For years, Kalilah Enriquez was a fixture on the KREM W-U-B morning show. But over three years ago, she headed to Jamaica to get her masters in Media Studies. Since then, she's worked at a number of Jamaican Television stations as a news reporter and presenter.
But now, she's home for the holidays and held a 2-day workshop to try to share her knowledge with local journalists and newcomers interested in a media career.
It concluded today right here at our studio, and 7News spoke to Enriquez about the response she got:
Kalilah Enriquez - Organizer, Media Workshop
"So, what we're doing for the past couple of days is media training workshps. On day 1, we focused on writing, which I think is very important in how we communicate because writing for an audience, writing in journalism is a whole lot different from how you would write an academic paper, a story. So, I thought that this was something very important that Belizean journalists need to learn. Now, on day 2, which was today, and what you guys saw and walked in on, was the presentation workshop. So, we're learning how to use our voices; how to project our voices; what to say; what not to say as an interviewee; how do I get my point across when the journalist is asking me something else. And as an interviewer and as a presenter, what do I do with these things, my hands? Where do I put them? Do I cross my hands? Do I show tha I am open and honest as some of the videos showed? So, how do I convey my message? How do I fluctuate my pitch and tone, and how do I realize and pay attention to endings of words. Many people speak in a way that because they speak Kriol every day, we forget to say the ending of words. As soon as I contacting the media houses about whether they would want to have their people participate in this workshop, almost everybody was immediately like, 'Yes, we definitely need this.' And they turned out. For the 2 days, we had a full house, and they were all very appreciative. At the end, some of them gave me hugs because they were like, 'Yes, I really needed to hear this. And now, I know what to look for in my own speech patterns and writing.'"
Michal Welch - Participant, Media Workshop
"Ms. Enriquez, she actually deserves and an applause because she a Belizean who actually works in Jamaica right now, and she came back to Belize to actually teach us some of her skills so that we as Belizeans could improve in media and journalism as well."
Daniel Ortiz
"Tells us about some of the improvements you made as a media personality. What did you need to work on?"
Michal Welch
"Well, Ms. Khalilah - well I feel that I have a lot of improvement to do as someone actually in media, learning how to pronounce my words properly, learning how to have a correct posture when I am actually getting interviewed, my style."
Melonie Gillett - Participant, Media Workshop
"The experience was definitely great. Khalilah brought a lot of information that could assist not only me - I mean, I'm not a journalist, but these things all work together. They go hand in hand, and it was amazing that some of the things she was teaching actually applied to my career as a singer, songwriter, producer, script writing - all of that. We went script writing; we went into pronunciation, structure, a little bit of grammar. The entire workshop was very interesting and interactive."
Enriquez says that she would like to hold more workshops in the future.
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