Today we’d like to introduce you to Nicole Soroka; Gracie Lowes
Hi Nicole; Gracie, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
We first met at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2023. We were both members of the Media Inclusion Initiative and that is how we initially connected. We saw a few films together throughout the festival and also worked alongside each other on red carpets. When the festival ended, we connected with each other on Instagram but there were no plans for our podcast at that time. Fast forward a few months and we reached out to each other about traveling to Austin, Texas to cover the annual South by Southwest Film and TV Festival for our own separate outlets. After we had both received press accreditation, we planned out our festival week and met each other at the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport once we both landed. We spent the week attending screenings, events and covering red carpets with each other. Something that bonded us very quickly was our love for the entertainment industry and our similar goals with our careers. While Gracie just graduated this past June with two degrees in Public Relations and Journalism from St. Clair College, Nicole is currently in her third year of her Journalism undergraduate degree at Toronto Metropolitan University. Over the next month, we joked about starting a podcast together, but the idea had not fully formed into a concrete plan. In late April, we attended an early screening of ‘The Idea of You’ together in Toronto and this is when we decided to start up the podcast. We had tons of thoughts to share from our viewing experience and we wanted to turn this into a project we could both learn and grow from. We filmed our first episode over Zoom later that week, as well as created a name, logo and social media accounts. After we posted our first episode on YouTube and Spotify, we laid out our individual roles and established that we would release episodes on a weekly basis every Thursday. With Gracie already having her own online media outlet, Backstage Features, and Nicole holding the position of film editor with Met Radio CJTM 1280 AM, we both had experience reviewing films, conducting interviews and posting content online. Our past experiences also helped us link our podcast to existing networking connections and companies to get in touch with for press events. We spent this summer building up the show, making sure to stay on track with our release schedule, conducting interviews and posting as much as we could on social media. Currently, we are mainly focused on expanding our audience and establishing ways to reach out to more listeners.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Overall, this process has been enjoyable for both of us. It’s easy to establish a list of topics, news and films/music to review each week, as the entertainment industry never sleeps. It is also fun to express ourselves creatively and come up with new segments for the show. One challenge we have faced however is recording the podcast over Zoom. Since we don’t live close enough to each other to film the show in-person each week, we have to record virtually. There has been one instance where our laptops said Zoom was recording our call and then the video/audio did not save to the computer. This meant we had to record the entire episode again. It can be difficult to align our schedules to give us enough time to record and edit each week, between school, jobs and other commitments, but we always figure out a way to set the time aside. Additionally, the biggest obstacle has been growing our audience independently from the ground up. To say that gaining followers/listeners/viewers from the start has a challenge would be an understatement, since we are not tied to a company to help us grow, but we are slowly seeing more growth each week. Social media views and visits have helped us a lot, as well as advertising the show on our own personal social media accounts. We are still researching more ways that we can reach new audience members, but it’s all part of starting this podcast ourselves.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Gracie just graduated this past June with two degrees in Public Relations and Journalism from St. Clair College. Nicole is currently in her third year of her Journalism undergraduate degree at Toronto Metropolitan University. As we have been students for most of our young adult lives, we have tried to keep our professional lives very closely linked to the entertainment journalism sector. Gracie started her own online media outlet, Backstage Features, in 2021 where she posts film reviews, interviews with filmmakers and content from events. Currently, Gracie is also a freelance writer for Tell-Tale TV. One of Gracie’s proudest moments is from South by Southwest in 2024 when she had the opportunity to interview Jon Bon Jovi on the red carpet for the world premiere of ‘Thank You, Goodnight: The Bon Jovi Story.’ Nicole is currently the film editor for Met Radio CJTM 1280 AM where she produces the weekly hour-long radio show, Movie Mixtape. She is also a regular contributor for Her Campus TMU, as well as a writer for CanCulture and The Eyeopener. Nicole is most proud of having covered multiple film festivals and red carpets in her first few years of journalism school, as it was a steep learning curve when it came to navigating this environment and understanding all of the work that goes into producing content. What sets us apart from others is our clear focus on our careers ahead of us. We have found that not everyone we’ve gone to school with knows exactly what they want to do with their degree or lives after post-secondary school. We have both known that we wanted to go into the entertainment journalism field since our childhood, which is not common for everyone. Our drive and motivation to gain experience in the field has helped propel us forward and keep us focused on our ultimate goals. It helps to surround yourself with people whose goals align with yours, so having each other as not only colleagues, but close friends, has also helped our motivation as well.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
Our advice for finding a mentor is researching people in your field and reaching out to them virtually to try and form a connection, whether or not you think it may be possible. A lot of times, experienced journalists have been more open and willing to help us than we initially thought they would be. Something else that has helped is trying to be as outgoing and open as possible during networking events. It’s hard to put yourself out there and connect with people who have no idea who you are, but everyone is experiencing the same feelings and it is something that truly helps open doors for you.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/assceneonscreen
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/assceneonscreen
- Twitter: https://x.com/assceneonscreen
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@assceneonscreenpodcast
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@assceneonscreen
- Other: https://open.spotify.com/show/3w8wIQkSrWrsODdkeNzxey
