Meet Hunter Gilmore | Journalist & Media Professional

We had the good fortune of connecting with Hunter Gilmore and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hunter, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Over the last year, my balance has definitely shifted, and honestly, a big part of that is due to COVID-19. As I’m sure it has with anyone else’s. Last year this time, I was a teacher at a Montessori school and a journalist. I worked full-time hours at the school and after about a year I realized that I wasn’t dedicating as much time as I needed to writing. I promised myself that by March 2020 I would be able to change that. Ironically enough, it just so happened that at that exact time, everything had begun to shut down from the pandemic. The school I was working at closed down and since everything else was closed, I had all of the time in the world to write. Everything else had slowed down or stopped completely. However, the media industry seemed to flourish even more because people needed to stay knowledgeable about what was going on globally while simultaneously needing great content to help entertain them during the quarantine.

Today, my balance has a completely different definition and way that I think about it. I’ve recently reentered the world of PR along with also continuing to write for The Atlanta Voice newspaper, where I’ve been for the last three years. Now-a-days, it’s become quite difficult to decipher when is the perfect time to actually stop working. There is always something that needs to be done. And with working from home and no clocking in as factors, I can find myself engulfed in work all day.

One way I’ve learned to help my work-life balance now is to write down all of the assignments and work that I need to complete in that particular week. I then complete the assignments based on timeliness and the length it would take to complete them. It’s a system that works for me and I find it a lot easier to structure my days.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
Ever since I was little, I’ve loved reading stories. Now, I love writing about people’s stories. When you look around, there are so many people doing such inspiring and positive things, especially within the Black community, and that’s what I love to feature and spotlight in my articles.

If you were to ask any creative if it was easy reaching milestones in their career, most would probably say no. There’s nothing really easy about it. All you can do is work hard and believe in your vision. If you don’t believe in yourself, then who will?
After I graduated from Clark Atlanta University in 2018, I began interning at The Atlanta Voice. When I first started, I felt extremely intimidated because other interns and journalists pitched great stories every week. I, on the other hand, had no idea where to even begin. Marshall Latimore, our editor-in-chief, guided me with awesome advice and truly believed in my craft and my journalistic abilities. I started to build relationships with various publicists throughout the country. Publicists have clients and their clients have brands or events that need coverage. I’m fortunate enough now to where publicists actually come to me instead of me constantly having to reach out to them.

One of the lessons I’ve learned in my career thus far is to keep my eyes and ears open. Those inspiring and positive people I mentioned earlier are right here in my own community and they’re in yours too! I’m always looking for someone to celebrate through my writing.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
That’s funny, my best friend since middle school is actually coming to visit this spring and I couldn’t be more excited! She lives in Los Angeles so I don’t get to see her often, especially with the pandemic but work is bringing her out to Atlanta.

I really love the outdoors so during the week I would take her to places like Piedmont park or the beltline to go for a walk or to ride bikes. Some places I would take her for lunch include Rah Sushi, Red Pepper Taqeria, and Pappadeaux. On Thursday night, I would take her to Jack’s on Highland Avenue. They have discounted pizza, wings and drinks every Thursday! Ponce City Market and Little Five Points are also some of my favorite areas in the city, they have some great places to eat and shop. I would probably take her to Ponce City Market on a Friday night because they have a breathtaking rooftop with lots of fun games and activities. They are really diverse areas so you get to see a little bit of every type of person and culture. Those are fun places that truly highlight how much of a melting pot Atlanta has become.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Of course, other than my amazingly supportive family, I’ve had a couple of really awesome mentors as well. My first mentor was Emmy award-winning videographer and journalist, Anthony White. He first began mentoring me and some of my peers during our junior year of college. We worked at Clark Atlanta University television (CAU-TV) where he taught us how to really hone our journalistic capabilities. He taught us about everything. From wrapping camera cables on the football field to being able to cut a package ready for television. My second and current mentor is TV/film producer and founder of the Atlanta Pitch Summit, Ty Johnston-Chavis. I actually met Ty a few years ago when I was a teacher, her children attended the school I taught at. Ty has always been super supportive of me and my dreams and as of recently has been guiding me with making my transition from journalism into writing and producing for TV.

Website: https://www.theatlantavoice.com/?s=hunter+gilmore

Instagram: @moreehunter

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/huntergilmoree/

Twitter: @moreehunter

Other: https://huntersmediamania.wordpress.com

Image Credits
The Atlanta Voice article: theatlantavoice.com