Episode 27: You Can Do It

Dr. Mailhiot and our Entertainment Technology Department hosted a special guest, Fox 29 Meteorologist Kathy Orr. Kathy shares her personal experiences and insights from her remarkable career. From weather forecasts, navigating media landscapes, internships, mastering the art of job hunting, and crafting killer resumes in the dynamic world of media, she encourages students to find their path and obtain career success.

Episode Transcript

Unknown (00:00):
Well, welcome everybody. Those of you that

(00:02):
don't know me, I am Dr Myatt. Iam the Program Chair for the
entertainment technologiesdepartment. We have two arms of
an AAS degree here at thecollege. One is our video and
digital media and one is oursound recording and engineering

(00:24):
degree. Both are AAS degrees,and both have a two plus two
partnership with RowanUniversity. So if you were to
come and do your pathway to thevideo and digital media degree,
you could transfer to RowanUniversity to their
communications program in theirproduction specialization, and

(00:44):
then if you take the sound andrecording engineering AAS
degree, you would then transferdirectly to their music college
and get a bachelor's in theirmusic tech program. So if you
want any more information aboutthat, you can certainly feel
free to email me
or come up and speak to me aftertoday's event. Also, I wanted to

(01:09):
thank our career andExperiential Learning Center
here at rcbc, and they arelocated across the way in the
big glass Rowan building. And Iwant to thank Erica Franklin and
Deborah clokis coming here todayto also welcome us with this
event. And I just wanted to givethem a few minutes to share some

(01:31):
of the great programs and thingsthat they do over there that you
may not know that they do. SoI'll just have Deborah come on
up and share really quickly.Thanks Good morning, everyone.
Thanks for having us. We're verygrateful to be partnering on
this special morning. So Ericahad passed around a handout for
you all. So if you're notfamiliar with some of the

(01:52):
programs that we offer, we haveQR codes linking you to our
resources so you can find themeasily on our website. We are
over in the Student SuccessCenter in the on the first floor
near the Public Safety Office.So you're welcome to stop by for
drop in hours, or go on tohandshake and schedule an
appointment with one of thecareer advisors. We do have some

(02:14):
upcoming programs for you, whichare also Pro,
I'm sorry, publicized onhandshake, so you can find the
details there. Tomorrow we'redoing a prepare for the fair
event with the Career Closet. Soif you're looking to come to the
spring Job and Internship Fair,join us tomorrow in Voda Hall.
You can pick out an outfit forthe career fair through the

(02:37):
Career Closet and get some tipsfor that event on when or
Thursday, we're doing a yoga inthe SSC, it's chair yoga. So no
worries. You don't have to geton the floor and do lots of
things, but that's just to bemindful and relaxed as you're
going into this job andinternship search. And then join
us on Wednesday, March 20, forthe Job and Internship Fair,

(03:01):
which is also in the SSC. Sowe'll look forward to sharing in
the program this morning andseeing you all throughout the
spring semester. So thank youagain. All right. Well, we have,
we do have a little, a smalllittle group here, but I think
no matter how large the groupis, you are definitely ready for

(03:22):
anything. And I'm so happy thatKathy came to speak to us today,
and we're going to be kind oftalking about career
preparation, networking,
resume building. I think all thethings that are really, I think,

(03:42):
thrown by the wayside with a lotof people that don't really know
how to do that, that it is anart form to know how to prepare
and to break into this industry,specifically, but in all
industries. So I wanted to thankKathy for joining us today. I'm
going to give her the mic, andwe're just going to start
casually chatting about coffeeand career talk. We have coffee.

(04:05):
We have some Danish. Please helpyourself and without further.
ADO. Kathy Orr, thank you somuch for joining us today. Thank
you Good morning. Would anybodylike to get a bottle of water or
a snack before we start. Don'tbe shy. I might get one myself.

(04:25):
My name is Kathy Orr. I've livedin Burlington County for 21
years. I'm originally fromupstate New York. I'm from
Syracuse, big basketball fan,and I've worked at three
television stations inPhiladelphia. I've been here 25
years, working in television asa meteorologist.

(04:49):
So I started my career because Iwanted to be a sportscaster. So
I went to Syracuse University,because I'm from Syracuse. I
didn't I applied to one schoolbecause.
Yes, it was the only school thatwas close by, because back in
the day, you just went to theschool in your neighborhood,
right? And that's the bestthing, because is everybody from

(05:10):
Burlington County, is that arequirement for school?
Okay? Everybody's fromBurlington County because you
want to go to school whereyou're going to work, because
that's where you're going tomake your connections, right? So
no matter what you want to do,the same rules apply of getting
to where you want to go. Doesanybody know what they want to

(05:31):
do?
Anyone idea what we want to dowith your
career? No, oh, good. Everybodyshould be a meteorologist.
I'll put you on the path. Whatdo you want to do?
An actor? Okay, that's exciting,and you're very fortunate,
because there's probablyopportunities in New Jersey,

(05:52):
because I know there's all kindof casting places already, and
there's plenty in Philadelphia.So I have to do, we have Google.
You know, when I was your age,we didn't have Google, so you
had to get in the phone book.Has everybody seen a phone book?
And you'd have to look it up,and you'd have to look at the
number, and you'd have to call,and you have to hope that they
answer. And now you haveeverything at your fingertips,
just to Google and figure outwhat you want to do, and you can

(06:14):
take classes to figure out whatyou want to do. I started off as
a kid. I loved sports, so I wasfascinated with basketball. I
loved basketball, so my fathertook me to a Syracuse University
basketball game, and I waswatching the two guys on the
court talk about the game, and Isaid to my dad, I was like, 10,
and I said, they're getting paidto sit there and just talk about

(06:38):
this game. And he said, Yeah,that's their job. They're
commentators. And I was like,that's what I want to do. Want
to do. So then the rest of mypreparation as a kid was just
like, that's that's what I'mgoing to do. So I went to school
for broadcast journalism, and asI went through school, I was
like, I don't know if I want todo sports. Robin Roberts was the
only woman doing sports at thetime, and she was phenomenal.

(07:01):
She was on ESPN, and later shewent on to Good Morning America.
But she was phenomenal. She wasjust the best, and she was the
only woman, and she's still thebest. And so I was like, that's
what I wanted to do. And then asI got older through high school,
I'm like, I still havetelevision, maybe not sports.
And then meteorology justhappened it there was just

(07:22):
happened to be a job at my localTV station where I interned, and
they were auditioning for aweather person, and since I
interned there, they werestarting a new show. And the
boss said to me, this job maylast five days, five years, we
don't know, but I'm like, I'lltake it. And I just worked in

(07:44):
the morning for one hour on thismorning show, doing weather. I
didn't even know anything aboutweather, and I went back to
school for meteorology, so Ithink education is the key. I
ended up getting a degree inmeteorology while I was working,
and then went on with my careerand just worked hard, worked
hard, stayed in my lane, wasn'tdistracted by what everybody

(08:06):
else was doing, and just keptmoving forward in my career, and
just looked for opportunitieswhen they came. And then I
worked in my hometown for eightyears, and then I came to
Philadelphia and just neverleft. So it's been great, but
it's not easy to take thosefirst steps. And the first steps
are networking, like, Okay, howdo I get to where I want to go?

(08:29):
How do I start talking topeople? And I have two children.
Well, they're not childrenanymore, that are your ages. And
I was just advising my daughterwho she wants to go to Rutgers
Camden, to go to law school, andthere was an open house. So if
there's anything you'reinterested in, and there's an
open house, or there's anopportunity to do something like

(08:52):
this and listen to a speaker,and they may be in the field
that you want to be in. It couldbe anything. It could be
culinary arts. It could be, youknow, learning how to, I don't
know it could be nursing, itcould be anything. It could be
acting. But there's alwaysopportunity. So look for those
opportunities. I have a story.When does anybody know what MTV

(09:13):
is? Okay? When I was in college,I just wanted to live in New
York City, and I wanted to workin New York City. So before I
embarked on this televisioncareer, one of my professors had
said to us, if anybody everwants to work for MTV in New
York, let me know. And we'relike, oh, okay, that's, that's

(09:35):
like, a dumb question. So theywere coming on campus to
audition for a game show. And inmy mind, at 19 or at 20, I was
like, Okay, if I just get outaudition, get on that game show
that gets me to New York. Itgets me to talk to people, it
gets me to a job there. Andthat's exactly what I did. I
auditioned to be on the gameshow. I got on the game show. It

(09:58):
got me to New York. And.
And then I had contacts throughthat professor that I just kept
calling, calling, calling, isthere anything going on? Is
there anything going on? Do youhave a job? Do you have a job?
And then, when I was down thereon that game show, which I lost,
by the way, lost out on the tripto Jamaica, and but kept calling
my contacts, they were like,Wait a minute. And they put me

(10:19):
on hold, and they came, theperson came back, and they're
like, yes, we have a job. It'sfor two weeks on a show called,
it's Nickelodeon. It's calledFamily Double Dare, and you have
a two week job on the show. So Igraduated from college. I'm
like, Mom, I'm going to NewYork. I'm going to go be it.
She's like, what? And I wentdown. I stayed with a friend

(10:40):
that an older family friend thatlived down there, went on the
show, started working, and thenthey liked me after the two
weeks. So then they offered meanother job, and then they
offered me another job. I endedup being in New York two years
on these freelance jobs. Butdoes anybody know what freelance
is? Raise your
hand if you know what freelanceis.

(11:01):
What's freelance? It's
like, not a set like position ina place, but like, they hire you
from gig to gig. Yes, it's gig.So I got gig to gig. Was show to
show, and so then I hadunemployment, so I had to get on
the train and go to Jersey Cityand pick up my unemployment
check. I had to sleep on myfriend's couch, because that's
what I did for two years,because I couldn't afford rent,

(11:22):
because they didn't pay me thatmuch. But then that led me to
other things I did in New York.I took a commercial acting class
in my free times. I thought thatwould be fun, and then when I
had the opportunity to get theweather job back in central New
York, They auditioned for theweather job, and I had just
taken auditioning class in NewYork. You don't audition for TV

(11:46):
broadcasting jobs. You usuallyhave a tape. You send them their
tape. It was an audition. I'mlike, thank you God, because I
was like, look at how this allfell into place. And I had a
plan. It was a kooky plan, but Iactually did what I thought I
was going to do. So look, lookat a wider scope of what you're
interested in. It could beanything but try to put the

(12:09):
pieces together to get you whereyou want to go. Does this make
sense? It may be crazy and butyou don't know what you can do
until you start down the path,and then all the stars start
aligning, and you get to matchthe dots to your path. And it
works, and it worked for me, andit worked for other people, but

(12:32):
it sent me, and then years laterin my broadcasting career, I had
an opportunity to go back to NewYork and to work for WABC, and I
didn't go because I was newlymarried, I just moved into my
first house, but the opportunitycame, and I always thought that
was going to take so long to getthere, broadcasting wise, that I
wanted to do it right aftercollege, and that's why I

(12:54):
pursued it in that way, becauseI always knew you have to work
in a small town and then youhave to go to a bigger town. And
I thought, I will never get toNew York if I wait. But I did
have the opportunity to go back,and I decided instead to come to
Philadelphia. I thought it was
a better community. It was morelike neighborhoods I was

(13:14):
familiar with. The Jersey Shore,my family used to go down for
years when we were kids, eventhough it was like an eight hour
drive. So this area was where Ifelt like I wanted to settle and
raise a family. So I've beenhere ever since. But it's, it's
very exciting, and in anythingthat you do, you can make it
exciting because you're veryclose to a major metropolitan

(13:36):
area in Philadelphia, I commute.Sometimes. I go back and forth
twice a day, I put a lot ofmiles on, and we have everything
that you need there, and we haveeverything in New Jersey too.
But we are in such a great areathat if you want to get involved
in sports, we have professionalteams. We have local teams. We

(13:56):
have, you know, in Trenton, wehave baseball. We had, I mean,
it's everywhere, so there's somany opportunities, but you all
you do is call or email and say,you know, I'm interested in
this. And don't be afraid tocall human resources of the
Phillies or of the Eagles andsay, Listen, I'm trying to
interested in how I would get aninternship. Or, you know, I'm

(14:19):
trying to think of the actingschool here, H, E, E, R, Y,
they're the ones they're castingin Philadelphia. So just Google
casting directors Philadelphia,they might need extras. You
could do it now. So there's allkinds of things that you can
start now. Who has Instagram?

(14:42):
Okay? Are you on it like a lot?Yeah, of course you are, because
we all are. I do it for work.But if you find something that
you're interested in, payattention to what, who you're
following, right? If you don'tknow what you want to do, are
you interested in fashion? Areyou interested.
In decorating. Are youinterested in the arts? You

(15:04):
know, if you're trying to figureout, what do I want to do with
my life, right? What do I like?What is my passion? You know,
how can I make this intosomething that can be a career?
And sometimes maybe it's not.Maybe you're going to have to go
into a different path to supportyourself, but then what you love

(15:25):
could be something a hobby. Youknow, they always say, Turn your
passion into your life's work,which would be the ultimate
goal. And sometimes we can dothat, and sometimes we can,
but it's it's very exciting, andyou guys are just at the
beginning. So I'm here to tellyou that you can do anything you
want to do. You just have to putin the time, right? It's just

(15:46):
the effort, and it's just seeingthat path and reaching out for
help. And you can email me. I'llgive you my email. Would you
like my email? Okay? My emailis, it's [e-mail]
[e-mail]
and also other jobs that youguys do, if you have summer
jobs, if you're working now,

(16:09):
all of those skills that you'reexperiencing now are going to
help in your career as you gothrough life. If you work in
retail, if you work at Chick filA, if you you know, if you're a
server at a restaurant, even ifyou work, you know, in a nursing
home, helping out any type ofthose types of jobs, right? You
do a good job. You get a goodreference. That takes you a long

(16:31):
way. When I had those gigs,those freelance gigs in New
York, it was all word of mouth.They're like, hey, we like this
kid. Oh, would you recommend herfor the next gig? Yeah, and
that's how I did it for twoyears, and then afterward, when
I was done with all those gigs,and I had an opportunity to go
back to where I interned tostart my real career, they

(16:52):
invited me to move down toFlorida, the people at
Nickelodeon and MTV to be aassociate producer, because
Universal Studios down there wasoffering Nickelodeon 11 years of
free studio space to go down toFlorida. So now that's why it's
Universal Studios Nickelodeondown there. They used to be in
New York, and everybody moveddown there. And I was like,

(17:14):
Nope, I'm going to pursue what Iset out to pursue. And I moved
back to upstate New York andbegan that meteorology, weather
career, and I stayed in it,because when I was pursuing it,
the Weather Channel was juststarting, and women were
meteorologists. So when I was inschool, while I was working,

(17:37):
I would drive an hour every dayto go to class, because there
was no online classes at thattime. So I would do my morning
show in central New York. It wasa one hour show, and then I
would drive to Oswego, New York,which is like the snow belt, to
go to class for meteorology, andthen I drive back. So I did that
for a number of years. And thenwhen I moved to Philly, I
finished at Villanova, and thenjust sent all my credits back to

(18:00):
my university to get thatmeteorology degree. So my
undergrad was broadcastjournalism, then I worked a
couple years in New York, then Imoved home for my job to start
my career in meteorology, andthat's when I went back to
school. So I was working doinglive hits, running to class,
coming back. But I knew that Ineeded that degree. I knew that

(18:20):
people were going to ask me if Ihad that degree. It was a male
dominated field. Now you see alot of women doing weather. And
when I started, there weren't alot of women. There was, I guess
there might be a weekend weatherperson, and it could be a woman.
And now you see mainly womendoing the weather. And as far as

(18:41):
meteorologists, you see muchmore of them as well. When I was
in class, I we had 11 guys, andI was the only woman in
meteorology. And they used toask me, and for many early years
in my career, people would askme, Well, aren't you
intimidated? You're the onlywoman, and it's all these guys,
and I thought, I said, No, it'san opportunity, because I'm the

(19:03):
only woman, and there's allthese guys and and that's what
happened. It just grew and grewand grew. And that's why you see
Ginger Ginger Zee is one of themost known people on national
television, and Dillard anddryer. So there's always
opportunities in every type ofcareer, female dominated for
men. Men dominated for women.

(19:27):
You're in college at a greattime
for opportunity. Does anybodyhave any questions?
Yes,
unknown.
Sorry,
deal with the unknown. That's agreat question. I always used to
say that I was young and dumb

(19:50):
and took the leap to come toPhiladelphia was huge, because
TV stations don't always keepyou that long. It's a contract.
So you work contract to come.
Contract. So that's scary,because when you get a regular
job, right? So you get a job ata finance company, or you're an
accountant, and you don't say,Oh, I'm only here for three
years. Like, oh, I'm only herefor five years. That's what my

(20:11):
contract says. So there's, youknow, you get to year three out
of a four year contract. You'relike, Oh, I hope they like me.
Hope I'm going to stay here,because that's how the
television business works. Soit's very unsettling, but I
think in those early years theunknown, I think it was just
not thinking about it. And Ithink there's a lot more

(20:32):
pressure on you guys. Do youfeel that way? Do you feel like
there's a lot more pressure?Like in high school, we got to
do the APS, like AP classes aregreat and all that, but we never
had that, so we didn't worryabout it. There wasn't that
competition.
So it was just like, Oh, I'mgoing to go to college, and this
is what I want to do, and I'mjust going to do it. So there

(20:53):
was less thought. It was morelike, what do I want to do? The
world is my oyster. It wasn'toverthinking everything. It was
just like, Okay, I think I'll dothat. And it's amazing when you
give yourself that freedom, whatthat does. It just opens up the
possibilities. So I just thinkit was the lack of

(21:14):
overthinking and just reallyfocusing on what I wanted,
right? So if you're like, Okay,I want to go get that job. So
what do I do? I tell kids like,sometimes, if you don't get into
the school that you want, so sayyou want to go to graduate
school. And I have a good friendthat came here, did his
undergrad, then went on,finished his degree, then went

(21:38):
on to Penn Law School,
and he's just doing great. Hegraduated from Penn, moved on,
but I had another friend thatdidn't get in to the school of
their dreams, and, you know, wascrushed. And I said, Well, wait
a minute, if you didn't get inand you really want to go there,
then why don't you work andapply again or go to community

(22:03):
college and then get your gradesup and then apply, because it's
easier as a transfer, there'salways a way to do it. And then
if, if his funds are an issue,you know, do your due diligence,
as far as you know, aid andstuff like that. And if it still
doesn't work, then go somewhereelse. But it doesn't mean you're
still not going to achieve thedream. You know. It doesn't. It

(22:24):
doesn't really matter. In myopinion, you can go to school
and just do great work, do greatnetworking, I can't emphasize
enough to take advantage of yourprofessors and who they know.
We were just talking earlierabout all the people that we
know and who could be helpful toeach other, and everybody's just

(22:45):
here to help you. You have allthese people at the university
that all they want you to do issucceed. Isn't that amazing?
That's like, so great. You haveall this support. So they're
here to make sure that you dowell, that's their job, and I'm
here to tell you that I willhelp you. If you email me and
say, Hey, Kathy, I think I wantto do this. I think I want to

(23:07):
intern at you know Penn. Do youknow anybody? Yeah, I do. I know
Dr Mike. Dr Mike is our doctoron Fox 29 I can ask him. I can
get you a name. You call them.You see how you can intern. You
know, it's all about talking.It's all about communicating.
And the problem is

(23:27):
this, this has gotten in our wayof talking and communicating,
right? So right now we're alllooking at each other and we're
talking to each other, and yourphone's up, so you got to put it
down. So
we got to make sure that whenwe're with people and you have a
lunch or you have a breakfast inyour networking, that you put

(23:50):
the phone in your purse. I wasjust, I just follow. I follow a
great guy tried it. There's acouple great people on
Instagram. So it's awesome. Thephone's great. I mean, we all
know it. We love it, but whenyou're with someone, you put it
away so they think, or they knowthat they are the most important
person in your life at thatmoment. Okay, so you're at an

(24:13):
interview, you're at lunch,you're either with your bestie,
and you put it away unlessthere's an emergency that you
have to be aware of, but you canput it on ring so they know that
you're paying attention to them,
and then you know, and thenyou're not distracted. You're
not like, Oh, I gotta check myInstagram, Snapchat, beating

(24:33):
beep in because it's going toget in the way of greatness.
Because greatness is time.Greatness is focus. Greatness is
putting the time in. You got toput the time in. There's no
shortcut. There is absolutely noshortcut. My daughter always
used to say, like, the schoolplay, there would be a girl that
was never an actress, right? Andshe would come out to school
play, and everybody would sayshe came out of nowhere. It's

(24:57):
like, no, she didn't. She diddance every day after.
School. She practiced on YouTubevideos in her bedroom. She you
know, she practiced singing. Shehas some talent. She put the
work in, and she didn't come outof nowhere. No one comes out of
nowhere. Okay, you got to putthe time. And if you get the if
you put in the time, it willhappen, right? Just talk to

(25:17):
people. This is what I want todo. This is what I want to do.
And it may take you this way,and you're like, eh, don't want
that. Okay, go this way, andit's not going to happen right
away. There is definitely a pathof trying to figure it out. I
have a good friend whose son hada job, and he's like, I want to
go. And now I want to I want tobe a nurse. So it's like, Okay,

(25:40):
how are we going to do this?Right? So now we have to apply
to figure out how we're going todo that. Or, you know, they want
another one was like, I want tobe a skiing instructor. And the
mother was like, Oh my God.Like, I'm going to have a heart
attack. But sometimes thingsjust happen and you find your
way back. It's just a process.So don't be too worried. I have

(26:02):
a son that's gonna go to collegenext year, and he's trying to
figure out where he's gonna go,and he's so worried about, I
gotta pick a major. I gotta picka major. I'm like, No, you
don't, you know, you can changeit, and it's okay, because
you're finding out what you likeand you're finding out what you
don't like, and it's that's whatlife is. I know people that

(26:22):
still don't know what they wantto do, and they're like 50 So,
and they change, and you change,and what you like changes,
right? And so you don't have tobe worried about that. It's,
actually, should be fun. Thisshould be fun. Are you having
fun?
You're fabulous. I can tellwhat's
your name, Misa. Nice to meetyou. So does anybody have any

(26:43):
other questions? That was a goodone. Do you have a question? You
look like an intellectual.What's your name? I'm Anthony.
Hi Anthony. Where are you from?I'm from William, borough, New
Jersey. Do you know what youwant to do when you grow up? I
want to be a mechanicalengineer. Cool. Excellent. Do
you have a question? Yes. So Ibelieve that in order to achieve

(27:08):
something or achieve goals, youhave to put yourself in
uncomfortable situations andjust put yourself out there. But
sometimes it can get hard andyou start having second thoughts
because it may feel toouncomfortable, and I want to
know, like, how did you dealwith that? Because I know you
probably had second thoughts.Wow, can we give Anthony a round
of applause? That

(27:29):
was a great question, becauselife is all about putting
yourself in uncomfortablesituations all the time. So when
I I'll give you a personal storywhen I was at NBC 10. So when I
came to Philadelphia, I workedat NBC 10. I worked there for
four years, and then I went toCBS. I worked there for 13
years, and now I work for Fox,and I've been there for eight

(27:51):
years. So I've been at three ofthe four television stations in
Philadelphia and enjoyed everysingle one. So when I was at
NBC, all I wanted to do is fillin on the Today Show. I didn't
want to work in New York again.I wanted to stay in Philly. That
was a commitment. I had littlekids. I was like, Nope, I don't
want it. I just want to go havefun and dip my toe in that and

(28:12):
enjoy it. So I went to my boss,and I was petrified. And I was
like, Listen, do you have anycontacts? Because we were an NBC
station. NBC actually owns thestation. Fox owns our station.
We live in a big enough citythat the corporations, the
networks, own the stations, sowe have a connection with them.
So I said, I really want to fillin for Al Roker on the take

(28:35):
show. Do you think I can do it?He's like, Yeah, I'll call so
and so, I think you can do it.So they called me. They're like,
Yep, you're going up Saturday. Iwas like, you're going up
Friday. They're putting you up ano tell, and you're going to do
it. I was petrified. I'm like,What am I doing? I can't do
this. I'm going to I was like, Iprevent lighting. And when you
go up there, they treat you sonice, like they put your coat on
for you. They put the microphoneon, they hand you the mic.

(28:55):
There's no work, there's noheavy lifting. It's just, you
just go up and talk to peoplesquare, and I'm like, This is
great. I could get used to this,nails that going anywhere. So
I was so scared, but I keptpushing to do it, because I knew
it was going to make me lookbetter at my station, and it was
going to be great for my career.Because what if I do want to do

(29:19):
this someday, like I this iswhat I like. I like talking to
people. I like interviewingpeople. It's spilled over in
what I do here in Philadelphia,because I do a big segment down
the shore every summer called orat the shore, and it's a whole
big group of people, and it'sthat kind of an atmosphere. And
I knew it was going to be goodfor me. And I was like this, I'm
just, you know, I would getknots in my stomach. So an old

(29:41):
friend used to say to me, whenyou get really nervous before
you do anything, whether it's aspeech or whether you have to go
in front of people it's anaudition, she would always say,
clench your fists so tight thatit almost hurts, and just let it
go, and you'll feel like arelease. And I was.
Okay, I'm either going to so mything, in my mind that I used to

(30:03):
do was like, Okay, this is goingto happen. I'm going to do this.
It's either going to be awful,or I'm going to commit that.
It's going to be great. So Ithink I'm just going to commit,
it's going to be great, and I'mjust going to go do it. And I
would just put that in my head,like, I have a choice. It's
going to happen, right? I've gotto, I've got to go on that
audition, I've got to go on thatinterview. So I'm either going

(30:24):
to go in great and confident orI'm going to be petrified. Which
one would you choose? Which
one would you choose,
going confident? Yeah, let'sjust do it. Just do it. And
that's how I think you getyourself through those you got
to do it. You got to make thatphone call, you got to go for
that interview, you got to tryto get that job. And if you

(30:46):
don't, it's okay, there'sanother one. There's God, there
is.
But if you don't, you're nevergoing to know. And what do they
say? Half of success is justshowing up. I have a good
friend, and a lot of myreferences are television,
because I've been in it so long.But Are you guys familiar with
sports? I have a very goodfriend, Mike Tirico. He did a
Super Bowl, he did the Olympics.He's a sports commentator, and

(31:11):
he was working in the same TVstation as I was, and he was in
college at the time, and he wasan intern, and so the sports
guys all called out sick, andthey're like, We have nobody to
do sports tonight. They're like,hey, put the kid on. And since
it was a smaller televisionmarket, they put him on, they're
like, Oh, my God, he's reallygood. Yeah. So then he ended up

(31:35):
getting the weekend job while hewas in college, and then he
worked. They hired him forweekends, and then he took over
the main job within two years.And then he went to ESPN, by the
time he was like, 25 so it waslike this, but if he wasn't
there, he wouldn't have beennoticed, and they wouldn't have
picked on him, and he didn't doa great job, then they wouldn't

(31:56):
even have just been a good kid.He was just, can I help you? Can
I be helpful. You know, that'shalf of it, too. When you do
internships, even if they say,oh, you know, there's not much
to do, observe what's going onand say, You know what? I
noticed that there's a lot ofpaperwork over there. Can I help
you with that? Can I help youfile that? Oh, you know, there's

(32:17):
extra tables to clean, you know,I'll help somebody else clean
up, put in that extra effort,and it will be noticed. You may
not think it, you know, but itwill be noticed, and that's
what's going to get you
the edge, and you'll feel goodabout yourself as well.

(32:38):
There's enough room foreveryone. That's what one of my
colleagues said when I worked inmeteorology. He was the main
meteorologist when I was an upand comer, and they said, Hey,
there's this young girl who'snow in the weather game. What do
you think? And he was a seasonedveteran, and he said, there's
enough room for all of us. And Iremembered that, and I said,

(32:59):
that's a great way of looking atlife and looking at competition.
So when you're in the runningfor the job and and there is
enough room, and there's alsoenough room for one more great
engineer, for one more greatbroadcaster, for one more great
actor, for one more greatdoctor, for one more great chef,

(33:21):
there is definitely room. Youknow, it's funny, because we we
watch television and we seemovies, and sometimes, don't,
you think we've seen it all, andthen somebody comes up with
another great idea, and you'relike, just when you thought
there was nothing else great,there is something else to be
contributed. And that's whatyour job is, is to be the next

(33:43):
great
whatever you want to be.
Yes, because growing
up in this area, if you orsomeone in your field bad
forecast for the weekend, it canmake and break a small business
at the Jersey Shore. So when wasthat first moment where you

(34:04):
realized that what you do ontelevision actually matters to a
lot of people in the area? Well,you know what it happened to me,
young in my career, to noticehow the impact of what you can
say matters. And it was when Iwas first starting off in
upstate New York, in Syracuse, Iwas at a CBS station, and it was
a snowstorm. And I was like,Guys, there's not going to be

(34:25):
school tomorrow. I'm like, Thisstorm is whatever. And then the
superintendent of, like, thepublic schools was like, Hey,
you can't call school. And I waslike, Oh, my God, you're
watching, you know? So thenafter that, I never called
school. Also with the Phillies,like people would be. We were in
the World Series, and I wasforecasting,
and we were the Philly stationat the time, and I said, well,

(34:47):
listen, it's going to pourthey're probably not going to
play the game. And then they didplay the game. And I learned,
because when people ask me inthe future, it's all up to the
umpires. So in Major LeagueBaseball, they don't have
consulting media.
Ologists like they don't havetheir own line. They don't even
call the weather service. It'sup to the umpire to look at a

(35:08):
little radar in the back, kindof like Wizard of Oz, and to
say, okay, we can play or not.Isn't that crazy? So the umps
call the game until the WorldSeries. And then I don't know
who does it. Then I can'tremember, but yeah, so I don't
call games either. I just alwayssay, it's up to the umpire,
they'll decide. But here's theweather, and also with the
shore, you live and learn.Basically, you know you're going

(35:29):
to make mistakes, and you justsay, Okay, I made a mistake. I'm
going to move on like you justThat's life. That's how we
learn, right? It's either if youmake a mistake, you learn from
the mistake, you don't dwell onit, and you just move on and
nobody's paying attention tobecause they're all making their
mistakes and moving on, right?So don't get bogged down with
this happened. So oh no, no, no,no, just, just that was that

(35:52):
day. And in the field that I do,we always say you're only as
good as your last broadcast. Soif you had a great broadcast,
guess what? You get to do itagain tomorrow. You know, if you
messed up an order, you know atthe restaurant, that's okay,
because you get another chancewhen you go back in. So don't
worry about that. You just keepmoving forward and to finish

(36:13):
answering your question
the shore, if we would forecast
rain for a holiday weekend.We're very, very careful about
what we say, because theestablishments would get mad,
because we need people, youknow, you guys have so much
pull. You know, especiallybefore streaming and on demand,

(36:34):
everybody watch TV at thecertain time. Everyone would
tune in to get the news. Now,it's not like that also because
of phones, right? But therewould be so much influence that
they would say, Hey, listen, yougot to be careful. When you
start talking about rain, it'slike, well, we're not going to
we have to say what's going tohappen. But then we couch it
with but go down on the shoreanyway.

(36:55):
They need your money, so
that's how we work around that.
Do you have an establishmentdown the shore? Oh, yeah, yeah.
We love Listen, rain or shine,everybody's gonna go anyway.
They. People don't really careanymore. Do they?

(37:15):
Yeah, that's awesome. That's agreat place. Yes, another
question like,
a tornado, hurricane, Blizzard,how is that? How do you handle
it? That's a good question,because that's a nerve wracking
experience. I have been on theair during blizzards. I have
been on the air and tornadoes.Hurricane Sandy was the first

(37:36):
time I ever said tornado on theground. There was a tornado on
the ground in Voorhees. So thathad never happened before. So
that's like, it's scary. And Ithink with anything else, what
you're going to find when youstart working, the older you
get, the more experienced youare, and the more confident you
get. So I'm more when we justhad the mallca Hill tornadoes,

(37:58):
which was awful. I had neverseen anything like that on the
radar before, and it looked likeone continuous tornado. And
we're like, Is this possible?Because we're not used to
forecasting this. This is notTornado Alley, but we're kind of
beginning to beclimatologically, a tornado hot
zone in New Jersey and intoPennsylvania. So it's, it's

(38:20):
scary, scarier when you'reyounger, but I find that the
more educated you are and themore homework you do on
particular situations. For me,learning more about tornadoes,
learning more about theirstructure, how they move, that
type of thing. So the moreknowledge that you have, the
more confident you are to do thejob when something like that

(38:43):
happens, bless you. And as youget older, you have that
experience of maturity as wellto be able to handle that. And
that's why you know when you'rein a place and you keep doing a
particular job, you've seen itbefore, and that's that's
another good lesson that youbring up with any type of job,

(39:05):
if you're a nurse in anemergency room, or you're if
you're a sous chef, or you're ifyou're in the arts, if you're in
accounting or if you're inmarketing, you're going to see
the same type of situations comeup again, and you're going to
know how to deal with themeasier and more relaxed, because
you've already seen it in myline of work, we have that

(39:27):
Chrome the chroma key, and it'sa green screen behind us. People
call it the green screen, and wehave two TVs on either side, and
you're welcome to come visit ifyou guys can do a field trip,
and then I'll show you the wholestudio. And that's how we know
what we're pointing to, becausewe see ourselves in T on the TV
in relation to a map. Well, Iworked when I first started, and
the TVs, like, lost power. So Ididn't know what I was pointing

(39:51):
to. I didn't know I was like, ohboy, oh boy. So in my mind, I'm
like, Oh, I don't know what I'mgonna do. So I just kept talking
and kept going like this, andthen I went back.
And looked at the tape, I'mlike, That wasn't bad. So a lot
of times we'll go through lifeand something will happen, and
maybe we'll forget a speech, orwe'll forget somebody's name or
something simple, and it's justlike, if you just relax, like,

(40:13):
okay, it's cool, and you justkeep going, you'll later find
that no one really noticed.Like, I think we do that to
ourselves sometimes, and sothings are going to go wrong, is
my message. But you just have tokind of keep rolling with it and
know that it's going to be okay.And sometimes that's hard, but

(40:34):
you just have to have confidencethat it will be Does that make
sense? Yeah. Well, what was,what was it like for your first
broadcast? What were you wereyou nervous? Very nervous. What
do you think I was dying? Yeah,the guy who once had a long
radio show down at a differentcollege, yeah, it was pretty
nerve wracking. I wanted toknow. How was it like every time

(40:55):
I seen you, especially duringthe halftime show. During the
halftime you guys look you lookvery confident. How do you keep
it up? It's been a long, a longtime, long time doing it many
times a day, right? It's noteasy. The first, I'll never
forget my first job, which wasin Syracuse, at the station that
I interned at. Remember when Igot the job and I went back to
school and they were like, okay,figure it out. You know that

(41:16):
green screen? They're like, Haveyou done this? No, I haven't
done it before, like, only incollege. Okay, go ahead, you'll
be fine. And I was like, I don'tknow what I'm doing, so I would
just practice every night. Iwould be like, Okay, this
touching here, touching here. Iwas a nervous wreck. I was
probably awful. In fact, the guyI was dating who became my
husband was like, I watched youin those first early broadcasts,

(41:37):
and it wasn't good.
But I stuck with it. I didn'tstop I'm like, I don't care. I
love it. I'm not making anymoney, like, no money, but I'm
gonna still do it
years back when I was younger.Yep, you were the voice. How did
you What advice do you have forsomebody that's going
independent with journalism?What do you mean independent? An

(41:59):
independent journalist like metrying to, trying to do it like
with your own phone, with my ownphone. That what advice do you
have for someone like that?Well, you know what I think, if
you're gonna do that, like, goto the scene yourself. And, I
mean, I guess you could talk toother people. I honestly, I
would Google independentbroadcasters. They call it
digital media now. So I mean, ifyou go to a scene and it's kind

(42:23):
of what
Anderson Cooper, did you guysprobably know Anderson Cooper,
but he took, like, a period oftime. It was a year, it was a
couple of years, and he justwent through Europe, in the
world, and was just report,filing stories. And I think then
he went on to CNN, and then hewent to

(42:45):
then he went on to 60 minutes.So I think you, if you're at any
scenes and you're doing any kindof digital reporting, you may
see other digital reportersthere, and there could be a
group that do that. There's allkinds of groups you can join and
trying to find people that dowhat you want to do, and try to
find someone like that, like,oh, I want to be a fashion

(43:06):
designer. Okay, well, who do youadmire? You know, where are
they? Are they going to be inPhiladelphia? Are they going to
be around? Do they have a showsomewhere that you can network
with one of their associatesthat you know is doing something
that you want to do? Try to findthe people that are doing what
you want to do, and read aboutthem, read about their
biographies. How did they getthere?

(43:28):
And you know who, along the wayhelped them? Because just by
talking to people and showing upand different venues that you'll
be able to meet people,organizations that the school
brings in take advantage of thecareer center guest speakers.
And even if it's not somethingyou absolutely love, there may

(43:49):
be something they say that'slike, Hmm, I never thought of
that, but that could beinteresting. And that leads to
the next person. When you go onan interview for any kind of job
and say you don't get the job,say, okay, but you have somebody
else that I could talk to andlet them give you another person
that will lead you to the nextperson. Does that make sense?

(44:10):
When I got that job atNickelodeon, my professor said,
Does anybody ever want to workat MTV? And I was like, yeah,
yeah, I do. I do. And she gaveme a name, but I kept working
that name. That guy. His namewas Chris Viscardi. I probably
drove him nuts. He was workingat Nickelodeon, and I just kept
calling him, Hi, Chris. Hi, soand so gave me your number, and
I'm looking for remember, thereare no phones, no cell phones,

(44:31):
so all calling by phone, leavingmessages, I'll call you again.
Is anything going on? I workedthat contact for about a year,
until I was down in New York onthat game show, I happened to
call him, and he happened tohear something. So a lot of it's
timing, but it's yourpersistence that's going to kind
of hit at the right time. Doesthat make sense?

(44:53):
Yes. Hi.
One wanna thank you so much forcoming. Two.
And to see how your highereducation professors added to
your career, and if you'rethinking about eventually moving
your career into higher ed selfsupport, oh, yeah, I would love

(45:13):
to. I always thought that Iwould end up teaching, yeah. I
always thought that that wasgoing to be what I would end up
doing. So yes to that question,it's great to be here, because I
love helping students find theirway, because I think that not
everybody has a vision, and I'vehelped so many of our interns,

(45:34):
and they keep calling us like,Hey, I got this job offer. Hey,
what I should do? And throughthe thought process of what's
important to you. You know, whenyou get a job, is it that you're
fulfilled? You know, the moneywill come. I always said,
because I didn't guys, I myfirst paycheck was so low, you'd
cry and but I lived at home. Ididn't have a car. My sister let

(45:59):
me borrow her car because I wasjust pursuing what I really
wanted to pursue. And then as Iperfected my skill, then I
earned more and more in the wayof income.
And not all careers are likethat, for sure, but your
question started withprofessors, and how the
professors helped that oneprofessor. Her name was

(46:22):
Christine Davidson, and she wasthe one that said, Hey, does
anybody want to ever work in NewYork? She was a she was one of
CNNs first anchors when itstarted. And some of the ladies
in the room, if you're probablyover 40, you might remember when
CNN Headline News started, andit was Bobby Batista and this

(46:44):
Christine Davidson was anotherone. She was my professor. She
was so instrumental in my future
that she was just like when Idid my first live broadcast, or
my first practice in college,whatever she said, like I just
took to heart, like it was, shewas just totally my mentor, and

(47:05):
we never said it, but I alwaysknew it, and she always believed
in me. So I always knew that Icould do what I wanted to do,
even though, in this career,people would say to me, it's so
competitive. My mother was soafraid I was not going to get a
job in broadcasting that shesaid, You need to take a
marketing major too. You have tohave to have a backup, because
this may not work. And I wasjust like, Oh, are you serious?
Like, it is going to work. Buteven my mom, like she was

(47:28):
petrified, because it was sosaturated at the time. But like
I said, there's always room forone more. And my professors made
me believe that, and they werethere for me, so she was the one
that was extremely instrumental.And then this graduate assistant
opened the door for that firstjob, and that's how I started on

(47:50):
my New York path. But then myinternship was what brought me
back to start my televisioncareer. So there's all these
people in your life, you know,there's the news director of
that station that wasinstrumental. It was the
professor, it was the graduateassistant. So in all my
teachers, there are resources,because you guys have to

(48:12):
remember this, the people thatare teaching you were most
likely in the field, and theywere in the fields that you want
to be in. So they've alreadybeen there and done that. Know
the people, so you have to tapinto them to say, Hey, do you
know anybody that does this? Doyou know anybody that does this?
Do you have a friend? Becausewe've been around a little

(48:32):
while. We know some people rightin our own careers, and we can
help you, guide you, and we'vebeen around in general, and with
time, there's wisdom.
And I try to tell my own I'mtelling my daughter, is there an
open event? Go to the openhouse? So she did. So she goes
to Rutgers, to the open house,and she finds out all these

(48:53):
wonderful things that theyoffer. And then she comes back
and she's so excited by justmaking that one move. So by
coming here today, you made themove. It's one out of many moves
that you're going to make overthe next couple of years that's
going to lead you to the nextthing. And I can't wait to see
what you do. I'm very excited tosee the things that you do and

(49:14):
the things that you accomplish,just knowing you have to take
those steps and you have to dothe things that make you feel
uncomfortable. That's how youget ahead.
And you definitely have thetools to do it, and you have the
support to do it, and that's themost important thing.

(49:40):
Yay. Thanks for coming.
All right, any other car, youguys ready to take over the
world? Who's ready to take overthe world?
Are you okay? You ready? Are youready? You're going to I can
tell you're just being shytoday. Yes, you have a question.
Well, I just wanted to followup.
With earlier talking you've, youknow, you've experienced. You

(50:04):
talked about thinking out of thebox. You talked about
networking. You talked aboutdoing things that you don't want
to do. It sounds very similar towhen I have my students come and
say, I'm looking for aninternship. How do I find an
internship? Who do I call? Whatdo I do? I also love that you
talked about cell phones puttingthem down.

(50:25):
Any tips or tricks for the localarea for these students to find
in an internship, or tips andtricks on how to do that first,
reach out. Sure,
absolutely, so. Is anyone? Okay,let's, let's first see who's a
freshman, who's a freshman,okay, I like your hair.

(50:46):
Who's a sophomore,
okay? And do we have juniors?Oh, juniors, junior, junior,
upperclassmen. And do we haveseniors? You're a senior, okay,
so if you when you're afreshman, you're thinking about
this summer, right? If you're asophomore, you're thinking about
this summer. If you're a junior,you're thinking about the summer

(51:06):
before senior year, senior year,you're looking ahead for
positions, right? So if you'rethe freshman and sophomore and
the Junior, right now it'sFebruary. So does anybody have
anything in the works forsummer? Any internships you do?
Internship? Awesome. Where areyou going to be interning now?

(51:28):
They're just, I'm just extendingit to a fall allied global
marketing. Oh, that's fantastic.Congratulations. Internships are
so important because if theylike you, and you've been there
a while, you're extending theinternships. A lot of times
they're just going to hire you.I was just talking to a co
worker whose daughter internedat Subaru, and she found it on

(51:49):
her own. She just startedgoogling marketing, and she it's
very close, it's in Camden. Thenhe told me they hired her to
work during school, and they shekept working during school, so
she getting paid, and she hadtime to go to school, and then
she had, like, a lease for avery small amount a month. They
paid for her car insurance. Andif she needed any work done on

(52:12):
the car, she would go up to thefront desk and say, Here are the
keys, and they go do the workfor the car. I'm like, Are you
kidding me? I want to work forSubaru. So that's in our
backyard. So if anybody hasinteresting cars, I think I love
cars. I think cars are so cool.
But any of that being local,like, what's important you
local? I want to stay in yourhome. I want to stay near my

(52:33):
family. Okay, local, you don'teven have to cross the bridge.
So you don't even have to payfor easy pass. Great company.
Oh, and they have pensions. Hasanybody heard of a pension? Do
you know what a pension is?
Yes, when people are inretirement, they get paid every
month back in the day. Big banksdid it. Big companies did it.
They got rid of it because itcosts so much money. And they do

(52:56):
it at Subaru, which means you'renot thinking about old age now.
But let me tell you, it comesquick. So they will put money
aside for you. So aside from allthe money, you save all your
investments, when you get thatbig job, all the money that the
government will give you,hopefully there'll be some
social security they gave you,give you extra money just

(53:17):
because you work there. It'samazing. It's a bonus, and you
don't hear about it anymore. Sothat's what a pension is. They
give you money every month.Doesn't go away, and you have it
forever. So so we have greatcompanies in the area. So to
answer Rick's question, and forthe internship,
if there's anything you'reinterested in, is it marketing?

(53:40):
But what do you like? Do youlike cars? You want to try to
you've got a home office of amajor car manufacturer in
Camden. It's right there,Campbell's Soup headquarters,
right there in Camden.
What else do we have sports? Wehave all the sports facilities.
The biggest thing I can tell youguys is start ahead. So say you

(54:02):
have a summer job this year.You're a freshman going into
sophomore year. Okay, workwherever you can to make money.
Work this summer, but startnetworking those internships
now, and maybe even for nextsummer or the fall. But Google,
the company's internships. Ifyou don't see any internship,
call human resources.Everything's online. You can get

(54:23):
to anyone, leave a voicemail,and then they're so close, if
you have a car, does everybodyhave transportation? You could
drive, walk in the front door ofBMW of Mount Laurel or whatever,
and just say, I'm looking for aninternship. So you guys do
internships or call, they'llpick up the phone. You know, do
you guys do internships? I'minterested in the car business,

(54:45):
or could I come shadow from theday? I'm a student at Rowan. You
can just call. That's it. Don'tbe afraid to get yourself into
an uncomfortable situation. It'sthe phone. They can't see you,
and they're just like, wow, he'sa go getter. She's a go getter.
Oh, wow. She.
Wants to be, you know, in beautyservices call rezeri. They're
great people. They're right inthe mall. And they would say,

(55:07):
Oh, you want to be in the beautybusiness. Okay, come on over.
They will let you shadow for aday. You can start by shadowing
for a day. And then you say, Youknow what, I'm really interested
find somebody that's there thatyou like and you have a little
connection with and you're like,hey Susie, you know, Hey John, I
really like this business. Iwant to learn more. What do you

(55:28):
think? And just ask peoplealways want to help if you want
to learn. So make that phonecall, send that email. And you
know what? Listen. This is soimportant. If you email somebody
and they don't email you back,they may be getting hundreds and
it gets lost, so email themagain. Write down everything you
do on a pad of paper. I emailedSubaru. I emailed so and so. I

(55:52):
emailed them and the date, andthen you go back a week later.
If you don't hear from them,email them again. I called
Subaru. They gave me the name ofhuman resources. I called Susan
human resources. She led me tothem. They're opening up
internships on this date. Andyou, you work it. Okay? So, I

(56:13):
mean, there might just like, youwould work anything, right? You
know, you have to focus on it.You meet somebody like, there's
a friend, right? You want to bea better friend. You work on
that relationship. You'reworking on these relationships
with businesses. It's like afriendship that you want to
develop. Okay? So find one, orfind an industry, and then find

(56:35):
who does it do? Is that good? Doget it? And if you have a
problem and you're like, I'mtrying to reach this person. I'm
stuck. Don't know what to donext. You can email me and I'll
help you.
Okay, thank you so much.
Thank you so much. Thank you allfor joining us. You'll hang

(56:58):
around for a little bit in casethey have a wanna photo op or
Instagram or something likethat, that's awesome. We also
have a swag bag for you fromrcbc, so you have some rcbc
Swag. And thank you all. Thankyou to my students for coming.
Thank you all. I know a few ofthe professors had sent this out

(57:19):
to their classes, so thank youall.
Also remember the career andExperiential Learning Center is
in the SSC, and one of the majorthings that I can tell you to
start to do is create ahandshake account. Are you going
to need that? As the weatherperson? I hope we don't get any
more snow. Please.

(57:39):
If you haven't created ahandshake account. Please do so
that has that gives you accessto all of the campus jobs and
local businesses that arelooking for employment
opportunities from our students.So please, please create a
handshake account. And again, ifyou do have an internship or the

(58:00):
experiential learning class, itis never too late. I love that
Kathy ended on that it is nevertoo early. Sorry to begin
looking because it does take itdoes take some time. So
grab some coffee and somesnacks, and thank you all for
coming. You