By Madeline Greene, GCC Student

On Wednesday October 20th, one of Gateway’s journalism classes interviewed former WTNH news correspondent and current Director of Multimedia Communications for Hartford Healthcare, Jocelyn Maminta. Maminta encouraged the students in attendance to seek out careers for which they are passionate, shared stories about her involvement in nonprofit endeavors, her experiences working as a minority woman of color, and her over twenty years as a reporter and news anchor, during which time she earned an Emmy Award nomination.

Maminta’s career began with an internship at WUSA, followed by jobs at television stations across the country. Her career path is an inspiring one, and she encouraged students in the journalism class to find and pursue their own passions. During her video chat visit with the class, students were able to find out more about this accomplished former journalist and gain advice in return.

As for her advice for aspiring journalists? Maminta says simply “write well and speak well… if you’re able to do that, those two skills will carry you throughout life.”

Maminta’s own connection to Gateway extends back further than the class’s meeting with her. She was a mentor to a young Gateway student years ago through a program at the college, in which she helped her mentee pursue a career in journalism. After meeting several times, Maminta eventually helped her secure a job at News 8, which she still has.

Her attitude towards uplifting others extends not just to students, but to minorities in their fields experiencing challenges because of this. She focuses specifically on women, and says, “I’ve always celebrated other women and their accomplishments… I think it’s really important that women celebrate other women and to encourage others to do the same.”

Maminta says she faced obstacles herself being a woman of color, and recalls, “many people thought I just got the job because of how I looked. So I really did work harder than most people to prove that I could do it.”

She found many advantages to the challenges she faced. Maminta recalled that while on the job as a reporter, she was able to gain trust easier when interviewing people from neighborhoods which her white coworkers could not. Not only that, but she became an inspiration to viewers who looked like her. Maminta recalls, “that had an impact, the fact that I was a woman of color on television and how [they were] able to really identify with me.”

Maminta says that in addition to her work at Hartford Healthcare, she has expanded her world into volunteerism. She says of this work, “when you’re given a role like mine that is so visible, you need to do what you can to improve the lives of those in your community.” She sits on the Board of Friends of Yale New Haven Children’s Hospital, the March of Dimes, an organization that advocates for the health of mothers and babies, and the Arts Council of Greater New Haven.

As an accomplished and well-respected person in her field, Maminta was able to educate a journalism class about her real-life experiences, and encouraged students to pursue journalism or any other field they choose with passion and integrity.