Writing
“A word after a word after a word is power.”
— Margaret Atwood
How it all started
In the summer of Grade 4, I got my first device, a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4. This small device had 8GB of storage and a 7-inch display, but as an 8-year-old, that didn’t matter, I was hooked.
This tablet fascinated me to an extent I hadn’t experienced before, and that’s when I discovered consumer electronics. Fast forward about 6 months, I was watching the likes of Marques Brownlee and Jonathan Morrison, and reading the Verge, Android Authority, and any other outlet that did tech reviews. These devices were remarkable and these creators allowed me to have a front-row seat to observe all of these new innovations that were happening in front of me. I wanted to be a part of this community because I wanted to see and hold these new devices myself, but at the same time, I had no experience whatsoever.
In 2017, I bought my second device, a Samsung Galaxy Tab S3. I practically begged my parents to let me buy this expensive new tablet because, at the time, it was the thinnest tablet on the market. I’m so glad they did because, with this tablet, I discovered Samsung Members. Samsung Members is a community forum for Samsung customers to ask questions and discuss all things Samsung.
I joined the community and participated in a lot of the contests and competitions that happened over there and I won a couple of great things like a Galaxy Watch! In 2020, I decided to use the community forum to share everything I had learned about photography, and that became a short series of guides where I went over camera fundamentals and basic photo-editing on Lightroom Mobile.
By the end of the year, I had greatly improved my skills as a writer, and I wanted to write for an actual publication, but again, I had no real “experience” or education. Despite this large obstacle, I cold-emailed at least 20-40 different people asking if I could write for their publication; I got rejected by all of them except one.
MakeUseOf was hiring freelance writers and I applied to their publication on January 2nd of 2021. I used my guides from Samsung Members as a basis for my writing skills, and after some back-and-forth emails, they hired me and let me go through a training program to learn the ins and outs of using WordPress. I would write 30 articles, 15 of which were product reviews before I end up in my current position at Android Authority.
The best $800 I ever spent.
I wrote 4 articles before I decided I wanted to write product reviews, but there was a problem. I had no prior experience, and the reviews team wasn’t going to let some random freelancers into their exclusive group, so I came up with an idea.
I convinced my parents to buy the Galaxy S21. I told them that if I could have access to this phone, I could write a review and recoup the money within a couple of months. I used this new phone to convince my editor to teach me to write reviews, and that’s what became my first official review.
Right back to where it started.
With my first review and some basic networking skills on LinkedIn, I reached out to as many press contacts as possible. I wanted to work with the brands that inspired me to begin with, and after about 7 months, I had already worked with some of my favourite companies, all thanks to that purchase of the Galaxy S21. Today, I write at Android Authority, the publication I was reading back in Grade 4. I’m a part of their Reviews team, and I love every minute of it.
