Dawn Booth
Your McMurray Magazine's Top 50 Under 50 By Your McMurray Magazine Originally published in 2016 Fascinated by the people who live here, and honored to be in a profession that allows her to share their stories Growing up in the Village of Eganville, Ontario, now 33-year-old Dawn Booth started her journalism journey at the age of nine, after her first story was published in the community’s local newspaper. Later, while attending Opeongo High School, Dawn was selected for a position as youth reporter at the Eganville Leader. It was there that she learned how the newsroom coordinates, and gained the experience that benefited her future endeavours. After graduating from Opeongo with a scholarship for Studies in Visual Arts Communications Technology, Dawn moved to Toronto and obtained the Print and Broadcast Journalism diploma at the School of Media Studies & Information Technology at Humber College. In the fall of 2007, Dawn moved to Fort McMurray, where she worked at Fort McMurray Today, and went on to co-launch snapd Wood Buffalo. In 2014, she created Media Booth to help local clients and businesses in the social-profit sectors with their communication and marketing needs. She currently takes a leading role at Connect Weekly newspaper as its managing editor. Volunteerism is something Dawn is passionate about. She is the acting president of the Fort McMurray Environment Committee, and a member-at-large of the Northern Off-Road Society. She was a guest editor and is currently a member-at-large of Northword Magazine, a regular Gold Star Awards judge for Fort McMurray Tourism Association, and co-founder and media director of World Hijab Day YMM. In her free time, Dawn creates LEGO® masterpieces with her three children, writes poetry, shoots photography, explores DIY projects, and enjoys bird-watching. Dawn’s passion for the environment, and helping with communications within the social profit sector are just a couple of reasons she has been named one of YMM’s Top 50 Under 50. Dawn Booth – Oh SNAP Wood Buffalo
Fort McMurray Connect's Top 40 Under 40 By Becky Benoit, Fort McMurray Connect Newspaper Originally published in 2013 When journalist Dawn Booth arrived in Fort McMurray from big-city Ottawa, she didn’t see the wild-and-woolly oilsands boomtown that has figured so largely in media stories outside the region. Instead, Booth saw a place she could call home, and immediately set about sharing that reality with the world. “I was taught in school that ‘if it bleeds, it leads,’ meaning that if it’s a negative story, it’s on the front page,” explains Booth, who graduated with a diploma for print and broadcast journalism from Toronto’s Humber College. “But I try not to dwell on that or even recognize the fact that there’s a negative impression of our region. I take things at face value – I live here, and I know it’s a great place to live, a place that I’m more than happy to raise my two baby boys.” In fact, Booth was so inspired by Fort McMurray that she left her successful editing job to co-launch snapd Wood Buffalo, a publication that promotes the region through what Booth describes as “a monthly yearbook of all the wonderful things happening in Wood Buffalo.” “From your neighbour to your co-worker, snapd is full of hundreds of pictures of the smiling faces of people you know,” Booth says of the positive contribution snapd has made to the region. “It’s published proof that this is a community everyone can love.” Booth sees a journalist’s role in the community as one of deep involvement. “I think it’s very important to know the subject you are writing about and know the readers you are writing to – research is crucial,” she says. “I took it upon myself to get out there and volunteer, not only to meet people with the same interests as me, but to meet the community, learn its stories and see what Wood Buffalo was really all about.” Booth has certainly succeeded in that goal as an active community volunteer for a variety of organizations from Volunteer Wood Buffalo and the Fort McMurray Environment Committee to NorthWord Magazine, Fort McMurray Tourism and CIBC’s Run for the Cure. For Booth, it’s about more than just career-building and community service; it’s about giving back to a place that has given her so much. “I will be forever grateful to this place because not only did it give me the opportunity to fulfill my wants in a career, it gave me the greatest gifts of all – my husband and two children,” she says. |
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Online mentions:* On Being a Torch Bearer for the 2015 Western Canada Summer Games.
- Verna Murphy, Connect Weekly Newspaper * On Girls Inc. of Northern Alberta Women of Inspiration Nomination.
- Shauna MacKinnon, MIX 103.7 News * On Donating to the Wall of Celebration.
- Northern Lights Health Foundation * On Guest Editing NorthWord's Change Edition.
- Theresa Wells, McMurray Musings * In Fort McMurray Inspired Poetry.
- Kevin Thornton, The Old Fort * On Media Coverage for Local Drumline Program.
- David Sabine, The Pulse Drumline |
5 Questions with... Dawn Booth
Written by Your McMurray Team Dawn Booth has been in YMM for almost seven years. She started out working for the Fort McMurray Today in an editing position, which taught her about meeting deadlines and frugal living. Along the way she found true love, a mortgage, and two simultaneous careers in journalism and public relations. She did all this while being a passionate advocate for sensible environmentalism and raising two boys - neither of them in school yet. And she’s blonde, brown eyed and gorgeous. Before you start to hate this superwoman, let’s ask her five quick questions: 1. You do have one glaring fault, don’t you? How many times did you actually take your driving test? It took me almost 13 years to have the guts to get behind the wheel. The road test was actually only once. But, I took the prelim test too many times to count. 2. So, when you came to Fort McMurray did the opportunities just fall into your lap? That never happens. I left college and worked for two years in Toronto, struggling to get an opportunity in my field of study. I was an usher, a bartender, a promoter… anything that would pay the bills. I finally landed an editing position at a magazine, but that went bankrupt after one issue, then I moved to Ottawa and gained some experience writing for a few papers, which led to seeking out my options in Fort McMurray. I’d heard this was the city where there were opportunities. 3. What is it about YMM that makes it the land of opportunity? There’s an entrepreneurial bent among the people who come here because, for many, it’s a leap of faith to even arrive. Because of that, there is a keener recognition of the possibilities that exist and the willingness to try for them when you see them. I always thought I would stay in Toronto and make my life there. I left because I was nearly broke and living in an apartment with no heat. Fort McMurray gave me the chances that Toronto didn’t. 4. You are also the President of the Fort McMurray Environment Committee. An environmentalist in YMM? I think it’s important to have community pride as a resident living in the oil sands capital of the country. As long as the world is dependent on petroleum, energy extraction will shape our region. And though there are efforts of land reclamation and air quality control by the industry and organizations, we can do our part too by making our lifestyles greener, at home and in our own backyard. 5. And the next five years. How are they shaping up? Previously working as an editor at the Fort McMurray Today and snapd Wood Buffalo, I plan to focus on growing my own business and family. I’m recently a new business owner and provide services that I have been doing for years now. If you need a photographer, writer, editor, graphic designer and/or a consultant, I can help in all of these areas. I’m happy I’m able to provide people with a one-stop service, all while being surrounded by my little ones. You can find Dawn Booth at all the important community events, at www.mediabooth.net, or at home with her family of five. |