KTSW’s 30th Birthday: Interview with Alumni Sarah Vasquez

By Autumn McGowan
Web Content Assistant Manager

Sarah Vasquez is the SXSW Audio Sessions Recording Coordinator, Project Manager and Content Producer for Truth Work Media, a freelance journalist, photographer and alumna of the “In the Public Interest” (IPI) department at KTSW.

For KTSW’s 30^th birthday, I talked to Sarah about her time at Texas State and what she’s up to now.

When asked about her favorite part of being a bobcat, Vasquez says it was the people and experiences from KTSW that made her time at Texas State special.

“Most of my memories from Texas State are from KTSW, to be honest. I was a news reporter. I worked on the show In the Public Interest.” Vasquez said, “It was honestly a lot of real experience in terms of producing content for a publication whether it was radio or print. Working with deadlines, working with editors and things like that.”

One memory that sticks out to Vasquez was covering the presidential and local elections in Nov. of 2012. During this time, IPI worked long hours to churn out breaking news and a sense of camaraderie and excitement filled the air.

“We had reporters out in the field, and we had people calling in to give us updates and so we would record them and get them on the air.” Vasquez said, “Just that breaking news feel to it, you know? We all left the newsroom around midnight. We had food brought in and it was just a fun community moment. Like we’re all in this for one thing, to report what’s going on. It didn’t feel stressful. All of us had a really good time doing it.”

Shortly after the elections in December of 2012, Vasquez graduated from Texas State with a degree in print journalism, which she pursued by working for the local paper in Marfa before deciding to become a freelance writer and photographer.

“Texas State got me the two jobs I got out of college. I went to SXSW and I got an internship at Marfa Public Radio.” Vasquez said, “…and that’s what brought me to where I am today which is Marfa and then the original plan was to stay for four months and then move on to the next thing. Then I got a job at the paper here and that’s what kept me. I currently now freelance just covering this area.”

Vasquez also works for a company called Truth Work Media, which helps people create the podcasts of their dreams. Working for KTSW gave Sarah the technical skills she needed to excel in this job as well.

“I am currently the Project Manager and Content Producer for a podcast company called Truth Work Media. I basically ensure that each episode is released on time and all the things that go with it like show notes, social media graphics, videos, etc.” Vasquez said, “I also write some of the content like the show notes and social media captions. My experience with IPI at KTSW has helped me with this job.”

You can keep up with Sarah and her work through her Instagram @sarahmvasquez and on her website.

Featured Image by KTSW Multimedia