Fall 2017 Edition
Alumni & Friends Magazine
Framing a friendship
For the past two years, 91̽ alumnae Joline Atkins, BSC ’91, and Gwen Titley, BSVC ’13, have crisscrossed the borough of Beaver, Pennsylvania, about an hour’s drive northwest of Pittsburgh, filming one hundred episodes of the Beaver County Times’ health-focused video series For the Health of It.
Natalie Trusso Cafarello, MSJ ’08 | October 12, 2017
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Joline, a mother of two married to her college sweetheart (also an OHIO grad), has led a nonlinear career as a fitness and wellness coach, and Gwen, a newlywed, is an award-winning videographer who keeps candy in her desk drawer.
With twenty years between them, it’d be easy to focus on what makes them different. Yet, the duo discovered they have more in common than meets the eye, and their working relationship has blossomed into a friendship.
The day before they met with ohiowomen, their bond met perhaps its hardest test: After some corporate shuffling commonplace in the media industry today, For the Health of It was canceled.
But the two didn’t miss a beat and happily shared their mutual experiences, challenges, and what inspires them to keep moving forward.
How did you grow at OHIO?
Gwen: I am reserved and quiet. Viscom (OHIO’s School of Visual Communication) taught me to communicate with people in a professional manner. In my private life, I can go back to my reserved personality.
Joline: I learned how to manage my time. That self-management resonates in being a freelancer and entrepreneur.
Two Pittsburgh-area alumnae and former colleagues are aged decades apart, yet open up about their shared love of storytelling. Photo by Christopher Sprowls
What have you learned from each other?
Joline: I learned from Gwen how to speak succinctly. Where we are similar is that story is really important. Gwen is a great storyteller. In my field of work, people identify with someone’s story, rather than how they [became fit]…And storytelling—in fewer words than I just used—is powerful.
Gwen: Joline has many facets of activities. I learned that you can do more than one thing and be successful at it. Follow your passion. If something catches your interest, go for it.
Producing For the Health of It was a new experience for both of you. How did you approach the challenge?
Joline: Sometimes this is what happens when women get older. I thought, “Who am I to think I should be doing this show? I have a certification in this, but this is not what I went to school for.” Then I thought, “Get it together.”
Gwen: I was nervous because I learned at OHIO how to make videos, just in a different context and way. I took the knowledge I did have to [film For the Health of It].
Where do you find inspiration?
Gwen: My dad took me to interview at OHIO to get into the Viscom program. When they called me in he whispered, “Go kick some ass.” That gave me heft to talk to the professors as people.
Joline: My husband is my biggest fan. I have a strong faith…I found my voice, and I don’t care how people respond to it.
How have you handled life’s inevitable transitions?
Joline: I’m in a demographic of women who are unsure of what to do now, and whether they even can. I hear people say, “I would really like to…” and I respond with, “Then, why don’t you?” Typically, in their thirties, women have children and their schedule changes. As those children get older, you miss what you used to do. Now you’re in a place where it’s either do I go find it traditionally or do I create it...I’ve always been of the mindset [of asking], “What’s the next thing?” Even with the change [with] For the Health of It. The minute I got off the phone, I was like, “Okay. What’s the next thing?”
Read similar conversations with alumnae living in San Francisco, Cincinnati, and Washington, D.C.
