Victoria O'Meara: The pull of academia

By Shannon Robinson

Victoria's hometown: Oshawa, Ontario

When Victoria O’Meara is not in her office conducting interviews, writing her dissertation or meeting with students she can be found serving food and drinks at The Grad Club on campus.

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Victoria O’Meara started her post-secondary education with designs on becoming an artist and repertoire representative in the music industry, but that all changed when she became enthralled with academia.

Victoria’s academic career began at Brock University where she earned her undergraduate degree in Communications, Film and Popular Culture. From there she held a position as an intern at TC Transcontinental, a Canadian leader in specialty media. She worked as part of the web editorial team on Canadian magazines such as Elle Canada and Style at Home beside some of the digital industry’s top women.

However, it wasn’t long until academia began calling to her again. She completed her master’s degree at the University of Windsor in the field of communication and social justice.

Victoria’s area of research focuses on platform labour in the digital media economy and neoliberal gendered subjectivity. She was brought to this project from an interest in feminist theory and the political economy of media.

“I’m particularly interested in the work that women do because I think it sits on the political border of what is classified as work and what is not,” she says.

Her hope is that her dissertation demands a deeper interrogation of what work holds value in society and how systems of gender-based inequality factor into that.

“The faculty attracted me to study at FIMS because there was so much diversity. Everybody is doing interesting and different research.”
Victoria has been working toward her PhD in Media studies at FIMS since 2014. One of the biggest motivating factors for her to join the FIMS community was the unlimited opportunity to explore different areas of study.

She credits her mentors at FIMS for guiding her towards her goal and coaching her through all her pivots.

“They are really intelligent and prolific scholars that are still interested and available to talk with students,” she says. “I appreciate the conversations I have with them. I am always learning.”

Fun Fact

Victoria is an avid rock-climber. She loves how it engages both her body and her mind.

Victoria’s days at FIMS are spent researching, writing and acting as the internship instructor for the MIT undergraduate students. But she cautions that academic work can be isolating if you let it. To combat this, she encourages students to expose themselves to different areas of research as it can spark interesting collaborations.

“There’s always something going on. Participate because it offers you the diverse skills and the potential to improve your research,” she says. “It makes the community at FIMS a thriving space and it is wonderful.”

In the future, Victoria sees herself continuing in academia as a professor. “I am so enthusiastic about writing and thinking about ideas. I am blown away by theory and animated by learning.”

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Profiles in the Meet Our Students section are written by students in the Master of Media in Journalism & Communication program, who are enrolled in MMJC 9604 - Professional Writing.