On this special episode of Sword and Pen, host Lori King spoke with four attendees during the 2023 MVJ Convention held Oct. 5-7 in New York City.

First up at the mic was Dan Clare, a Marine Corps and Air National Guard veteran. He was a military public affairs officer for 17 years, and is now the director of communications for DAV, Disabled American Veterans, who sponsored the MVJ Career Fair.

Dan talked about his experience as the burn pit whistleblower, the value of having veteran voices in the media, and about his hope that veterans get hired in journalism at the career fair, where he operated a booth for DAV and sat on the Shaping News Coverage of Disabilities panel.

Patrick Martin is an army airborne infantry veteran from Charlotte, North Carolina. He graduated from Columbia University - Graduate School of Journalism - and is now a producer for the NBC News Health and Medical Unit.

Patrick came to the convention to give a tour of the NBCUniversal studio at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, and sat on the NBC panel. He talked about how important it is to get veterans into newsrooms, as well as his role as an NBC producer.

Evgenia Vlasova is a Brooklyn-based video producer, editor and educator. She has been teaching at the New York Film Academy for eight years. Evgenia is not a veteran, but she is a member of MVJ. She spoke about the power of storytelling and how she helps her students adjust to the big city.

She talked about how her veteran students have discipline, being a broadcast journalist in her homeland of Russia, and how the media there is government controlled. She is currently seeking her citizenship.

Juan Carpanzano hails from Bogota, Colombia and lives in New York City. He is a marine veteran who spent five years with Combat Camera.

He is an advance media studies major at Fordham University, concentrating in photojournalism. He talked about his belief that everyone has a voice, and offered this for advice: Push, push, push, and be confident in yourself!

Connect with the guests!

Dan Clare: ⁠X | DAV.org

Patrick Martin: LinkedIn profile | NBC Health News

Evgenia Vlasova: Instagram

Juan Carpanzano: Instagram

Sword and Pen is a Military Veterans in Journalism production, and is brought to you monthly by host Lori King

Lori King: X ⁠⁠⁠@intro2pj⁠⁠⁠ | Instagram | Website

Got an idea for a podcast guest? Shoot me an email at ⁠⁠⁠lorikingblog@gmail.com⁠⁠⁠

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Sword and PenBy Military Veterans in JournalismMar 01, 2022