With great power comes great responsibility - Amanda Valani refines her leadership skills and parenting methods as she climbs the corporate ladder in the media industry.
Amanda started her career as a broadcast journalist at news channel Metro TV. “When I was a journalist, I became the creator and the storyteller,” she said. “I made my own work from start to finish. That is exactly what I miss.”
As she assumed a leadership role as head of content creation for Narasi TV, Amanda interpreted creative freedom in a different way. She was no longer the one covering news on the ground, but would spend a considerable amount of time overseeing the work of her colleagues. Also, she developed content strategy plans, provided training to the team, and ran around the clock to achieve business targets.
PR Newswire’s Afif Maulana (Right) chats with Amanda Valani (left), Former Head of Original Content at Narasi TV, on the Behind The Byline Podcast.
“I consider this a new responsibility which gives me different challenges,” Amanda said. She demanded more from her co-workers and asked them to constantly think about purposes, takeaways for the audience, and the tone of voice when creating content.
While Amanda can build a work culture that embraces ingenuity for the team, there is hardly a way to change the work environment. The media industry is synonymous with irregular workdays, long hours, and unpredictable assignments. As a mother of three, Amanda struggled to balance her work and family life. What Amanda and her husband do is to spend quality time discussing their parenting approach and division of housework.
“It is back to us to compromise,” Amanda said. “Be smart and adjust to the pattern of life and work, both emotionally and physically.”
In the eighth episode of PR Newswire’s monthly podcast series, Behind The Byline, Amanda compares the differences between TV and digital media channels, shares how she led a content team, and developed effective content strategy plans. She also touches on the struggle to balance work and family life and how she overcomes it.
The podcast is available on Spotify, Anchor, and YouTube.
Here’re the highlights from the podcast:
1. What are the differences between TV and digital media when it comes to news production?
The difference is creative freedom. When it comes to news format, TV has a relatively predictable visual approach. Take the TV daily news segment as an example, there is a news anchor in the studio reading the news. Then, a live report appears and features some interviews. After that, the news anchor makes a closing.
Digital media has creative freedom to use any artistic elements to tell the story and the news. The content team can change the visual approach in a way to attract as many audiences and netizens as possible.
2. How is your regular workday like?
My workday involves strategy planning, supervision, and overseeing production from start to finish. My role also must meet the company's business targets. It is the job of a manager to sit down together with the team to determine the short-, medium- and long-term strategy. They must have clear directions.
3. As a mother of three, how do you balance your work and life?
Finding that balance is a daily struggle for me. There are bound to be events outside of our plans, my needs as a manager at the office, my needs as a mother at home for my children. For me, the main priority is family. My husband and I always discuss child-rearing and what is the most suitable to do to take good care of the kids.
SOUNDBITES
3m13s: Amanda’s Introduction
5m43s: Differences in news production between TV and digital media channels
8m34s: Indicators of successful content at Narasi TV
13m36s: Amanda on her workday and duties
18m11s: How to balance business demand and content idealism
20m48s: Business strategy of Narasi TV
22m42s: How to pitch a story to Narasi TV
29m00s: How Amanda balances work and family life
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