My name is Cody James Naccarato. I’m 20, a college student, and beard enthusiast. I’m a resident Kingstonian, and I might be one of the only people proud enough to proclaim it in the third line of their ‘About Me’ section.  I’m an aspiring Journalist who has done some freelance work.

I made a portfolio because I believed at the time, and still very much do, that in some lines of work a resume doesn’t represent your accomplishments well. A cover letter doesn’t ever properly say how much I would appreciate the job. I think that someone like myself isn’t best represented with a resume.

I should stress the journalism part. I’ve wanted to be a journalist, since I was a kid. I wanted to be on my elementary school’s student newspaper “The Cougar Chronicle” because they got to stay after school and work in the computer lab. There was also a pizza party. But I fell in love with the process.

I was kicked out of the Cougar Chronicle when I wrote that I had overheard an adult in the school using a ‘dirty’ word. Not only was my story buried, it was never printed. The person who helped me write it said that he didn’t help me, and that was my first taste of ethics. Obviously Mr. Johnson wasn’t going to publish that his wife Mrs. Johnson said the F word in the lunch room.

I wrote for all of the scholastic publications. I learned more and more after that fourth grade encounter. I thought I’d be righteous and take the world by storm. But then I realized that’s not the kind of person I am. I can be serious, but I’d much rather write in a lighter note. A dog that can skateboard is more interesting to me than exposing P.O.W conditions in the Middle East (and a hell of a lot safer.)

I caught a stride when I went to high school. I was the Editor of Kingston Highlights. I was also responsible for laying out every issue of the print edition. That’s where I fell in love with the physical paper copy of a newspaper. I love the web, but there is something about holding a paper in your hands that is so much more satisfying. The medium is not a forgiving one, but I love it all the same.

My college does not have a school newspaper. I have pressed that issue as far up the totem pole as I could go, but I could never get anything going. I’ve submitted stuff to several places online, and have written on a freelance basis for the last few years.

In my Junior year of High School, I had to take an English elective (partially because my schedule didn’t support the class I was supposed to take at the time.) I took Public Speaking as an Easy A. When I told that to the guidance counselor, she reamed me for being disrespectful. I looked at her confused and said “The class won’t be easy. I’m just good in front of a group of people.”

I did get an A in Public Speaking (thanks in part to the magnificent Linda Still). But it also wet my appetite for competition. I learned about a public speaking scholarship called the Anita Williams Peck Scholarship. So, I tried to enter. I wasn’t allowed to because it is only available for graduating seniors. I stood in Still’s doorway and called my shot a year in advance

“I’m calling it Mrs. Still. I am going to win. I’m calling my shot.”

How long did I work on my speech? A year. I started rapping to sharpen my tone, my annunciation and pronunciation. A year later, at the end of the night, I won and had my first year and a half of college mostly paid for. I can’t thank anyone enough who helped me along the way. I remember in my audition I thought I bombed. I was so nervous beforehand, but I just let the moment overcome me when I was in front of everyone.

Crowds have never, and will never, bother me.

I am 12 credits away from my Associates Degree in Communications/Journalism. I will be my mother’s first child to go to college and walk out with a degree. I’m working on a book deal, and I have a short subject film that I want to shoot in the upcoming months. Check my blog for my information on production and release information.

I want nothing more than to work in a professional environment where I am not treated as a child, but as someone who is age deficient who has something to contribute. I don’t wait for my life to start, I am always trying to accomplish my goals now.

If you are a potential employer, I sincerely thank you for your consideration in advance. If you are a colleague or friend, I hope you enjoyed me explaning my hopes in dreams in less than a 1000 words. If you are someone who found my site on accident, now you know my story.

And if you typed in “CodyNaccarato.com” because it is your name and you were curious to see what was here, the answer is I am here, and I have this domain bought for the next eleven years. No you can’t buy it.

–CN