Ep 8: Barbara Woolsey - Canadian Freelance Journalist (Reuters, Guardian, Telegraph, Lonely Planet Guidebooks) - a podcast by Ling Yah

Barbara Woolsey is a Canadian freelance journalist currently based in Berlin, Germany and our guest for Episode 8 of the So This Is My Why podcast. 

Who is Barbara Woolsey?

Barbara Woolsey was raised on the Canadian prairies in a culturally-vibrant family. She is of Filipino, Scottish and Irish heritage - a unique background that meant that she was quite unlike anyone else she knew while growing up!

We explore the question of identity, particularly as a first generation immigrant in Canada, as well as her first exposure and reconciliation with the Filipino part of her identity while carrying out an internship with Bangkok Post - Thailand’s leading English daily. 

Prior to becoming a freelance journalist, Barbara worked for the Bangkok Post, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) as a television and radio reporter, and In Channel (formerly True Visions 92), a former English-language channel in Bangkok. Some of the things we discussed included: 

• working in a country where she was not versed in the local language; and 
• the realities of being on camera and being exposed to harsh criticism concerning her looks on social media. 

Life as a Freelance Journalist

As a freelance journalist, Barbara has covered a wide range of topics, including lifestyle, culture, food, travel, and politics, for a variety of publications: Reuters, The Guardian, The Telegraph, USA Today, AFAR, Condé Nast Traveler, Tasting Table, Thrillist, Time Out, Roads & Kingdoms, Vice, and others.

She has also interviewed a wide range of people including politicians, Berlin DJs, hotel maids, Venezuelan gang members, transgender sex workers in the Netherlands & Bernard Trink (who wrote weekly column “Nite Owl” for 40 years in Bangkok World - a publication then known as Bangkok Post)

If you have ever wondered what it’s like to become a freelance journalist, then this is the episode for you!

Other Topics Discussed:

• How Barbara reinvented herself time and again while living in Thailand and therefore, Germany;
• How she submerged herself in the local journalism scene;
• How she uncovered writing opportunities for herself & established herself as a journalist; 
• Fees generated as a freelance journalist; 
• Some of her more “dangerous” writing assignments (hint: hanging out with Venezuelan gang members!); 
• How she crafted a work/life balance for herself; 
• How Barbara stands out with her writing; 
• The impact of COVID-19; and
• Whether journalism work done virtually is as good as when done in person. 

Fun Fact: Barbara has also emceed the Digital Innovation Awards (DIA) in Bangkok in 2013, and participated in a panel on travel journalism in 2014. And in 2018, she moderated the Digital Science Match, a gathering of over 1,000 science and tech specialists, put on by the German daily newspaper Tagesspiegel in Berlin.

Show Notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/8

Further episodes of So This Is My Why

Further podcasts by Ling Yah

Website of Ling Yah