# @msujschool on Facebook

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.facebook.com/1588490806402984/posts/10156047412413666
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/68589986-msujschool-facebook
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/05b7c28fc0.jpg
- **Posted:** 2018-10-19T11:30:01.000+00:00

## Caption

#Five4Friday time!

Pat Anstett Kiska 
B.A. (1969)
Author/Owner, Patricia Anstett Communications,
Retired medical writer, Detroit Free Press 
http://bcsurgerystories.com/

Q: You’ve had a very successful career as a journalist and health communicator. How did your experience at the J-School help you in your career?
A: Working at the State News for four years is THE reason I landed a great job in journalism after graduation, in Chicago. Others I know who didn't work there often could not find a newspaper job, except at small weeklies, or settled for something outside their love, print journalism. I am so glad I found the time to work there.

Q: A lot has changed in the journalism industry since your graduation. What excites you about those changes? 
A: There are many reasons to be pessimistic, given layoffs and cutbacks causing the demise of good quality journalism. I'm most excited about the fact that there remains a need for print journalism, on a national scale, and in some communities. There also is much better access to public files to do investigative journalism. And there still are lots of young people who want to work in journalism.

Q: What was the happiest/proudest moment in your career?
A: In retirement, when I thought I'd tend to gardening, tennis and other pursuits, I published a national book that became the most fulfilling accomplishment of my career – "Breast Cancer Surgery & Reconstruction: What's Right for You.'' Despite widespread breast cancer awareness, much less is known, and only two other creditable books have been published, about surgery choices women make to stop or prevent breast cancer. Significant misinformation, doctor bias and politics and fear of cancer remain as significant obstacles to women becoming better informed and sharing in decisions they will be happy with. I promote the topic almost daily on social media and last year was ranked 8th internationally for the hashtags #breastsurgery and #breastreconstruction. I manage a Facebook page and a website, bcsurgerystories.com for posts about these topics.

(Editor's note: October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, so we put a link to Pat's website as a resource!)

Q: Could you tell us a little bit about your efforts as an advocate of pay equality for women in media? 
A: I have stood up for equal pay for women through my career, through the newspaper union and through the Association for Women in Communications. I have publicly supported the equity pay lawsuit against the Detroit Free Press, met with the union to tell them the importance of their support and written the editor there and talked to him personally about it. I have posted information about the lawsuit on social media and urged others to do so.

Q: What advice do you have for our current students? 
A: (1) Work at the State News; find time to do it. Many students working there held another job, besides working at the paper, as I did, but it's worth it. Those of us on the staff often were told by others they didn't have time to work there. They regretted it. 
(2) Find mentors throughout your career and mentor others behind you. 
(3) Stay up on current events and get to know the community you live in. And please subscribe to, and read your paper and others, before you get to work. I worked with too many people who didn't subscribe to their newspaper, scanned it in 2 minutes on the Web when they got to work and drove home listening to non-news channels all the time.

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- **Likes:** 6
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## Tags

breastreconstruction, breastsurgery, five4friday

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