This week on the LU Moment, senior broadcasting major Khalaya Coleman talks about how she works to showcase culture on the Lamar University campus through her LUTV News segment, "Kulture by Khalaya."
For updates on the latest news and events at Lamar University, visit lamar.edu/news.
This week on the LU Moment, senior broadcasting major Khalaya Coleman talks about how she works to showcase culture on the Lamar University campus through her LUTV News segment, "Kulture by Khalaya."
For updates on the latest news and events at Lamar University, visit lamar.edu/news.
Shelbe Rodriguez 0:00
Welcome to the LU moment where we showcase all the great events, activities, programs and people right here at Lamar University. I'm Shelbe Rodriguez, Public Affairs Manager here at LU. And guys, I want to welcome you back to this week's episode of the LU moment. Now listen, guys, I have a very special guest with me today. I feel like I say that for everyone. But I don't know. I feel like all my guests are special. Right. So joining me today I have LUTV news student Khalaya. And so the really awesome thing that caught my eye about Khalaya is that she has a cool segment on LUTV News called "Kulture with Khalaya." And so I wanted to bring her on to talk a little bit about her journey to you and what she's doing with all your TV news and beyond Khalaya, thank you for joining me on the moment this week.
Khalaya 0:39
Thank you for having me. Perfect. So
Shelbe Rodriguez 0:42
whenever I have a student on the show, I always ask this I always ask because I'm nosy. Why did you choose Lamar University? You're used to native right. So why did you choose to come to the nest?
Khalaya 0:52
I knew you were gonna ask me that question. Yeah. How did you know? Okay, so I applied to I wasn't that big of a scholar as a kid. So I just applied to Lamar, because I liked the program. My main thing was like looking for a radio station or just looking for a broadcasting program. Yeah, all schools actually offered that rise. So I just found the Lamar and I applied and they accepted me. So I was like, Mom going here.
Shelbe Rodriguez 1:20
You're like, you're going hey, this is it. This is it. So what do you think about the program so far? Because you're a senior you'll be graduating in May
Unknown Speaker 1:26
not just getting on the program was? It's been good to me? Yes, I say, I will say that I've gotten the most experience from my junior and senior year, just because I was able to finish my prerequisites. Yeah, learning about mice, learning about sound, stuff like that. And then getting into this LUTV station where I could actually put the learning, like a physical form. So I can create content, I can go to events and kind of network work with cameras work with editing work with audio, all that stuff. I'm more of a physical learner. So yeah,
Shelbe Rodriguez 2:05
hands on. Yeah, yeah. And I think it's cool. Like you say, not every university offers a broadcasting program, but and even if they do it not every university offers a hands on experience, you know of that you're going out. Because what I see from you all is that you're not just here on campus, a lot of times y'all are going out into the community or y'all are pulling in stories, bringing guests into the station, alumni into the station. So all the cool things. But what I want to talk about for sure is "Kulture with Khalaya." That segment on LUTV news, something different I don't think it's ever been done before. Why culture with Khalaya, tell me about that segment. What does that segment represent for you?
Unknown Speaker 2:43
So well. Okay, so it's actually culture by "Kulture by Khalaya." And I was a little nervous to say that, but...
Shelbe Rodriguez 2:52
No, no never!
Khalaya 2:52
"Kulture by Khalaya" is my first step, honestly, towards my path towards my future wherever life takes me, that's kind of how I feel about it. It's not perfect. It's not exactly what I want to represent me. But yeah, like I said, it's the first step everybody has to start somewhere. And I'm really hoping that what I learned through this segment will take me and exponentially grow me to higher limits. So within every episode that I curate with new episodes, I always try to find a new element to incorporate. I don't I don't come from Beaumont. So I don't really focus on the things that's going on outside and then coming from the school that I went to in high school and coming to campus was a big culture shock. So I think what I tried to emphasize to my show are the aspects of Lamar that I find interesting. I'm curious to learn more about I feel like they need to be highlighted or importance or something. stuff along those lines. For my first episode, I focused on freshmen and kind of entering a new environment. My second episode, I focused on the deaf community on campus. You did Dr. Mann, Joseph Yes, yes, which was very awesome experience. And then I tried to kind of like, other than the topics that I choose, I try to incorporate different editing to my shows or a different presentation to my show. Like for my first show, I of course I had this big elaborate plan. Yeah, but Gordon is kind of like and we're going to start from somewhere babies. Yeah, very so just in front of a green screen recording in the studio, using some footage from last year when I shot stuff around campus. Something kind of basic to set the structure of my show. And now that I start to structure now I can kind of explore the things that I are interested in.
Shelbe Rodriguez 4:54
Did you when creating this segment or this show did you kind of say You know what I want to kind of show culture Don't call it culture by Calais. Are you like, what's the name gonna be?
Khalaya 5:04
Well, I knew that I wanted to do culture. And I actually had a crazy thing is I actually had been thinking about creating a show before I even got to this point in my degree. So I was kind of playing with the alliteration of Khalaya with the K's something that could rhyme with my name or something that just really flows and talking to Gordon Bata. He's really good with alliteration and coming up with slogans. Yeah, so he really helped me come up with culture by Khalaya, which I thought was a little cheesy for so give me Yeah, yeah. But um, I had to take it and make it my own and branded. So it's still learning,
Shelbe Rodriguez 5:47
it seems like you have and what I love about your segment is that you're not just showing it and you know, pointing the camera and it's set up, and we're just watching the movements, it almost seems like you're immersing yourself in to the culture itself, almost like it's a learning process for you too. Because I've seen you show our fraternities and sororities stepping in, you know what I'm saying they're throwing their signs up, and they got paraphernalia on. And that might be different to see for someone who may not have been there before. They're like, what are these folks doing? They're just jumping around. And no, this is divine nine, this is what they do. Right call, you know, shredding and strolling. And this is a part of their history and what they do. jumping in with Dr. Joseph Mann, and having his interpreter there, you know, I think that was something important to see on camera, because a lot of people might not think so bring someone on who is hearing impaired or like, I'm gonna have an interpreter, I wonder how that will work. You know, and I'm sure everyone has that idea. But not everyone puts those ideas into play. And so haha, and so to see you, like jump into your leg, and then to be yourself, especially, because you were asking him something, and you were like, You know what I mean? And he's like, You know what, I mean, it kind of shows like, humanization, like, the human side is like, Okay, doctor, man is hearing impaired, but he's still a person. Yeah, I mean, he has brain farts, like, we all have brain farts. So it was, I thought that was really, really cool to see you kind of be yourself a little bit in Doctor man, be himself. And so to have that have that interaction. And so with this show, what are you hoping to showcase for the future?
Khalaya 7:17
Are you talking about? Where do I want to be in the future? Let's manifest real quick. Yeah, manifest? Yeah, big word. Um, well, I never thought that far. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie to you. I kind of thinking too far into the future makes me anxious. And I started to like overthinking, yeah. Get fearful or whatever, and anxious or whatever. So I kind of just think about what's for next semester. Next semester, I'm hoping that I can hear many more compliments such as yours from other students around me. I'm hoping that people could recognize me in the work that I do. And my I'm actually glad that you said that because my the goal with my show is to immerse you into that culture, I want you to, I want you to feel humanly connected to me, I want you to see that I'm growing through the episode in its entirety, from post production to pre production to post production. And my my main goal is that I want viewers to I guess, like, they're sitting in the room with me. Yeah. Or they're sitting inside my head, or they get to experience what I'm basically trying to convey, I guess. Yeah. So I guess my goal for the future is to have an honest, unprofessional show that people find educational and entertaining.
Shelbe Rodriguez 8:46
Yeah. And I like how you say educational? Because yeah, it does teach it teach you a little bit. You know what I mean? Like I said, if someone hasn't seen our fraternities do the things that they do if they had seen someone who is hearing impaired or see an interpreter put into use those kinds of things. Yeah, I think that's important to show. And so I'm looking forward to what you're going to show for the, for the show, yeah. Moving forward. And so let's talk a little bit about your passion in broadcasting. Where does that stem from? Have you always known? This is what I want to do?
Khalaya 9:15
Well, well, you know, what's crazy? I actually came to Lamar seeking broadcasting degree, but it wasn't in like media. It was more of radio, to be honest. So one time I was sitting in the car with my dad, and I was thinking, dang, I'm a junior, in high school senior in high school, like, what do I really want to do? And I was just listening to the radio and I'd like to talk. Listen, I like to talk. So I'm listening to the radio and I'm like, This guy is getting paid to talk about music. I love music. Yeah. As guests on the show. I would love to meet a few celebrities, you know, once or twice. Yeah. And he's just getting paid to like, delegate this space that people are using every day to go with I need to go. So that kind of sparked my passion. I came to Lamar because I wanted to be a radio personality, which I still, that's still a part of my plans. But coming here, I found my passion in recording. I really like to the goal is to be a freelance videographer. Yeah. I really like being behind the camera, finding the angles. Shooting a story telling a story. Yeah, that's really my passion in broadcasting. And of course, this is the first time I've done like a podcast. Yeah. I'm really excited though. Because it's like, it brings me back to the whole reason why I got into this major.
Shelbe Rodriguez 10:41
Yeah, yeah. No, yeah. No, we can't pay you. Right.
Khalaya 10:46
It's okay. To pay me an experience.
Shelbe Rodriguez 10:49
But But no, this has been a fun interview so far, though. But yeah, you you've always had that passion to say alright, this, it seems like underlying, you've always had the passion to just say how you mean it yourself, and convey that to other people. And you're like, look, I'm gonna get on his radio, or I'm gonna be behind the scene. And I'm gonna show you what it is through my eyes. Right. So I love that. Thanks. I love it. And so, once you leave here, what's next for you?
Khalaya 11:16
I like how you're asking all these questions I do not have answers to. Right. That's okay. If you don't have the answers, you
Shelbe Rodriguez 11:22
know? Yeah,
Khalaya 11:23
I think I think that the way that I see life is based on like, personal experience, if I plan to a tee what I want, yeah, is not going to happen that way. Yeah. So I just kind of shoot for vague goals. Of course, like, as I take the steps, of course, I try to navigate in my path towards it. But like, like I said, I have a goal of just being a freelance videographer. I don't know how I'm gonna get there. Yeah, I don't know when I'm gonna get there. But I know that I will get there. Yeah. So that's really what's keeping me going.
Shelbe Rodriguez 11:58
So being a senior, what's been the most exciting thing that you've covered with LG TV notes? Ooh, are the most likely memorable, where you're like, Oh, that was different.
Khalaya 12:09
I honestly, I would say, episode two POV for sure. Working with the deaf community on campus was beautiful. Yeah. It was very, I can't even describe it to you. Yeah, I was just so comfortable there a welcoming. I was curious. They were answering my questions like, yeah, just excited, just excited as I was to, like, produce this content. So that and then probably the moment that I figured out that I wanted to be behind the camera. Yeah, no, I can't tell you what story I was shooting. But we kind of shoot packages where we kind of have to be an anchor, or be in front of the camera or stuff like that, or interview people. And I will come back with just footage. And he's like, where's your interviews? Like? Are we where are you in front of the camera? I'm like, Yeah, of course, I had to do that. I wanted to be a well rounded artist. And I still need to work on that. But yeah, ultimately, like the editing is fun for me as well. Really? Yeah,
Shelbe Rodriguez 13:15
editing can be sort of therapeutic, you know, methodical, and you're just kind of sitting there for hours and cutting. Yeah,
Khalaya 13:23
cutting and pasting. And, and it takes a certain, I'm sure you know, but it takes a certain year or a certain eye to really like, sit there and edit. That's right. Because you have to you have to be able to know what you want. And then you have to be able to like, I'll give you an example, right? If I'm editing a package, and I'm editing the audio, and I hear like a little clique in the background, and now look, I'm doing that right, like, Okay, right. And I look to my peers, and I'm like, do you see that? Or do you hear them? They're like, No, it looks fine to me. But in my head, I can hear that. So I go back, I go edit, I do my cuts, do my face, whatever. And then it that stuff actually makes a difference, because then they'll be like, huh, I didn't know that, like the value of it. Of the production just goes up because you're paying attention to those little I guess. Yeah, got it. Yeah. So perfectionism. I'm saying
Shelbe Rodriguez 14:16
Khalaya. I'm definitely looking forward to what culture by Khalaya
is going to produce, especially looking forward to what you will be doing once you graduate in
Khalaya 14:26
Lakeview. Ultimately, I know that I'm not at my final form. That sounds so no. Yeah, but I'm hoping that through even through interviews with you, yeah. And then just going to other events and just being on campus. I'm hoping that that will help me evolve into the ideal artist that I will eventually become you ready for it? Yes.
Shelbe Rodriguez 14:49
She's gonna be ready for it. She's gonna be ready for it. Hey, I want to thank you for joining me this week.
Khalaya 14:54
Thank you.
Shelbe Rodriguez 14:56
This is Shelby Rodriguez, Public Affairs Manager here at LSU. The pride of Southeast Texas and now Talk to you next time
Transcribed by https://otter.ai