Spring 2025
Careers for Creatives: Unexpected Opportunities
The Careers for Creatives: Unexpected Opportunities Journey is perfect for mentees and mentors who are looking to turn their passion for storytelling, content creation, or journalism into a career. Through a dynamic online course, mentoring sessions, and live networking events, you will explore various career paths available to writers today, learn practical skills to help you succeed, and discover how to build a sustainable career that aligns with your interests and strengths. Discover career paths in finance, technology, corporate communications, publishing and more!
Girls Write Now Collaboratory
This Journey is Closed, but You Can Pre-Enroll in a Spring 2027 Journey Now!
Learning Objectives
Apply to Join
Deadline: January 15, 2025
As a mentee or mentor in the Careers for Creatives: Unexpected Opportunities Journey, you’ll have access to an online course designed to help you learn skills to bring into interviews and networking situations. You’ll be paired with a mentee or mentor for one full cycle, and you’ll meet with them at least once each month. You’ll attend at least one community engagement experience a month and are encouraged to attend monthly Career Chats in which you will meet with professionals from a variety of industries.
- Cycle(s) Spring 2025
- Time 3 hours per month
- Areas of Focus Career Development, Networking
- Requirement Attend at least one Career Chat per month
- Available Spots Per Cycle 20
Careers for Creatives: Unexpected Opportunities Course
Through a combination of lectures, industry insights, practical exercises, and interviews with professionals in non-traditional writing fields, learn how to apply your writing skills to a variety of emerging and unconventional careers. You’ll also gain a deeper understanding of how to adapt your writing style for different mediums, develop a tailored portfolio, and market yourself in industries you might not have thought were open to writers.
Careers for Creatives: Unexpected Opportunities Mentoring
Mentees and mentors in the Careers for Creatives Journey will be matched for one cycle. Pairs will meet for at least one hour-long session each month.
Careers for Creatives: Unexpected Opportunities Community Experiences
Mentees and mentors in the Careers for Creatives Journey must attend at least one Community Experience per month. They are encouraged to attend the following monthly Career Chats:
- March 11, 2025: 4:45-6 pm ET
- April 8, 2025: 4:45-6 pm ET
- May 6, 2025: 4:45-6 pm ET
Career 360 Adventure
The Careers for Creatives: Unexpected Opportunities Journey is a part of the Career 360 Adventure.
Journeys in the Career 360 Adventure focus on finding and keeping employment that fuels and inspires. It is perfect for mentees and mentors who are looking for a new job or want to make the most of their current role.
Find Your Journey
Find Your Journey
Explore Tour (Fall 2026)
Explore all of the creative and storytelling pathways Girls Write Now has to offer through a multimedia, multi-genre experience that includes mini courses, exploratory studios, and one-to-one pair sessions.
Teach GWN (Fall 2026)
In this Journey, members of the GWN community will develop curriculum and facilitate a community studio for one or more cycles within GWN’s Collaboratory structure.
The Career Journey: Inside Book Publishing (Fall 2026)
This Journey is for mentors curious about breaking into publishing, mentors already in the industry who want to pass on what they know, and mentees serious about building a career in books. Together you'll map the roles across publishing houses and literary agencies and get into the nuts and bolts of what each one actually does.
Explore Tour (Spring 2027)
Explore Girls Write Now’s creative and storytelling pathways through a multimedia, multi-genre experience featuring mini courses, exploratory studios, and one-to-one pair sessions. Develop skills across fiction, journalism, publishing, video, podcasting, visual storytelling, and more.
Independent Study (Spring 2027)
Create your own experience with our Independent Study Journey. Mentees and mentors meet as a pair, attend events of interest, and use coursework to support creative projects and personal goals. Along the way, you can connect with others during a mid-cycle mixer designed to spark inspiration, share ideas, and build community. The Journey culminates in a showcase where participants present the work they have developed throughout the cycle and celebrate their accomplishments together. Mentees and mentors will benefit by gaining greater independence in their learning, deepening their creative practice, and building meaningful connections while pursuing self-directed goals.
Teach GWN (Spring 2027)
In this Journey, members of the GWN community will develop curriculum and facilitate a Community Studio for one or more cycles within GWN’s Collaboratory structure. Each cycle involves facilitating three Community Studios, one per month. Mentees and mentors will gain valuable skills in leadership, teaching, and community building. Mentees and mentors can facilitate a Community Studio either independently (if they are 18 or older) or together as a pair.
Screenwriting: Crafting Short Film Stories (Spring 2027)
This two-cycle Journey guides participants from crafting a short film script to bringing it to life on screen. In the first cycle, mentors and mentees focus on developing compelling stories, dynamic characters, and engaging dialogue, learning the essentials of screenwriting for short films. In the second cycle, participants move from script to screen, exploring the practical aspects of video production, including planning, collaboration, and bringing their creative vision to life. By the end of the journey, mentees will have both a polished script and hands-on experience in producing their own short film.
Life Lines: Crafting Memoir (Part 1) (Spring 2027)
In this three-cycle Journey, writers will get the support and expert industry insight they need to write their memoir. In the first three-month cycle, participants will outline, structure their book, and begin their first drafts; in the second three-month cycle, participants will write and workshop their drafts; and in the third cycle, participants will finish their drafts and write their book proposals.
Lead Community Change (Part 2) (Spring 2027)
Lead Community Change is a dynamic two-cycle Journey that harnesses the transformative power of storytelling to drive social impact. Aspiring young leaders and activists will unleash their creativity to develop and implement innovative community-based social activism projects, supported by GWN’s rich storytelling resources.
Speak Your Truth: Spoken Word Poetry (Spring 2027)
Explore the power of spoken word poetry as a form of storytelling, self-expression, and social commentary.
