Media student mixing it with Hollywood’s future stars

Unpaid jobs couldn’t get much better for Josephine Boye, as she gets the chance to mingle with Hollywood’s rising stars at a press junket for a blockbuster movie.

Josephine, a second year Marketing Management and Multimedia Journalism student at the University of Northampton, is balancing full time studies with a regular voluntary job as head of PR and marketing and go-to reporter for Blacpire magazine.

Launched in 2017, Blacpire is an independent British music, fashion, film and culture magazine that amplifies the voices of those interested in black culture worldwide.

In her most high-profile assignment yet for Blacpire, Josephine interviewed the stars of The First Purge movie including EastEnders and Mandem On The Wall actor, Joivan Wade.

Josephine talked to Joivan about landing his first Hollywood role and making the switch from comedy to horror.

Although seeming to take it all in her stride on camera, Josephine admits the experience was quite daunting. She said: “It was very nerve-racking but exciting at the same time. Joivan was so sweet to talk to and made you feel very comfortable.”

You can watch the interview in full here:

Josephine has worked tirelessly for the magazine since she found the opportunity by chance, whilst browsing online.

She said: “The opportunity came about when I was scrolling through Twitter, and the magazine at the time was called ‘Culture For Us, By Us’. They were looking for writers so I applied as a writer and was writing on the page weekly. However, when speaking to the editor they asked if I could be head of PR and marketing because of some of the extra work I was doing.

“I have interviewed a lot of people from, the Black Beauty Fashion Awards, to vox pops on the street and on the radio.”

Josephine balances several other voluntary jobs with her University studies, which involves a lot of commuting and sacrificing free time, but she has her eyes on the prize.

She added: “I take part in a lot of extra journalism-related activities, most are located in London and on the weekends, so I’ll go to events, and so on, then come back to Northampton on the Sunday. It can be very draining.

“I try my best to balance it all by doing Uni work during the weekdays and going to the events and interviews on weekends, but as long as I do my work early and plan, then it doesn’t really get in the way.

“After I graduate I hope to move to London and get a job at a media outlet as well as do freelance work and just get as much experience as I can.”

For more information on Marketing Management, please visit the course page.

For more information on Multimedia Journalism, please visit the course page.