Meet KPU: Aly Laube

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Aly Laube graduated with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2021. During her time at Kwantlen Polytechnic University, she wrote for The Runner and then eventually moved up to become the editor-in-chief for several years. Laube enjoys music and is in a band called Primp. She’s currently juggling her freelance work, position at CityNews Vancouver, and her show, Cushy Radio. 

When did you join the KPU community and why?

I’m really bad at getting years, but I started 2014 September or maybe 2015 September. It took me six years to get my bachelor’s degree in journalism. I graduated in 2021. I started because I want to go to journalism school, and at the time the University of British Columbia didn’t have a bachelor journalism program. And I didn’t want to go to BCIT because I wasn’t really interested in broadcast. So I decided to go to KPU. 

What is your favourite story of your time at KPU?

Probably when we got to break the KPIRG scandal at The Runner. That was a really exciting, crazy time. That was my first time breaking an investigative story. It was really thrilling for everybody in the newsroom, who had never done something like that before to get so many eyes on our work and to dig so deep. That was really fun. I also really enjoyed going to NASH, the annual journalism conference with my co-workers every year. That was a super fun thing that we got to do as well. 

I did some pretty good pieces in Tracy’s classes that were about social justice and journalism. I did one piece for Mark Hamilton’s audio journalism class that I really liked. That was about the Canadian diamond mining industry and the ethical shortcomings of that industry, that was really exciting. 

I really enjoy investigative work and pretty much anytime I got the opportunity to do it at school, I was excited.

What is something you’d like to say to people new to the community?

Take advantage of the small sizes that you have around you, in terms of the classes that you’re in, the events you’re going to. There’s some really good programming that exists at KPU and people just don’t pay attention to it. But there’s so much room to create stuff there. I think people should do that more, because that’s what I did at KPU and it was so rewarding for me. 

When you go to a place like UBC, you have so many people to compete against. Just the sheer number of people that are involved in that school is overwhelming, but at KPU you can get a much more personal experience. You can start a club, you can start a magazine. You can start anything you want, because there’s lots of money and resources that are sitting there. So for people at KPU, that’s what I would suggest. 

I actually started writing for The Runner on my first day. I just walked in and they were having a pitch meeting and it was pretty sparsely attended, like they usually were. And I told Connor, who was the managing editor at the time, that I really liked writing about music and he said, “Oh, cool, we need a music column, you wanna write one?” So it kind of just worked out. 

Obviously, I made myself go to that meeting and be there in that room and put myself out there but it happened quite naturally that I just started writing for them, starting with my artist column, which Kristin Frier is now writing. From there, I went into some associate editor role, and then I moved up into the editor-in-chief role. 

What are you working on right now?

I’m a web editor at CityNews Vancouver. I do that three or four days a week. And when I’m not doing that, I have my radio show on CITR. And then I am in my band Primp. I also freelance. So, I pitch things out either as a PR person or as a journalist. And then I have my non-profit Cushy Entertainment Society that I am also running. 

I’m actually looking for another job because the CityNews one is just part-time. I’m balancing it all right. I’m looking for more balance but it’s hard right now. Especially with the way that the news has been lately, with disaster, disaster, disaster — so many disasters. It’s been hard to deal with the news burnout. So, I’m still learning how to balance all of those things. But right now, music, Cushy, it’s good. And then my job at CityNews is professional development and just grinding, honestly. 

What is something you would like people to know about you?

I have a lot of invisible identities and disabilities and things. I have started to really focus on being vocal about that as a journalist. Being neurodivergent, being queer, being a woman, and being disabled. I’m also mixed race.These things I feel they’re kind of important because the more I work in journalism, the more I feel like we don’t really have that representation still in a lot of different places. 

And so I would say, one thing to know about me is just who I am, and my body and my brain and the way all those things work. They have a huge impact on my life. And as a result, they also have a huge impact in my journalism. And that’s why you’ll notice a lot of the time the journalism that I do is focused towards helping or shedding light on what’s happening to people who are marginalized. 

Those are the causes that are dear to me. I would encourage other journalists, “Don’t let them tell you that you can’t have a sense of individuality just because you work in a field that’s based on objectivity,” because you can, and the field and the industry will make it hard for you to be yourself. A very dehumanizing industry. But I think it’s important to let journalists continue to do that, continue to wear their identities on their sleeves and to be proud of them. So I say that to the younger journalists.

People can reach out to me if they have any questions. They can email me or they can DM me on Twitter. People can reach out if they have questions about what it’s like to work in the field, especially if they have questions about what it’s like to work in the field as like a younger person who’s on all of these different intersections. I am available to talk.