Reflections on Success Mark Whitaker

I rose with the first Newsweek wave to recruit minorities. I started as a summer intern after my sophomore year at Harvard, and have been here ever since. Even while I was studying international relations at Oxford on a Marshall scholarship, I continued as a stringer. It was there that I realized I wanted to stay in journalism. Both my parents were college professors, and law had been an option. There might have been safer choices that ultimately would have paid more money. But my passion is journalism. Try to do what you love. Not everybody has that luxury, but, if you do, you're very lucky.

My first full time position was as a junior writer in the foreign desk. I was there for six years, then business editor for about four years, assistant managing editor and then managing editor for four years each. It's interesting that I see more and more job mobility. Young people don't expect to stay in one place. But the fact is, when you look around, many of the top people in corporate America have stayed in one place. There are real advantages in gaining that experience. In any event, you have to pay your dues. There's no substitute for that. As desirable as it is to see more people of color and women in top positions, we all have to pay our dues too. It's important to realize there will be ups and downs. It's easy to take setbacks as racism. Sometimes that's true. But anybody can have setbacks. You have to hang in there. Anybody who goes to work for a mainstream publication or company is going to be said by some people to be selling out.

But it's important to realize you have to make some compromises. You can't accomplish a revolution by yourself. On the other hand, if you achieve a position of authority, you should use it as a positive force. I've been an advocate for getting more people of color and different sexual orientation into the magazine, and not just on the headcounts, but so they could genuinely contribute their voices. There are many good opportunities in journalism. Now almost every major news publication offers internships. A degree in journalism is good, but you should understand that the way you make it in this field is gaining your credentials through reporting, writing, and earning your clips. That's what impresses me, a person who is willing to expend sweat and shoe leather, to pay his or her dues.

Mark Whitaker is the editor of "Newsweek."