Lisa Jalakas
‘Writing the thesis was almost life-changing’
The Lund University experience: ‘a whole lot of brilliance’
Lisa says that Lund University is an impressive university, encapsulating a whole lot of brilliance. I enjoyed my time at the university a lot. I made many new friends (from all around the world!) and learnt more than I could have imagined’.
Choosing media and communication
Lisa explains how she chose media and communication studies as her major: I enjoyed writing my Bachelor thesis and wanted to gain more academic experience, with the thought of maybe pursuing a PhD in the future. Also, I am very interested in everything media-related, and I was curious about attending an international programme. Looking back, I’m glad I chose it’.
‘Writing the thesis was almost life-changing’
Lisa explains how her time in Lund helped her: I got a job through my internship so right now my time at LU helps pay my bills – which is great! And I certainly learnt a lot throughout the whole masters, and writing the thesis was almost life-changing in terms of how much it changed my way of viewing the world. And not to forget – I made some really good friends!’ During the last semester of the programme, students write a thesis in media and communication studies. Lisa’s thesis was about feminist advertising, so-called femvertising: ‘It is a growing marketing trend utilized by large brands such as Dove, Always and Barbie, who use feminist values and female empowerment to encourage brand activism. My thesis explored the relationship between feminism and advertising from the individual woman's perspective. I conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with fourteen Swedish women and had them watch feminist advertising videos’. She says that ‘I felt like my mind widened, and I learnt to see nuances of media phenomena. It was incredibly enriching, and it has fundamentally changed my way of thinking and analysing. The supervision is a vital part, as you don’t get to talk about your work with so many others (partners and friends quickly get sick of the topic!). It can easily get lonely. Without my supervisor I would have gone mad, for sure’.
After graduation
Lisa describes her current job, where she is, ‘working as a project leader and editor for an NPO’, which includes ‘writing a column about the results from my thesis for a feminist magazine, and thinking about how to restructure the thesis for a publication in an academic journal’. She is not yet exactly sure about what do next, saying ‘I guess I’ll see where I end up, but my plan for the coming years is to try to have as much fun as possible, and learn, learn, learn. I don’t intend to ever stop learning’.
Choosing media and communication
Lisa explains how she chose media and communication studies as her major: I enjoyed writing my Bachelor thesis and wanted to gain more academic experience, with the thought of maybe pursuing a PhD in the future. Also, I am very interested in everything media-related, and I was curious about attending an international programme. Looking back, I’m glad I chose it’.
‘Writing the thesis was almost life-changing’
Lisa explains how her time in Lund helped her: I got a job through my internship so right now my time at LU helps pay my bills – which is great! And I certainly learnt a lot throughout the whole masters, and writing the thesis was almost life-changing in terms of how much it changed my way of viewing the world. And not to forget – I made some really good friends!’ During the last semester of the programme, students write a thesis in media and communication studies. Lisa’s thesis was about feminist advertising, so-called femvertising: ‘It is a growing marketing trend utilized by large brands such as Dove, Always and Barbie, who use feminist values and female empowerment to encourage brand activism. My thesis explored the relationship between feminism and advertising from the individual woman's perspective. I conducted in-depth qualitative interviews with fourteen Swedish women and had them watch feminist advertising videos’. She says that ‘I felt like my mind widened, and I learnt to see nuances of media phenomena. It was incredibly enriching, and it has fundamentally changed my way of thinking and analysing. The supervision is a vital part, as you don’t get to talk about your work with so many others (partners and friends quickly get sick of the topic!). It can easily get lonely. Without my supervisor I would have gone mad, for sure’.
After graduation
Lisa describes her current job, where she is, ‘working as a project leader and editor for an NPO’, which includes ‘writing a column about the results from my thesis for a feminist magazine, and thinking about how to restructure the thesis for a publication in an academic journal’. She is not yet exactly sure about what do next, saying ‘I guess I’ll see where I end up, but my plan for the coming years is to try to have as much fun as possible, and learn, learn, learn. I don’t intend to ever stop learning’.