By Gianna Piscitelli
From the small town of Branford to New York City, Branford High graduate Kelly Laske, 29, has lots to share about her journey of becoming the social media manager at Page Six at the NY Post.
Laske talked to the BHS journalism students last week in class to help them better understand the true world of journalism, reporting and social media.
Ever since she was a student at BHS, Laske’s dream has always been to become a reporter. She graduated from Branford in 2012 and started out majoring in English at Providence College. Even though journalism wasn’t a major there she still knew that journalism was her dream and that studying English would only benefit her in the long run.
Once she was out of college, she was determined to make her way into the world of reporting.
“It is a very ruthless industry, it is very hard to get your foot in the door,” said Laske. But she said that didn’t stop her.
She knew that she would have to start from the absolute bottom and work her way up.
She had many internships along the way, but her internship with “The Knot” was the most influential. This is where she was able to start doing what she had always wanted to do. She was helping with the social media platforms, posting information to the public and making it exciting.
This led to her first big job at US Weekly, where she was the social media editor and was in charge of their social media platforms. This is where she gained her confidence with posting and started to put her own twist on it. She definitely started to feel the pressure of being in charge of a well known organization.
It is “one big competition everyday,” she said. It is always important to be the first person to get the information out, she said.
After being with US Weekly for 3 years, she got an offer from the NY Post to become the social media editor of Page Six. She accepted, and says she is the happiest she has ever been there.
She loves the freedom they have given her at Page Six to basically post whatever she wants and whatever she thinks will gain the most traction to their page which is what it’s all about.
Even though Kelly Laske is very happy with where she is at in her career right now, she is always thinking about what could possibly be the next best thing for her to take her career even further.
This is the third year in a row she has visited Branford High School to talk to students. She said she likes coming back to Branford High School to talk to students about her career and their futures.
Editor's note: Gianna Piscitelli is a student in Mr. Miller's Digital Journalism class.
