LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — A UK graduate who has been on the ground covering the war in Ukraine shared her story with students in Lexington Thursday evening.
Ashley Westerman has worked as an NPR reporter and a freelancer, finding ways to bring the stories of Ukrainians to listeners.
"Your career is never direct. It's winding. It's interesting," Westerman said as she talked to students via Zoom from her home in The Philippines.
When Westerman was a journalism student at the University of Kentucky, she could have never predicted she'd be covering the war in Ukraine. She was born in The Philippines and adopted by a Western Kentucky family. After she graduated in 2010, she worked at NPR, then became a freelancer.
After Russia invaded Ukraine in early 2022, she got a call from former NPR Morning Edition colleague David Greene.
"He said, 'Do you want to go to Ukraine?' and I said, 'What do you want me to do in Ukraine?'" Westerman said.
The team created a 20-episode podcast series about the invasion called "Ukraine Stories," telling a single Ukrainian's story in each episode. The danger at their office in Kyiv was real.
"I think the closest missile landed less than a kilometer from our bureau. Talk about PTSD. You get used to it, but you don't get used to it," Westerman said.
Westerman talked with journalism students at UK about what she's experienced in the industry—the ups and the downs, and the things she'd like to see improve, and offering advice for the students.
"Especially coming from UK and going and covering all those different things. She just really got out and made a name for herself. As a woman, especially, I find that empowering in a field full of men. In a male-dominated field, seeing a woman so empowered from the same space that I literally am, I'm here too. It was kind of cool to see that," said Carter Skaggs, a senior.
"It's important to cover things you're passionate about. That's something I've learned today that I hadn't thought about too much before," said Samuel Colmar, a freshman.
As the young journalists find their way, Westerman said the most important thing is that they care about what they're doing.
"I wouldn't be the journalist I am today if I didn't cover the things I loved," Westerman told them. "That has been my race, my identity, my place in the world. It has brought me all the way here, back to my home country to sort of self-discover myself as well as discover what's going on over here."
