Posted on 23 September 2020

Stephanie Foo:

I’ve met so many incredible women of color who’ve left their newsrooms because they burned out from this job. These are women who survived war zones, worked 10-hour days for years, didn’t take vacations, had three internships going simultaneously, and sat stone-faced in response to aggressive and outright racist editors. And yes, they eventually decided that their humanity and mental health were more important and left their job — a loss for the journalism world, considering their massive talent. Despite that, many of them struggled with shame afterward: maybe I wasn’t strong enough. 

I’m fortunate in many ways, but I’ve approached burnout without having to worry about kids, major money issues or racism. People shouldn’t have to choose between their desired job and their well-being but they often do and when they choose well-being it isn’t a failure on their part.

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