Mum and daughter share study passion

Elena Escalante-Block, 21, doesn’t have to wait for mother’s day to spend time with her mum - she just has to go to uni.

Elena is in her third year of a dual Bachelor of Journalism/Arts at The University of Queensland, while her mother, also called Elena, is a PhD candidate at the UQ School of Journalism and Communication, exploring the political communication of the long-lasting Hugo Chavez era.

Both mother and daughter migrated to Australia from Venezuela five years ago after Elena Block, the senior, met and married Australian barrister, John Fraser.

“I always wanted to pursue an academic career but I was a single mother who had to pay the bills,” Elena senior said.

“I just could not afford the time and money to do a PhD.

"Now I am in a new phase of my life and following my passion.”

Elena junior, despite being offered a place at a German university, decided to migrate to be with her mother and study at The University of Queensland.

“I have always wanted to be a journalist," she said.

"There are photographs of me as a small child playing with a typewriter. I have always written stories.

“Both my parents were journalists.

"Mum was a political journalist and then press secretary for a politician before she broke into corporate communication.

"She has always been very successful, well known in journalistic and political circles in Venezuela.”

Achievement obviously runs in the family.

Elena junior speaks three languages, with English her third.

She hopes one day to work for SBS or work in international public relations.

“I so am proud of my mum. She loves what she is doing now and is an inspiration to me,” Elena junior said.

“Some of my friends have mum as a tutor and they love her.”

Mother and daughter also live together, but “but I try to give her independence and give each other space” Elena senior said.

“I am a typical Latin American mother though - very protective.

“We are best friends and we can fight like friends, but respect each other and I try not to cramp her style.

“In Venezuela she complained because she was known as Elena’s daughter. Now I am known as Elena’s mum....and I am very proud of it," Elena senior said.

Siena Perry, Communication and Logistics Officer, Centre for Communication and Social Change,School of Journalism and Communication, The University of Queensland.
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