An interview with Dhruti Shah
by Blessed Smith
A woman of many talents, Dhruti Shaw has an impressive collection of experience in the world of media with a background in Journalism, coaching, public speaking and more. Dhruti’s most recent activities include the launch of ‘Have You Thought About’ a podcast for those at a reckoning. This podcast accompanies the Have You Thought About newsletter, which can be found at www.dhrutishah.com. Dhruti’s journey is one that showcases the potential for variety in every person courageous enough to try new and different things and take chances.
Dhruti Shah’s desire to become a journalist began as a child, at 8 years old when her apparent love for storytelling made way for a path into the discipline of journalism.
The ‘Newsround’ programme on CBBC which encouraged children to consider journalism as a career prospect acted as inspiration for Dhruti and further prompted her interest in media and news.
Dhruti humorously reminisces on having journalists and comic book characters like Clark Kent and Lois Lane as role models growing up which ultimately emphasised her love of stories as a child which led her to her current career.
A great challenge for journalists “is the struggle to gain experience without any connections”, Dhruti recognises. Like many industries, breaking into the media industry is often a strenuous journey for those without any immediate connections to professionals with the ability to give a leg up.
Luckily for Dhruti, a woman named Barbara Fisher took Dhruti under her wing and gave her work experience at the Uxbridge Gazette, a local newspaper where she published her first piece on the school page. Dhruti wholesomely tells Wempower about her beloved scrapbook which contains every story written during her childhood, including her first story about the opening of a garden centre in the local community.
After many years as an accomplished journalist, Dhruti’s advice on what makes a good story should be heard by anyone looking to make a name for themselves in the media industry. According to Dhruti, a good story engages the target audiences and doing this begins with “making sure that [the] basics are covered”. Dhruti tells Wempower, “I will always get a notepad and I will always write physically: who, what, why, when, where, how”.
Expanding on the concept of a good story, Dhruti says, “a good story is something that makes you think differently”. A good piece of journalism, in Dhruti’s opinion, leaves the reader with something interesting enough to spark up a conversation between the reader and their friends and family.
Despite her accolades and current success in the field of journalism, Dhruti admits that as a child she was very shy and had to become confident if she wanted to properly pursue her career in the media. Dhruti says, “As a journalist, you have to really be shameless…you can’t be shy”.
A sense of confidence alongside a network of useful connections is a crucial ingredient for flourishing in the media industry.
“Take ownership of your own voice”- being impartial and having a personal writing style are not concepts that are mutually exclusive. Shah believes that it is important to encourage young journalists to be themselves in conjunction with following the writing guidelines for whichever publication they work for.
Whilst acknowledging that mentoring and sponsorship are two different things, Dhruti is also aware of the overlap that exists between the ideas.
With mentoring, many different aspects of life can be covered, not just whatever career the mentee is pursuing. For example, finances, building relationships and confidence are all areas through which a person can receive effective mentoring. Mentoring occurs on a more personal level between a more experienced professional and a less experienced person potentially hoping to reach their mentor’s level of success.
Sponsoring, on the other hand, is defined by Dhruti as “putting other people’s names on the table, especially when they’re not there.” This requires the involvement of other professionals who can offer opportunities to aspiring professionals. Unfortunately, underrepresented groups are neglected due to the consistent lack of connections for marginalised members of society. Dhruti suggests that the importance of mentoring should be widely accepted for sponsoring, particularly for people who are commonly overlooked in the field of journalism.
Dhruti also beautifully articulates the very necessary addition of active support regarding opportunities given to marginalised groups rather than having under-experienced individuals thrown into the deep end. In offering this extra help to disadvantaged aspiring journalists by promoting equity, they are given the boost needed to be able to compete with peers who have already been given a head start.
After spending 15 years in the news industry, Dhruti recognises that representation in the news has improved somewhat over the years, however, she still believes that there are many more drastic developments that need to be solidified in order for the diversity rates in the newsroom to improve.
Speaking from her own experience, Dhruti sheds light on the many challenges that are still faced by many despite these advancements in inclusion over the past few years “glass ceilings, issues around equal pay, issues around fair pay [and] gender equality still exist”.
In 2021, Dhruti decided that her career needed a change and after working for the BBC for 14 years, she took a leap of faith and became a freelance journalist. This pivotal point in her life came about during the pandemic when Dhruti listened to people impacted by the deaths of their loved ones at the hands of COVID-19, prompting her to look within and think about who she wanted to be and what legacy she wanted to leave behind.
Whilst Dhruti is happy with her freelancing journey, she also recognises that it can be lonely at times due to the lack of collaboration with other professionals. That’s how ‘Have You Thought About’ came to be. A podcast where Dhruti can speak to guests with interesting and aspirational backgrounds where the listener, as well as Dhruti, gets to learn about these people’s lives and careers.
Podcasting, improv acting, judging awards, coaching and being a published author are a few of the many arbitrary ventures Dhruti has embarked on since leaving the BBC and now acknowledges that her mental health has drastically improved during this process of finding herself.
Dhruti Shah’s first book, ‘Bear Markets and Beyond’ bloomed from her fascination surrounding the use of animal-related terms in the business world and so she created a guide to explain these terms after seeing that such a book didn’t already exist. Despite its current popularity, Dhruti experienced mass rejection when pitching this book to publishers during the pandemic. However, her will to persevere was stronger than her disappointment and now Dhruti can add being a published author to her artillery of experience.
Our last question for Dhruti on this episode of The Wempower Podcasts asked her to reflect back on her childhood self and give a word of advice. Her answer goes as follows: “Listen less to what other people think about you… because you will always be slightly irritating to somebody and it’s not because of who you are, it’s just because of their perception of what you represent.”
Wempower would like to thank Dhruti Shah for participating in this episode of The Wempower Podcast’s new series “Behind the headlines, the missing narratives of women journalists”, and also a special thank you to those tuning in. You can listen to the full episode here or watch it on YouTube.
