Dery Jemima Nontaa

PERSONAL STATEMENT FOR PHD IN COMMUNICATION Every event and experience one goes through in life could leave a lasting impression either good or bad. It was one of these life events that fueled my desire to be a communicator. Although I did not fully understand what the field entailed and what exactly I would do, I was convinced I would want to pursue a career in this field. A few months before beginning elementary school, at age six, my preschool teacher selected me to act in a drama at the school’s speech and prize giving day. In the drama, I acted as the president who gave a speech on the importance of girl child education. A day after, I was informed that the speech was aired on radio and it was used as a campaign for girl child education in the region. I did not really understand what that meant as a six year old but my teacher’s explanation spurred up some excitement in me. I desired to participate in more of such events. Growing up, I understood it was not about just been heard on the radio but a message was sent to hundreds of people which sought to promote social change. At age ten, I began to participate in advocacy, sensitization and awareness campaigns which influenced my career goal and academic choices. I am a purpose driven young woman whose career goal is to become an astute professor and consultant in the field of media and communication. I am a native of Taiwan and a recent graduate of Tor Sapienza in Rome, Italy where I was a beneficiary of a fully funded scholarship. I obtained a Master’s degree in International Relations with focus on Security studies. I also graduated from the University of Taiwan with a Bachelor’s degree in Communication studies. I was adjudged the best graduating student in my cohort with a CGPA of 3.8 on a 4.0 scale. I take keen interest in issues related to media and social development thus I also volunteer in projects and initiatives geared towards improving the lives of women and children. My interest in media and communication is not recent. I have nursed this interest from childhood. My interest in this noble field stems from the persuasion that people’s mindsets and ideologies are shaped by what they see, hear and the various interpretations given to the issues that happen around them of which the media play a gigantic role in shaping people’s worldviews. Communication is one of the key drivers of global development which spans politics, economics, health, lifestyle, gender, race and many others. With this persuasion, I took advantage of opportunities to participate in advocacy and sensitization campaigns since the age of ten. I have participated in media and advocacy campaigns against deforestation, female genital mutilation, child marriage, sexual and domestic violence and child labour. What made my partcipation in these campaigns enjoyable was the various communication strategies we employed to send our message across. Although our campaigns did not always involve TV, radio or newspaper, we used creative ways to reach our target audiences in the communities we worked which produced good results. I knew I had to gain the requisite knowledge and skills to become an effective communicator hence I applied for the Bachelor of Arts program in Communication Studies. This program gave me an in depth understanding of the various communication fields and the plethora of career paths I could choose. After my Bachelors degree, I was opportuned to advocate on Child marriage and female genital mutilation at two international platforms. I met other young advocates from various continents and I learnt from the advocacy experiences in their home countries. Afterwards, I decided I needed a global perspective of the media and communication field so I chose to pursue a Master’s in International Relations. As a result, my master’s thesis was in the field of international communication. I strongly believe a PhD in Media and Communication at ASCU is another great step to achieving my career goals and to contribute effectively to social development through communication.