My hello to you, Shelburne

by PAULA BROWN, SHELBURNE LJI REPORTER

I want to take a quick moment here to introduce myself to you. My name is Paula Brown and you might have seen my name a few times over the last year in the bylines of articles for the Shelburne Free Press, Orangeville Citizen, and Caledon Citizen. 

Last year, right around this time, I started a three-month internship with the Orangeville Citizen as part of my bachelor's degree in journalism. Now, I'm excited to be back as a full-time reporter at the Free Press. 

That being said I want to give you a little more information about who I am, and my experiences in journalism so that you have something to attribute to the name you will be seeing weekly in the paper.

I graduated from Humber College this past April with a Bachelor of Journalism degree, and during my time there I covered stories across the board. I was in the conference room when Toronto Mayor John Tory was re-elected in 2018, squeezed in between cameramen from CP24 and CBC. I covered the court case of notorious Toronto serial killer Bruce McArthur when he was sentenced to life in prison for the murders of eight men. I was also at the highly broadcasted event CBC Reads, where I got the opportunity to interview fashion stylist and journalist Joe Zee. 

To best put it – from politics and crime to sports and entertainment, I've had my foot in at least one of these at one point or another over the past couple of years. 

While I've for sure had some exciting moments as a journalist, this wasn't always the career path I intended to take. 

In my final year of high school I decided that I was going to study sports business. I've played baseball in Orangeville for the majority of my life, and that's where my love of sports comes from. At the time, the decision to mold my love of sports with business seemed to make sense. A lot of sense, in fact. Unfortunately for me, I've never been greatest at math and so before I even finished my first year in the degree I knew that the business side of sports was not the path I wanted to take. So I enrolled at Humber College in their journalism program and moved to Toronto, all in the hopes of becoming the next Hazel Mae. 

Four years after making that decision I've had amazing opportunities in my short but dense journalism career, and this is just the next one. 

While I'm here at the Shelburne Free Press I'll be covering stories on town council, local events, breaking news, and anything else that is important to the community. I'm excited to bring dedicated journalism to the Shelburne community. 

If you have a story tip or news that you believe needs to be covered in the community, feel free to email me at pbrown@lpcmedia.ca.