Highlights from the WIM speaker event with Laura Boyd

By Lucy Podmore

“Remember the things that you are good at - everyone makes mistakes,” Laura Boyd told the Women in Media group at City of Glasgow college. 

Laura Boyd is a presenter, entertainment reporter and winner of the Scottish Influencer of the year award 2022.  

 Laura was asked if she has any involvement in creating news packages;  
“In entertainment particularly you mainly find the stories yourself- social media is key. Stories can be given to you though.  

“In the news -this is happening more and more in the world of media - we are actually MMJ’s (multi-media journalists).” 
Being an MMJ means that they’re camera-trained and editing trained. Boyd admits that quite often you can go out, film a piece, script it, do your own voice-over and edit your own piece. You can even be presenting as well. It is rewarding doing it all yourself.  

When asked about fashion Boyd says, “you kind of fit the style of the interview but I would never change. Obviously dress appropriately but you shouldn’t have to change your style.”  

Laura gave some tips on interviewing. “Prep - do your research if you feel like you're comfortable and know enough about them then it’ll maybe interview so much better.”  
Laura used the example of listening to podcasts or watching other interviews to see what stars have been asked. When going to a junket she prepared by listening to podcasts of Steven Spielberg and the cast for his new movie. Laura explained that it gives you an idea of what they are confident talking about. If they have previously opened up about a subject on another podcast you possibly follow, you can get more out of them about the subject.  

Laura started her media career when she did a week's work experience for STV when she was at university, then when she graduated, she was offered a job a week later. She explains that at Uni media jobs were presented as really hard to get into, but Laura had this to say; 
“People do get jobs in media. It's tough but it's tough in any industry. Having that belief that people do so why not me was important to hold on to.”  

“Get your foot in the door, you learn so much on the job.” she has worked through other departments throughout her years at STV. Before getting the presenter job she did jobs such as; assistant editor, voice-overs, producing and promo-producing so she learned all these different skills while at work.

Laura says that she does still get nervous at times at the junkets, which is natural of course. “Just remembering the things you’re good at - everyone makes mistakes, and no one is absolutely brilliant at what they do.” Laura acknowledges that sometimes she has to give herself a shake, there is a reason that she is in the profession she’s in. Confidence is key, just go for it. “Mistakes are good for learning from.”  

As Laura won Scottish Influencer of the year, she believes it's important to use your platform to speak about things that are important, particularly things that are important to her. For example, her daughter was born via surrogate. “If your story can help one or two people, I think it's important to share that.”  

People have failures all the time and Laura was asked how to overcome that. “Those negative things do linger on the back of your mind - nobody else remembers them. Just you. - Just learn from it. Try not to harbour it. That’s how I try and deal with it.”