Hi, I’m Mike and I should tell you in advance that I hate describing myself and even more taking selfies. Anyway, I was born and raised in a small city in central Greece named Trikala, a place with lots of green areas, trees, cotton crops and of course hot temperatures during summer.

My adventure begins at the age of 18 when I left home to get a degree in Greek Philology. I did my undergraduate studies at the university of Ioannina while majoring in Linguistics. After graduating, I felt that my knowledge was still limited, so next year I got accepted at the Applied Linguistics Master at the University of Ioannina. My life seemed already predetermined. After a degree and master in Linguistics, the next step was a PhD which was actually my initial plan. But since I am here today, you already know that I didn’t follow THE PLAN!!

Spending 9 months in the army and having plenty of time for self discovery, I realized that a career as a Linguistics professor wasn’t what I craved for.  “What do you enjoy doing the most at this point in your life?”, I asked myself. The answer was easy, photography and books. OK, I love books and comic books a bit more. Books have always been a big part of my personal, student and later academic life, a tool for teaching through my own teaching sessions and of course a productive way of spending my free time. My first encounter with them begins at the early age of four when I developed a special enthusiasm for fairy tales and graphic novels, although I couldn’t read anything back then. Thank god I had the Audiobook called “mom”!

And here I am today, being a student at the MLitt in Publishing at the University of Stirling. The reason I applied for this master is the course structure of the programme, which is in accordance with my future aspiration in the field of publishing. I feel that the modules included, can give me an insight on how the current publishing industry works while equipping me with the necessary skills to pursue a career in it. Did I make the right choice changing my career prospects? Only time will tell but so far I say hell yeah!

After graduating from the Publishing Master, I aspire to work for a comic book company in the U.S. I know it’s difficult but I also know that I’m allowed to dream. So, keep dreaming and keep walking my fellow publishers! (OK, I stole the last line from the Johnnie Walker Ad but hey we’re in Scotland, so we’re allowed to talk about whisky!)

My name is Yuwen Tong. I come from Shanghai, China. I am an art student. In college, my previous major was advertising design. I was particularly interested in design when I was a child. In Shanghai I have studied painting for seven years and have a certain degree of creative basis. I know that I amfar from a professional designer, but I have been watching and learning all kinds of design ideas. After coming to University of Stirling, I chose publishing studies which linked to my previous major as my postgraduate course. Because of the previous study of graphic design, I have mastered a number of graphics software skills such as Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, CAD and Adobe InDesign.

In these two semesters, I have learnt a lot about professional knowledge of publishing such as Skills Training for Publishing, Digital: Process and Product, Editorial Practice and Content Creation, Marketing Management and Communications and Skills for Publishing Management. I hope that in these two semesters I have mastered the professional knowledge of publishing, gained a familiarity with the operation of the publishing industry processes and strengthen my software skills.

A photo of me while on holiday in the Scottish Highlands c. autumn 2014

Welcome to the wonderful thing that is my student profile. I’m terrible at writing about myself, so I’ll attempt to make it as bearable as humanly possible. My name is Elizabeth Krajnik: youngest of three and the only girl. I was born and raised in rural Wisconsin, a land full of dairy cows, corn fields and pine trees (AKA a lack of neighbours), all of which allowed me to find my passion in reading.

At present I am thinking my future career will have something to do with young adult fiction; however, I have FOMO disease (fear of missing out) and would hate to cast off other areas in which I might excel. I’m the type of person who likes to try anything — within reason — at least once. Upon graduation, I’d be delighted to find a job that suits me in the UK or perhaps on mainland Europe.

My publishing background is not nearly as lengthy as some other students, but rather than bounce around from experience to experience I prefer to gain the trust of my colleagues and form strong relationships with them. I work well within tight time constraints, easily command the attention of a group, and do exceptionally well in situations under which most would falter. I love incorporating humour (which I’m sure you have gathered from reading this whole thing) into the workplace whenever appropriate and know when a flip of the proverbial switch is required.

I have an amazing family that means the world to me: two loving parents who have supported me through everything (even my first year of uni which was spent freaking out about being a pre-med student) and two brothers who know just how to brighten even the darkest of days with silly memes and inside jokes.

In my spare time (yes I do have some of that on occasion) I enjoy falling down the rabbit hole that is Buzzfeed, cooking, attempting to learn new languages, watching funny videos of dogs, and taking really crappy amateur photos.

Some of my favourite authors are: Jodi Picoult, the ever-wonderful Queen J.K. Rowling, Salman Rusdie, and Mary Higgins Clark. However, I must never forget the greats: Virgil, Dante, Boccaccio, and Chaucer. This list isn’t even close to complete, but I’m sure you understand how difficult it is to come up with the authors you love most on the spot. There are too many to list!

Well, I think this is a sufficient amount of writing about myself for the time being. Cheers!