Inside JMS

Kevin Stoker

Welcome to the first podcast of inside JMS the stories behind the people who work at the Hank Greenspun School of Journalism and Media Studies. We have Aya Shada here. Dr. Aya Shada, who has just joined us this year. She actually comes to us from the University of Miami, where she just finished her PhD in communication. Aya, welcome.

Aya Shada

Thank you so much. I am it's my pleasure, actually, to be here. And it's my pleasure to be on this podcast.

Kevin Stoker

Joining me on this podcast as part of our team and my partner in crime is Dave Nourse, Dr. Dave Nourse, who actually is an assistant professor of residence in residence here at the Hank Greenspun school. Dave, thanks for joining us.

Dave Nourse

I'm telling you, we're making some podcast history over here. I'm happy to be here. Kevin. Aya I'm really glad that we can lead this podcast off with you.

Aya Shada

I'm happy to be here. Thank you for the invitation.

Kevin Stoker

Well, Aya, we we kind of know a little bit about your background. We know you came here from you're originally from Egypt and grew up in Cairo. Yes. Tell me a little bit about your early years. But how did you get interested? Did you know then that you wanted to be interested that you wanted to be in communication?

Aya Shada

I don't know. But I remember like my mom, and would tell me I remember when I was a little girl, I would take like my brush and start to pretend that I'm making a newscast and making interviews with people and talking to the people and to tell me like, I think one day you're gonna have to do something with mass communication. And I was so young at the time, they didn't know if this is gonna be a reality or not. And and then yes, eventually, I joined like the faculty of the School of mass communication, I was able to study more about like communication. And I remember the story now and I left. So apparently, yeah, you have something inside you, as you grew up. Now, both your parents were college professors did you kind of know early on that you want to become a college professor, I'm kind of Yes, I kind of it kind of runs in the blood. I remember I used to, like, help them. And I remember my father when he was like, great, any kind of like projects or assignments. And he was always like, never touched those which gave me like, this, this kind of job. It meant, like so much. And the fact that it gives my father this attention that he takes cares of, of this simple assignment. It always made me curious, what is so special about being a teacher and how he raised me to be not only a good student, but always to be a good teacher, and always to respect your teachers and always to appreciate the effort that your teachers do. So I grew up in an environment that really respects a college professor and the efforts that they actually invest into teaching the students as I grew up, yeah.

Dave Nourse

Tell us a little bit about why why mass communications as a profession, right? You had that hairbrush in your hand? Yes. When you're a young girl, but then there's a lot of time that separates that young girl from when you went to university, what what drove you, especially as you got older,

Aya Shada

believe it or not, it's because I explored like other fields. I went into science, I went to chemistry, I went to biology, like I interested in mathematics. And sometimes when you explore other things, you tend to find who you are, because you kind of excluded that. But when you're always curious, what if I actually studied more in chemistry? What if I studied that, but because I experienced all of this, it made me feel like no, I wanted to pursue communication and, and particularly, when I started with strategic communication, I fell in love with it. Because I felt like I really wanted to know more about like, how people like make the messages how people they can actually think strategically get the insights get to know the people interview, I was always listened to these interviews that people make on the see on the TV. And I really liked how they can extract the stories behind them, how they can extract the main messages behind them, and it flows easily and smoothly, and how you can build and connect to each other. I always like to socialize with other people I was always like to share my toys was like was my friends. I didn't I was a very social person growing up,

Dave Nourse

you use the word story which I which I really liked. So tell me what is it about storytelling that you find powerful?

Aya Shada

Oh, wow. I feel like like, if you tell a story, and you kept speaking for like, 30 minutes, people will listen to you. But if you just start with like messages, that's more informative, probably you're gonna last for one minute or two. So if you want people to listen to you to really touch their hearts to really shape their brains or open like their horizons to new ideas and and new angles towards how they see life or their school or their the efforts or the work that they do you need to tell the story. Well, I

Kevin Stoker

know that you did several internships and different aspects of storytelling. So tell us about that.

Aya Shada

Yes. So when I joined mass communication in the beginning, I wanted to learn more so I just delve deep. I had internship in newspapers and TV channels. I also worked as an internship in a bank In an advertising agency, because I wanted to see this comparison between the theoretical life and the real life, we're at Will I really like it or not. And I really saw myself more in like strategic communication, because I like the fact that you get to know the insights, get to know the people, and then you can develop the messages that really can influence them, not just commercially. But even social wise, if you want to run like a social campaign or want to make social change in people's lives, you need to really get to know them, and then strategically set the message for that.

Kevin Stoker

Well, did you have a professor that made a difference? Yes, actually, I

Aya Shada

had like this one professor, I remember he has his own agency. And he was one of the advertising guru back home. And he was very, he always thought was this passion he really loved and it was very contagious. Fashions can be very contagious sometimes. And, I mean, he believed in me, and he pushed me, he would like, encourage me. So I really look up to him. And I remember, at this time, when I, when I was a student, if I'm going to be a professor one day, I hope that I can inspire my own students into the choices that they make, and give them this encouragement that they need to actually grow in their own field.

Dave Nourse

So I want to learn a little bit more about AKA, not the college professor right now. Take a step back, tell us a little bit about, you know, Who who are you, when you're outside of the classroom? Who are you when you're not studying a particular topic? That's fascinating. What do you like to do for fun? Tell us a little bit about you.

Aya Shada

Okay, so I'm, um, I'm a daughter, and I'm a sister, and I'm a good friend. So I have a good relationship with my mother. And so I always like to call her and check on her, she lives in Egypt and make sure that she's well, she's my friend, basically. And so basically, when I moved here to the US to study for my PhD, so I have like, my, my brother is in Germany. So he's in Europe, my mom is in Egypt, in Africa, my friend, she's in Emirates in Asia. So literally, every people I love is like, across all the whole world. So I'd like to keep in touch with them. But when I have like some free time, I like to cook, okay. And I also am a very good handyman, believe it or not, like I like to put things together. Even like I said, like I make like tables I make like my closet, everything, I really like to work with my hands. And I like to design jewelry accessories. So I went to this store that make like beads, and I was like, I'm coming here again, I know exactly what I need to make. So I like to work with my hands. I feel like when you do something with your own hand, and you see the products of it, it makes me feel happy. And I was when I was young. I used to do like accessories for me. And now if you'd like I want to get back to that.

Dave Nourse

Oh, how fascinating. Is this? All right, well, I know who to call. If we need something fixed down here. And we're built or built? Yeah. So is there a particular childhood experience or memory that you have that you feel made a big impact on who you are today?

Aya Shada

Mm hmm. That's a very interesting question. I guess it's just my relationship was my father, my late father. He was a professor, but he taught me like not just how to be a good person, how to be a good citizen, how to be how to respect a lot of people. So I feel like I'm always trying to be not just like, look up to him and be like him. But I remember that many, many aspects. I remember when I was a young girl, I had this teacher and she was like, she was not very nice to me. And I was like, very sad. And I went to him and I remember his words is like, because I wanted like to go and tell her that like, I don't like and he said, No, this is your teacher. Respect her. She's older than you. But if something bothers you, come to me, and I'll know what to do. And okay, I'll give it to you. What are you going to do? And yes, he came to my school I don't know what happens with ever since the school teacher has been very nice to me. And then I learned Yes, do you have to respect your teacher even if they bother even do anything to you? So he always said like a good example that even when you face struggles or hardship, go for advice. It's not bad sometimes you seek advice, but also have this personality as you develop and as you grow that once you understand there is like an age difference. There is like respect difference that you need to maintain and half and ever since growing up I had amazing relationship with my teachers. I remember in my break, instead of go and have fun in my break or eat my sandwich. I would go like to the teachers room. And I would like speak with my teacher that was like the fun parts of me is like my teacher. Go have fun is like no I sometimes enjoy that. So but let's not all the time I had like great childhood. I still like go out with my friends and everything. But I always enjoy We'd like having these talks with people who are like older than me. I think it shaped who I am. And, and, and I really liked it. And now when I see some of my old teacher, they're not surprised that I became a teacher myself. So. So yeah,

Kevin Stoker

that's fantastic a key time in your life. When I, you were, I think it was just before you went to graduate school, one of the big events in Egypt was the Arab Spring. Yes. Tell me about how that impacted you and may impacted your education as well.

Aya Shada

It impacted me dramatically, because I just finished my bachelor and I wanted to pursue my master's. And at the time, we had this master program that was just initiated because of the Arab Spring between a joint partnership between the school of drones and media studies, as well as the School of Public Policy. And basically, because we saw the power of the media and how it can influence people and Shape lives. So why don't we they make this joint program. And I remember, I was the first quarter to join this program. And even though my interest was basically in strategic communication, but I felt this is exactly this is strategic communication, how to use the media to influence the policymakers, the advocates, the public to actually make a difference to actually advocate for social change. And ever since I tried, it ties back that when you speak of communication, when you speak of the media, you're speaking about really some powerful and persuasive effects. If you can only use them to make a difference in people's lives. That would be like a tremendous thing. And I remember I also, I joined the revolution. And I didn't tell my parents, so I went there. And I saw this discrepancy between, like what I see on the TV at the time, or what they wanted to show us in between what was really happening, and is able to convey this message to all my family. So the next time, they actually all came with me, and they saw the difference in themselves. And ever since I feel like the media can have powerful effect. But also we can shape the media the way media can shape us.

Dave Nourse

You join the revolution, I joined the revolution. Wow, that should be your love it. You're built to be here at you. Yes, that's fantastic. Now that you are here at UNLV, what are some of your goals? What would you like to do now that you're fully on the faculty? And we should say that Al worked for the school of journalism for the previous year. But this is your first year in your role as Assistant Professor of digital media.

Aya Shada

Yes. So now I'm more focused and interested in using digital media in a more strategic way and to tell like stories, and I'm focused more on like helping students grow, find their passion, and supporting them in every possible sense that I can really do. Even the way that I tried to design my syllabus, even though like it's the same class, but know, what else can I bring to this class? What kind of maybe examples or guest lecturers who can come? So it's not just an issue of like teaching, but how can I inspire them? How can I make a difference? And how can I help them? And this is like, teaching wise, this is what I hope it's just not, it's not just a regular class, I hope that they have something that they can actually use and learn in their lives.

Dave Nourse

What do you get most excited to teach out of all the topics and mass communication, strategic communication, PR one what really, you just can't wait to share this passion with your students.

Aya Shada

Surprisingly, I really enjoyed teaching crisis communication, maybe because we've been living in the pandemic. And that was like a long crisis for a long time. But I felt like, I'm also been like, in Miami for like, four years, I've been through hurricanes, I have to go like, in a shelter, I had to, like, sometimes you grow from the crisis, more than you grow from there, just like any positive experience, like negative experience, teach you more than any positive experience that you can have. But only if you listen to it only if you know how to grow from it. So crisis communication, not only it's a good perspective, from an organizational perspective, how, but it also teaches you something personally, how to use this crisis to grow, how to learn something from it. So it has kind of maybe a personal aspect to it. So maybe that's why crisis communication well,

Kevin Stoker

and also, you look at a certain NAS, really interesting area of communication in terms of your dissertation, the research you do. Tell us about that?

Aya Shada

Yes, so my dissertation was about like transmedia entertainment, which is based on transmedia storytelling. So we all know like, it's like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. They had the book, they had the movie, they had the website, they had the comics, they had the games. So they create this what they call a story world. So it's not just it's one regular story. It's the extension of these stories without any repetition, creating this one world in which you invest in you get transported as soon as you read or listen or watch or play, or invest in any sort of sense. So I was really interested in this sorts of narratives and stories and what kind of influence it can have, especially In terms of social change, so in this game, the topic of transmitter edutainment, embedding educational message in entertainment narrative, so that people can learn something, and my topic was focused more on sustainable development. And sustainability has been a key issues like nowadays we've been speaking about. We've seen, like drastic impacts from the environment, we're living in Vegas, one of the most sustainable cities are, there's a lot of efforts on sustainability that they're doing here. So it's becoming a hot topic about and the Generation Z now are more invested into environmental practices, and how can we protect the environment as so that our grandchildren or just our children can enjoy the same life that we had in the same blessings that we have every day. So I wanted to study the impact of that. And I found like very interesting, interesting results when you use story worlds and multi-platform communication to actually communicate your message to different audiences that tailors to their different preferences, different tastes that they have. And the most striking or interesting results is that sometimes when you have this repeated message over different platforms, it tends to be more persuasive, and it conveys the message across in a more better sense than you when you just listen from one video, for example, or you just play a game. So the more frequence the messages across different platform, the more persuasive and it helps to send the message across.

Kevin Stoker

That's pretty cool. So now moving forward, you know, I'm sure you'll mind your dissertation for research papers and everything else. But where do you see your research going? Moving forward.

Aya Shada

So I have an interest in digital media, especially like speaking of virtual reality, or augmented reality, and the metaverse discussions that we have right now, a lot of people are being invested into this. And I want to explore this further and research and what impact it can have on us personally, or the society or the community where we live, as well as maybe organizational wise how they can actually use that. I think that's be of great interest and great discussions in the coming years. Great.

Dave Nourse

Tell me about me. Let me rephrase that. What would you say your biggest win so far has been professionally, what has gotten you? Obviously you're here at UNLV. So that should be your first big win, but you feel professionally wasn't writing your dissertation defending? I would love to hear from you. What's your biggest win? And kind of how do you leverage that wind kind of take you to what Kevin was just talking about, you know, that next stage of your career professionally,

Aya Shada

I think one of the things that actually gave me a lot of confidence being a pandemic graduate, not just to graduate, the pandemic, a lot of people had to postpone their school in their studies because of the pandemic. But the fact that I was able to finish it, and I faced so many struggle, I had to write my proposal like six times, I had to change my case study, I have to change my theory, I had to find ways to do it like online to recruit people for safety purposes. And the fact that I was able to finish, I was only like, it was me and one of my friends, only two on all my cohorts were able to graduate. So and I have I remember when I did it, sometimes I just look back, because there was one point at a time where I felt it's never gonna end, it's never gonna gonna happen. But now that it actually happened, and I did manage to graduate on time, I look back. And every time when I feel like frustrated or disappointment, I remind myself, you were able to do it, I was on my own. It was like hard times. But it was able to succeed. I even have this shirt that says, I am a pandemic, like graduate, and I'm very proud and happy. And even a global pandemic did not stop me from pursuing my dream. So why should you stop now? So every time I have like this challenge, or struggle, I tell myself, keep doing what you're doing. You love what you do. And just remember, why did you start this and it gives me the strength to keep going forward.

Dave Nourse

Having that resilience, I think is key. So many of the students here at UNLV are working another job, maybe two jobs, going to school supporting people and maybe it's their their first generation college student. So being able to share that resilience, which is needed, whether it's for your undergraduate or just finishing that dissertation on the sixth try, you're gonna get there. I mean, that's, that's an incredible story.

Aya Shada

Yeah. Well,

Kevin Stoker

if there was one thing that we probably haven't talked to you about and asked you, that you feel like students and even parents, and your fellow faculty members should know about you what would it be?

Aya Shada

Like a fun fact? Besides being like, a lot of people don't see me as a handyman specially like, I'm all like petite, but I like live shows and concerts like I like things that's more like in person. I like opera. I like to go to the Cairo opera house all the time and not just listen to opera but like to music To dancers. I feel like I love the idea of being transported into this world. If you're telling a story through a dance or telling a story through music you listen. I like this feeling of being immersed into what you do. I find that like, quite interesting.

Kevin Stoker

Well, that's wonderful. You know what a a thank you so much. I think we've got a great beginning to our Ignite. I guess that's redundant to say inaugural broadcast and beginning of the same time, but we are we're so grateful for you and make the time to to chat with us. And we look forward to getting to know you even better in the coming semester.

Aya Shada

Yes, thank you so much for having me here. I'm looking forward to hear more about like other broadcasts from other faculty.