Advice to Budding Journalists
As for her advice to budding journalists who look to her for guidance, Leila has a number of lessons to impart.
First, don’t be an aimless journalist reporting day in and day out without a sense of purpose.
“Enter journalism with a specific interest, with a goal,” advises Leila. “Don’t believe in people who tell you journalism should be neutral. The greatest journalists are never neutral—they hold causes, but with integrity and honesty.”
Aside from being strong in your beliefs, she also suggests that you shouldn’t be afraid of admitting you need help. In some cases, it could be the bravest thing you could do.
“Don't be ashamed to seek help and ask frankly for opportunities. In the worst case, people will refuse to help you, [and] best case, you'll have a great experience,” said Leila.
Protecting Intellectual Property
With all the effort she’s put into ideation and branding, it’s no wonder that Leila takes copyright infringement and intellectual property seriously, as all professionals should these days.
It’s a sad fact that many content creators deal with copyright infringement on a daily basis. You’d be hard-pressed to find a content creator who hasn’t been a victim of stolen ideas. It’s happened to Leila enough times that she’s realized that far too many people hide behind the excuse of “nobody owns an idea.”
“It means that any other podcaster or journalist can take from you an idea that you expressed or heard about without feeling guilty about it,” shares Leila. They can essentially get off on a technicality.
“Personally, I would never be able to take an idea/concept that is under process somewhere else. Thankfully, I work in a place where we take very seriously intellectual property. We send agreements for the smallest and most common procedures to the point that we may annoy some of our partners. But, at least we are always on the safe side!” says Leila Al Aouf.
Not everyone is as considerate and cautious as Leila Al Aouf and her team, and this all boils down to another point the journalist makes: “Respecting intellectual property is a value,” not just a technicality.
Failing to respect intellectual property will also hurt your brand and reputation more than it will help it. If you work in a small industry where everyone knows each other, infringing on someone’s copyright could make you lose potential clients and destroy the company image you’ve worked so hard to build, says Leila.
But not everyone realizes the consequences of stealing ideas and content. This is why there are laws and companies in place that work on protecting intellectual property. And according to Leila, “Spending money on intellectual property is always cheaper than spending money in court.”
For more on Leila Al Aouf, you can follow her on Instagram and tune into her podcast on Spotify.
