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Angie Joe


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An active Houston member shares her thoughts on coming over from the "dark side" into reporting, as well as on life in the "Space City."

Born and raised in New Orleans, Angie Joe attended college in Baton Rouge at Louisiana State University, and moved to Houston in 1998. She did a reverse reporter-public relations track, working as an account executive at Weber Shandwick and a media representative at the University of Houston before reporting at Platts, a petrochemical trade publication.

Here she shares her thoughts on coming from "the dark side":
My path is not a typical one. For about 10 years, I worked in public affairs/media relations for two agencies and in higher education.
While at the University of Houston, my managers were two print veterans. They were great mentors with no tolerance for generic leads or happy quotes that didn't advance the story. I would have never been able to land my current job without the experiences I had at UH.
Today I am a reporter/analyst for Platts, which offers a real-time news service to the energy and metals industries. On the analyst side, I interview producers, buyers, distributors about petrochemical supply and demand to assess the price. On the news side, I write about market dynamics (plant outages, shipping, export/imports, etc.) as well as corporate news (earnings, M&As, exchange rates) and anything that might affect my market. For instance, one product in my portfolio goes into toys, which led me to write about the massive recalls. It's not for everyone, but I really enjoy figuring out how all of the above aspects come together.
Coming over from the dark-side has led me to a few observations. One, I am really surprised at the number of PR people who don't respond to inquiries. If I was unresponsive to a journalist in one of my previous roles, I could have easily been fired. Two, I get a good laugh when someone gives me a thinly veiled/canned response. They usually start off with "At this time, we cannot confirm..." or "Our company's policy is to not disclose...." I can't help but smile to myself and think, "I'm so glad I don't have to do THAT any more."
I can also say that the biggest misconception about PR people is that flacks make significantly more money than reporters. Only a handful make even close to six figures, and those jobs aren't necessarily ones that you want. These positions are typically at large corporations, in specialized industries like health care or energy, and in some cases for PR agencies. They also require lots of overtime, sometimes canceled vacations and lots and lots of mindless meetings about nothing. On the other hand, you have a phat office.


Here she shares her thoughts on living in Houston:
I absolutely love Houston. Many people don't care for it, because there isn't much green, the city is not zoned, and it's a product of urban sprawl, with congested freeways and smog-filled air. For me, it's a diamond in the rough, with a bunch of everything across a huge area. You're bound to come across something you like. It just takes some time.
Where else can you listen to down-home blues in a smoky dive; enjoy the wild sites at an art car parade; lose yourself in an Italian opera; scream your head off at professional soccer/hockey/baseball/football game; find a museum of funeral history; eat chorizo breakfast tacos in the morning, grab real-deal dim sum at lunch, splurge at a five-star restaurant that serves the finest foie gras for dinner, and if you're still hungry consume a honking piece of chicken fried steak smothered in cream gravy?
Houston is also a great place for Asian Americans. It boasts a large Chinatown with large Asian markets, Little Saigon Radio, even a radio station for South Asians, Chinese language newspapers, the Korea Times, and any place of worship you can possibly imagine.

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