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Using Her Writing Skills to Change Popular Media for the Better

Grace Johnson ’23 says her devotion to storytelling, reading, and writing began at an early age. For fun, she spent time crafting stories and poems for friends and family, creating content for her blog, and writing her own book reviews. These creative outlets gave her a chance to use her imagination, express her feelings, and hone her craft. 

 

As she got older, she began to connect this passion with her real-world experiences as she lived life as a Black woman. She wasn’t satisfied with how women like her were portrayed in popular media, and she wondered: As an ardent storyteller, could she find a way to help change the narrative in television and film? 

 

“I’m very passionate about that topic,” Johnson explains. “If what they show on the screen about Black women is negative, then I feel like it has a real and tangible impact on our lives. Maybe I can write new stories and change the way marginalized people are portrayed.” 

 

She began her journey at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Media and Cinema Studies with minors in Interdisciplinary African American Studies and French.  

 

During her undergraduate program, she realized she wasn’t interested in becoming a cinematographer. Instead, she wanted to stick with what she loved most—writing and production—and looked for ways to improve those skills. 

 

After applying for a Roger Ebert Fellowship in Arts Criticism during her junior year, Johnson was selected as one of three fellows based on her review of I May Destroy You, a British Black comedy-drama television series. Through the fellowship, she worked closely with Michael Phillips, a film critic for the Chicago Tribune, to strengthen her writing and storytelling across a wide range of platforms. 

 

The fellows routinely gathered with Phillips to work on writing exercises, critique each other’s work, and experiment with new platforms as they focused on critical thinking, arts and entertainment criticism, and interpretative journalism. 

 

After graduation, Johnson decided to look for a graduate program that would help her continue to build on this education and learn more about business acumen in film and television. 

 

“I was looking for something that could give me an edge,” she explains, “and a program that would support me in making something of my own. I considered an MBA but wanted something I knew I would be interested in and passionate about. Northwestern’s MS in Leadership for Creative Enterprises program perfectly merged creativity with that business angle. It seemed like it would lead me to producing something of my own and putting into work everything I had studied to that point.” 

 

Johnson says the program is helping her do just that. In Understanding the Creative Industries, a class led by Associate Professor Jacob Smith, she gained hands-on knowledge by pitching a transmedia franchise idea that explored ways to experience content on various platforms. “My group focused on an animated film called Entergalactic, and we brainstormed how the film could come to life through live events or using an Oculus to visit an art gallery. The projects give me the opportunity to meet so many types of people from different industries and hear their thoughts and approaches.” 

 

She also enjoyed Arts and Entertainment Law and Ethics taught by Professor Rick Morris, which gave her a better understanding of the proper ways to launch creative works when it comes to contracts and copyrights. 

 

If she decides to run her own business in the future, Johnson says that Pablo Boczkowski’s Organizational Processes in Creative Enterprises course has given her new ways to approach leadership when it comes to strategy, politics, and culture.  

 

“Whatever I do, I want to make sure my work has an impact on people, allows me to be creative, and provides resources to those who need them,” she describes. “I have an interest in brainstorming something creative and then seeing it come to life. What I’m learning here will be valuable whether I work with a company and give my input or start something of my own.” 

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