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| Journalist Vivian Gartayn |
A
young Liberian female journalist who has earned her stripes in
newsrooms locally, is now joining the ranks of Gabriel Williams,
Josephus Moses Gray and other, more senior journalistic figures as press
attaché to one of Liberia's key embassies abroad.
It is a testament to
Vivian Gartayn's understanding and knowledge of her craft – journalism –
that she has been appointed by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf as
Minister Counselor for Press and Public Affairs at the Embassy of the
Republic of Liberia near Abuja, Nigeria. This young and dynamic
journalist was once a radio reporter covering the Executive Mansion, an
assignment she undertook with spunk, professionalism and poise. Her
reportage has had a diverse appeal to a wide audience, and won the
respect and appreciation of her audience.
Vivian Gartayn is a
native of Buchanan, Grand Bassa County. By her own admission, her early
schooling was very frequently disrupted by the protracted conflict that
plagued Liberia for nearly two decades. Vivian had to travel back and
forth between Monrovia and Buchanan to escape the fighting while
striving to complete her secondary studies. Having finally achieved that
goal, she settled in Monrovia to pursue a higher education. She
graduated from the University of Liberia in 2010 with a degree in Mass
Communication and Sociology, before spending close to a year as a
reporter at the UNMIL Radio, the communications arm of the United
Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL).
First bitten by the
journalism bug in 2004, Vivian enrolled in a journalism school operated
by the Liberia Broadcasting System (LBS), which provided opportunities
for hands-on experience, as well as theory. The skills garnered there
landed her a position at Star Radio where, in 2005, she began in earnest
her career as a journalist.
Vivian recounts her
early days in the field: “I joined Star Radio after a batch of newly
recruited female journalists were dropped by the entity, following its
first phase of hands-on training. I was encouraged by a friend to come
on board. At first, I was afraid, thinking that only those who had been
in the profession for a considerable number of years were qualified to
join. But I was wrong. After another round of two weeks training, I was
among fifteen persons selected to start the new Star Radio.”
Gartayn reported for
Star Radio for five years, starting out as a Roving Reporter and then
serving as Executive Mansion Correspondent. “I later became Deputy News
Editor of Star Radio, before the station had some managerial problems
and closed down,” she said.
Vivian holds nothing
back when expounding upon the positive impact of Star Radio on her
career: “My experience at Star Radio is something I think really
developed me as a journalist. I really appreciate Star Radio for
grooming me into this profession. There, I had lots of opportunities to
grow professionally and academically [...] I will always appreciate the
Star Radio.”
Vivian's passion is not
limited to journalism, however. She has long desired to pursue a
graduate degree in Regional Planning with the sole aim of filling the
strategic void she senses in Liberia's nation building apparatus. One
day, however, while brainstorming on the options available to her, she
received a phone call from a friend asking her to check the website of
the Ministry of Information, Culture & Tourism. There, she found a
call for applications for the post of Minister Counselor for Press and
Public Affairs, Liberia Embassy near Abuja, Nigeria.
“I looked it up, applied
and sat an interview conducted by a six-person panel,” she said. In no
time, she got a call from the President's Office offering her the
position! “I was informed that there was a recommendation for nomination
from the Ministry of Information for that above mentioned post. I was
then asked if I would like the post and I responded in the affirmative. I
only added that I would be ready for the post within three weeks
because I had to give the UN a notice within that period. By September
1, 2011, I was appointed and got my letter to go to Abuja.”Vivian was
last week commissioned by the Deputy Minister for Administration at the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hon. J. Levi Demmah, on behalf of the
President of the Republic of Liberia. She left the country last Sunday
to take up her new assignment in Abuja.
“I see this new job as
an opportunity to serve my country,” she says. “There were many people
who applied. So, to be the one chosen by the President, I think she saw
something in me. Because, even if I pleased the panel at the Information
Ministry, she had to make the ultimate decision.
“I also see this job
as a challenge, because I understand that among the Minister Counselors
for Press and Public Affairs at Liberian embassies across the world, I
am the only female. Moreover, I am going to an embassy where there had
been no office for Minister Counselor for Press and Public Affairs. I
don't know whether they had it before the war. But since the war, they
haven't had it. So, it's like I'm going to set it up. In any case, by
the grace of God and with all efforts, I believe I can make it,” she
said.
And make it, she can.
Vivian Gartayn is not only a skilled transmitter of current events, but a
forceful and committed professional in her field. I recall that once,
during a Cabinet Retreat in Grand Cape Mount County, this dedicated
soldier of the airwaves and I nearly slept in the Executive Mansion
Press bus because we had been kicked out at about 11P.M. by the apparent
owner of the room we had booked for the duration of the retreat.
Moreover, we, like the rest of the reporters, were operating on an empty
stomach, due to the unfortunate shortage of restaurants in that part of
the country. The next morning, however, we rose up early and set out to
capture the news of the day with as much gusto as ever.
Gartayn has proven
herself to be a leader and a role model for female journalists in
Liberia, and we look forward to more success stories from this
trailblazer as she rides off on her new adventure.
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