Education

Bowdoin College

B.A., History

The Chinese University of Hong Kong

Chinese History and Mandarin Language

Podcasts

30:27

153: How to Report on the Legal Cannabis Industry w/ Bruce Kennedy, DOPE magazine freelancer [Main T4C episode]

Bruce Kennedy is an award-winning media and public relations professional who broke into reporting on the legal cannabis industry almost a decade ago. Since that time Bruce has crafted his own beat covering this booming industry. Today, he is a regular contributor for Leafly and DOPE magazine where he has..

Career Path

Interview Highlights

“The thing about journalism … it’s a learning experience as you go along. Your ear gets better. Your writing gets better. Your whole sense of sensing people out gets better. It really is an apprenticeship in a lot of ways, and one of the few I think that’s left in modern industries. So you really have to build your skills up. You can’t just suddenly be an instant journalist.”

Best Career Advice

“Don’t be too proud. Go into a situation, especially if you’re still learning to write, if you’re still learning about the industry.”

Career Challenge

“Over the past 20 years, I’ve been laid off seven or eight times, usually due to business model changes and the evolution of journalism right now … It’s hard. It takes a lot out of your ego. It can be very depressing. Sometimes those layoffs would be purely business. Sometimes it’d be coupled with office politics or personality issues, but you really begin to doubt yourself and your abilities and you constantly have to kind of reinvent yourself and pick yourself up … Do not let the defeat defeat you. Keep pushing.”