College Sophomore Nerds Her Way to Internships
Student Fuels Comic Book and Pop Culture Passion
Stephanie Carmichael’s voice is a bit mousy, she’s clearly nervous someone is asking her questions about comic books and superheroes. But, as the questions tally, and talk of Batman and video games arise, her confidence erupts. Her inner geek-dome is unveiled.
Getting Her Name Out There
A self-proclaimed nerd, Carmichael, 19, is a contributing writer to www.comicnerd.com and www.girlsentertainmentnetwork.com (GEN), where she champions the growing female fan base of all things pop culture. Still in college, she’s taken a love for caped crusaders to a level that other typical internships may not have dared to explore.
“GEN found me through my blog (What Is Techno Again?),” Carmichael, a sophomore at University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown, said. She continued that the site has generated strong traffic, and afforded the opportunity to interview additional comic book figures—the ones behind the stories.
“Recently I interviewed comic writer Ron Marz about the new ‘Broken Trinity’ mini-series,” she said. “I’ve gotten to do some interviews before for GEN, but that one topped the list, hands-down. It was incredible. It’s still so surreal.
“I’m still trying to figure out what I want to do for a living. GEN has been a defining moment for me—it reminded me how much I love writing. It’s a great experience and I’m not even out of college yet. I’ve really valued being on the team.”
Working Towards Bigger Rewards
Her writing adventures are unpaid, but she feels strongly that the experiences have added extra staying power to her growing resume and sparked additional interest in other writing avenues. The English literature major enjoys dabbling in journalism.
“I’ve realized that writing is definitely the way I want to go, one way or another,” Carmichael said. “I’d love to write for a magazine, or find an outlet in the comic book, film or even gaming community.”
Carmichael has received valuable feedback from her readers, as well as the freedom to explore her own story ideas from her editors. She’s enjoyed the challenge of coming up with ideas that she thinks her readers will enjoy. Her own reflections of film, books and gaming have benefited.
“I’m a huge movie fan, and I find myself really getting into the psychology of it,” she said. “I’ve even written a paper for class that analyzes Batman. So much of pop culture and English literature go hand-in-hand.”
She's a Regular Character, Taking the Cards She's Been Dealt
Batman, her favorite character, has intrigued her since her younger days, still, the idea of being a character that can have a super-power, like invisibility, flying or the acrobatic skills of a villain like Nightcrawler from X-Men, would be nice.
“I’m pretty clumsy actually,” she laughed. “Superheroes are much more interesting, when they don’t have superpowers and are just regular people trying to deal with what they’ve been dealt.”
University of Pittsburgh-Johnstown's Carmichael.
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Carmichael's favorite character, Batman
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