Keynote Speech

I can check something off my bucket list — Keynote Speech!

I was so honored to speak at the New York Women in Communications Student Communications Career Conference at NYU this weekend.

I started the day off with a visit from the GlamSquad for hair and makeup.  If you haven’t used the service, you have to give it a try.  The artists are punctual, friendly and very talented.  I was super pleased and would use them again.  They show up right to your door and you can get beautified in the comfort of your own home!  Brilliant!

I spoke before a few hundred students about what it was like to be a producer, win an Emmy award and write Listful Thinking.  Some of them told me afterwards they were thankful I shared my experience with the  “F word” — failure.  I talked about the ups and downs of my own career and how it wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows.  I failed too.  I took two jobs back to back that weren’t good fits for me and I was miserable.  It happens.

I shared that I had gone on a tour of the set of World News Tonight with Peter Jennings when I was about 14 years old thanks to a childhood friend’s dad who worked at ABC.  That Dad became a keystone in my keynote!  He’s the one who got me hooked on the news business and on TV just by opening up his world to me and showing me what he did for a living.  (PS Now we actually work together all these years later!)

His kindness though always stuck with me and I try to do the same for anyone who is interested in what I do.  That’s why being asked to do this Keynote was even more special.  I was able to tell young women who are aspiring journalists, publicists and marketers about my world.  Being able to give back that gift is priceless.

Here’s a small video clip from the event, where I talk about what I wish I had known when I was 21!