When a Career Dream Comes True

The real life experience of a young public relations professional

No matter what your profession, you normally have at least one thing you hope you will get to experience in your career. For many public relations professionals that dream may be visiting a TV station for the taping of a client's appearance on the station’s news program. On Tuesday (April 3^rd) the dream I had during my four years of studying at Central Michigan University and in the first few years of my career became a reality.

Barbara Fornasiero and I headed to the Fox2 station in Southfield, MI Tuesday evening and as we pulled up to the security gate, I remember having this feeling of “we’re just arriving for another client meeting” and this was no extraordinary experience.

We walked to the front door past the weather “patio” (it’s amazing how different things are on TV versus “behind the scenes”!) and entered into what appeared to be an ordinary office building: waiting room, long hallways and doors that led to what I assumed to be offices. We finally arrived in the “green room” (it is actually painted green too).

After the evening news segment finished, we were greeted by Murray Feldman, Fox2 news anchor. He guided us from the green room to the taping studio. As the doors opened a cold blast of air hit me; as we walked down a short black hallway, it opened up to what I imagine to be a broadcaster’s equivalent to Disneyland.

There were various taping areas for the weather, the “famous” brown couch for more ‘casual’ news stories and the main news anchor desk where Feldman is frequently stationed, all dotted by cameras, teleprompters and other taping equipment. Large spotlights shone from the ceiling and lit the room in all its glory. Barbara and I were then invited to sit at the news anchor desk while they taped the segment. As I took the few steps up the platform, I looked around and thought to myself “well this is pretty cool.”

There was a camera man who gave the directions of what cameras to look at, when graphics would appear on the screen and what the timing of the segment would be. Another gentleman was responsible for getting the microphone set up on our client.  As we waited for everything to get set up I looked around the room and took in as much as I could, from the equipment to the layout and all the people it takes behind the scenes to make a show run smoothly.

When the cameras, teleprompter and rest of the crew were ready, the countdown began until the light on the camera turned red – they were recording. As I sat in the chair I watched our client, attorney Terry Bonnette of Nemeth Burwell, knock the socks off the segment. In five minutes it was a wrap and we were done.

We were escorted out of the studio and to the front door by Mr. Feldman (extremely nice man!) and got into the car to head back to the office. It wasn’t until we were waiting at the gate to exit that the past hour caught up to me.

I was looking at the photo Barbara took of me and couldn’t wait to share this exciting experience with friends and family (and you, our blog readers). And that is when it hit me:. my first career dream came true.

I am sure for most seasoned professionals, you can relate to that first “big moment” in your career. To those just starting out (no matter what your profession), make sure you take in and allow yourself to experience as many different things as possible. You never know when your first big career dream will come true!