I was very fortunate to start working at a local TV station where I had been interning during college. The news director offered to give me a part-time news reporting job upon graduation (while also working part-time as his executive assistant). I wasn’t very good at filing, but I was determined to learn everything there was to know about broadcast television. Luckily, that first job at WXIN, Fox 59 allowed me to compile a great deal of on-camera work—enough to eventually garner my first full-time on-air job in San Francisco for the WB20 News at 10.

I spent about eight years in local news before landing a national TV job. The hours were rigorous, the experience—invaluable. I wrote my own stories, conducted my own interviews, often booked my own shoots, even set up my own teleprompter, assisted with editing and more. I learned every facet of broadcasting in both Indianapolis and San Francisco. This traditional path laid a strong foundation that contributes to everything I do today.

I had been reporting and anchoring on entertainment news and lifestyle segments for nearly a decade when I finally started paying attention to the “itch” to go to Hollywood. Until then, I had traveled to Los Angeles and New York quite frequently to do “junkets,” so I was familiar with what it would take. At this point, I had an agent in New York the span of my entire career and so, with his help, I strategized to secure an array of meetings and auditions in the entertainment-show-sphere. I was like most every other young fashion-obsessed, Ryan Gosling-loving chick in America who always wondered what it would be like to work at E!. Luckily, I had worked in the trenches long enough, built up enough confidence and was ready to walk the walk.

One of my first meetings at E! was with the head of casting (I love you Annie Roberts!) Call it fate, but she, too, was an Indiana University graduate. I can’t help but think my Hoosier roots helped my cause a bit. We really hit it off and she appreciated the fact that I was, by definition, a journalist—not a model or reality-show star turned wannabe TV host. She informed my agent that E! was casting a new show called The Daily 10 and would I be interested in flying back out to California to take part in the auditions? (Um, yes please!) I don’t think I’ve ever been as nervous for anything in my whole life. One audition turned into two, then another callback. And then, before I knew it, one February morning in snowy Indiana while working on a local morning show there, I got The Call. My life, and my children’s lives, would never be the same.

There’s nothing that can prepare you for those experiences except for living through them. I suppose you have to have a certain degree of instinct and sheer intuitiveness. The art of interviewing really comes down to listening. You have to be able to read energy, moods and unpredictable personalities each moment. This really is no different for celebrities or non-celebrities. We’re all human at the end of the day.

In LA, there’s this sense that “everybody is somebody” in regards to ‘showbiz.’ I’m an ant when it comes to working in the same town with Julia Roberts and Brad Pitt. But abroad, that’s a different story. I’ll never forget visiting Barbados with my family a few years back. Let me tell you, this country loves their E News! I got recognized most everywhere we went. It was wild in the sense that (1) I guess people really do see me on TV, and (2) E! is such an international brand. It’s mind blowing to think about our news reaching 150+ countries each day! When your voice and your work has that kind of reach—well, to me, that’s success.

I say it over and over again but it’s a dream job. I work with ‘family.’ It’s a creative environment; it’s an insanely fun culture here. We all take immense pride in putting on a good show day in and day out. I used to host a show called The Daily 10 at E! that was a little more irreverent. E News has really evolved in the last few years. Now things are quite similar. We are encouraged to have a defined voice, take a position and, no, we’re not reading from a teleprompter for an hour. I have to come to set prepared, knowledgeable about the day’s stories and formulate an opinion about them that I can articulate and share each afternoon. It’s challenging and thrilling all at the same time!

The challenging part for me is that I’m inherently somewhat neutral on a lot of pop culture issues, meaning I can almost always see both sides of every story. I’ve had to challenge myself to carve out more opinionated views on each story.

It isn’t easy. I can’t pretend that it is. But for me, what has worked is practicing the Power of Now. When I’m at work I really try and be there. Eyes up, engaged, committed to my craft. (That doesn’t mean that I’m not sneaking in calls to the orthodontist or following up with parent teacher conferences, etc. Let’s be real.) But when I’m with my kids, I am ferociously present as well. I’m engaged. It’s about connecting and quality time. We talk—a lot. I ask them about the details of their day when we are apart. Down to the very last back scratch before bed, I’m there. That doesn’t mean I don’t have normal demands like other working moms—dishes, dog poop, homework nightmares—but for me, insisting on quality time helps erase the guilt of being away working when I am. I also think that my kids respect how hard I work outside of our home and genuinely are proud of my accomplishments. This brings me a real sense of joy. 

I’ve always said that what young folks have today that I didn’t have was access to technology at their fingertips! We had one working computer with Internet in the newsroom when I first broke into broadcasting. If I wanted to make a resume tape, I had to hire a news photographer with a real TV video camera on a weekend when he wasn’t working his normal job. It took a lot more to get to see myself on camera and practice the art of interviewing.

I say embrace your iPhone! Use it often. Create fake scenarios where you’re interviewing someone—about their business, their fashion, their student film, their blog, whatever it is—record it, and then critique yourself. What can you improve? How can you adjust your voice and tone? Are you comfortable and therefore is the viewer? If you’re not your best critic, ask your family and friends. They’ll be honest. And then do it all over again. When you reach a certain level of confidence, use any editing software, put together a reel and get it to your favorite websites. Perhaps a vlog first and TV later? The key is finding your authentic voice and then growing that; ultimately an audience will follow. 

That networking really does work. I was never particularly good at it. I just did my job and called it a day. Thankfully for many years, that was enough. It does pay to be hungry, knock on the doors of your superiors, send thank you notes, holiday gifts, remember people’s birthdays and their kids’ graduations. They’re more likely to remember you when that opportunity you were waiting for arises!

I’d like to do a daytime talk show, a la Live with Kelly and Michael. Fun, clever, light, with celebrity guests, pop culture, hot topics—but on E! What do you think?