Libby Armstrong

Current job
Public Affairs Specialist, Virgin Australia.

Degree
Bachelor of Journalism, 2010.

First job
I was the editor of rugby union website www.rugbyunion.com.au

The story so far
I was extremely fortunate to gain employment as the Editor of www.rugbyunion.com.au prior to graduating in 2010. This position stemmed from work experience done while at QUT, and although the website folded in early 2011 this really set me up with some fantastic skills, including the all-important sub-editing.

I quickly gained work experience at Nova 106.9 in Brisbane, where I took to radio like a fish to water. Interestingly, radio was not my strongest subject while at QUT however with some voice coaching I was trained up as the backup breakfast newsreader. During this time I also did casual work at Hot 91 on the Sunshine Coast and River 94.9 in Ipswich. In December 2011 I received a call from the News Director at Nova 96.9 in Sydney telling me they had been listening and offered me a job in the newsroom. It was a dream come true. From there I was put on a steep learning curve. I was out on the road for about 3 months – attending press conferences and reading the odd bulletin here and there as well as weekend work. Then, sadly, I went through my first newsroom restructure – something which has become far too common in our industry. All the News Directors in the country were made redundant and I was quickly moved into the Drive position on Nova 96.9 which was bittersweet as I had lost a mentor in the process.

At 23 – and through good luck, hard work and being in the right place at the right time, I was offered the Breakfast Newsreader position for Fitzy & Wippa in Sydney. I had achieved everything I had ever wanted to in radio and naturally I was starting to look for the next challenge. I enjoyed 12 wonderful months on air with the boys but after their team underwent some changes, my second restructure came which was the most heartbreaking of all. Management had decided they wanted a male newsreader, and thus my time in the coveted breakfast spot had come to an end.

I turned my attention to television and was lucky enough to gain employment (in the building next door) at Channel Ten as the Senior News Writer and Producer of the ill-fated Wake Up. I have never learnt so much so quickly and all of a sudden I was putting to air six bulletins to a national audience. Cue another restructure. Wake Up wasn’t performing as well as the business had anticipated and our last day on air was May 23, 2014.

That morning I received a call from Channel Nine in Sydney offering me an interview which eventuated into a full time freelance role in the Nine Newsroom in Sydney. I stayed there for three months but it was time to get out of a newsroom.

Amazingly, I was offered a position in the Public Relations team at Virgin Australia in August 2014. It was difficult coming to terms with not being a broadcast journalist anymore and there are certain elements of the buzz of a newsroom I do miss, however after starting work at 1am, 2am, 3am and every other ‘am’ prior to dawn for the past four years, it was time to get some sleep, work Monday to Friday and deal with pesky journalists rather than being one!