haul the first catch of the day and marine researchers who are mapping ocean space so that our many industries and the marine life can coexist, while deepening our understanding of how we are contributing to climate change.

Labrador once felt impossibly far away. After visiting last year and building relationships with residents, it feels closer. Not just geographically, but personally. In high school, Indigenous history was an afterthought, but by listening to Indigenous community members, I began to understand the magnitude of the atrocities — and those that continue. I also came to understand the responsibility I carry both as a journalist and as someone living on this land, to contribute to reconciliation in whatever I can.

As a child, I dreaded being asked where I was from — especially the follow-up: “No, where are you really from?” I hated the question because it felt that too many places shaped who I am to offer a simple answer. And if I am being honest, the question sometimes made me feel like I didn’t belong.

But over the past three years, I have spoken to many newcomers who wear their identities proudly — people who are just as excited to embrace this province as they are to honour where they came from. They taught me that being a Newfoundlander or Labradorian doesn’t diminish the rest of who you are. Adding Pakistani and Montserratian to my identity doesn’t make me any less rooted here. If anything, the blending of many cultures makes our province even more colourful.

Over the last few years, I have carved out a new identity as a journalist at one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s most trusted local news outlets, The Independent. And like every other place that has shaped me, this role will remain part of who I am — even as I step away from it.

I won’t say goodbye because I am not really leaving. I am simply changing positions — from Indy writer to Indy reader.

What I will say is this: Thank you.

Thank you to everyone who continued to read the stories that I wrote.

Thank you to the Indy team for their patience, their guidance, and for helping me become the journalist I dreamed of being.

And thank you to every person who trusted me with their stories, experiences and opinions. And in the process taught me more about our province and showed me how our voices here contribute to conversations far beyond our shores.