“The desire for a career change, sparked my study at the University of Tasmania,” Brain said.
“During an extended working holiday in Europe, I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in the media, after working as a registered nurse for almost 10 years. Nursing had been a fantastic career, but the world of journalism and current affairs had always interested me.
“So at the age of 28, I decided to follow my dream. However, I didn’t really know how to reach that dream. I knew that employers would be looking for a person with a well-rounded education, experience and, of course, writing skills.
“After much soul-searching, I decided to major in Political Science, and Geography and Environmental Studies, and minor in Economics for a well-rounded degree.
“During my degree, I completed as much work experience as possible, including with The Mercury, The Examiner, and a few overseas publications.
“My big break came when I was working with the uni magazine, Togatus. The Examiner was searching for a football ‘stringer’’ and had seen my work in the magazine.
“Writing football reports, led to working at tribunal hearings and eventually getting a cadetship with The Examiner. The newspaper enabled me to write and photograph an amazing array of stories: everything from cat shows to major police investigations.
“In 2000, I started work as a sub-editor with the Sunday Herald Sun, which led to a posting as the Night News Editor for the Herald Sun’s website. Then in 2009, I got a position at The Courier-Mail in Queensland as an online and newspaper sub-editor and I am currently the editor of the Ipswich News.
“I initially decided on studying at UTAS because of the opportunity for students to have closer contact with lecturers compared with the bigger mainland universities.
“UTAS taught me invaluable computer, writing, time-management and research skills and my on-the-job experiences has taught me the basic all-round skills of journalism.”