Career Dreams Do Come True

I can tell you one thing for sure: never did I ever believe you two years ago if I told you what my job would be today. I'd be thrilled that I ended up at Forbes, not surprised that I had worked my way up to managerial role with an emphasis on organization and communication, but I'd be BAFFLED if you told me I was hosting a weekly live streamed news show. No way. I touched upon my fear of public speaking in a previous post, but beyond overcoming that hurdle, I never envisioned I'd have the confidence and support to build a franchise from beginning the way I have at Forbes. 

Let's rewind to October of 2016. Our fearless leader told us to brainstorm new initiatives that would help us optimize the strong points on each of our social media platforms. At that time, i was still our Twitter editor, so my focus went immediately to Twitter Q&A and Periscope. We'd played around on Periscope before (the infamous Michael Phelps running interview was one of our very first) but we lacked a structure. The more I dove into the numbers, the case studies and the strategies around where social is headed, I knew live video was an opportunity we had to take advantage of. Paired with the knowledge of how much quality content comes from Forbes writers each week, I pitched the idea of a weekly news show. I knew it'd be a big project—I can specifically remember writing out a timeline that I knew was unreasonable but the more I worked on the project (unnamed at that point), the more I wanted to bring it to life. Not only was I excited to try my hand at producing a video series, but I wanted to be the one telling stories each and every week. To my great excitement, my boss was on board—and so was our intrepid head of video. I told my boyfriend about the initial planning meetings for the series on my birthday in December, cautioning him (and myself) that it might take a while to get off the ground.

My favorite screenshot of the first time we filmed for the show. I look terrified—and I was.

Here we are, just about exactly 7 months later, and we officially launched Forbes Flash, the weekly Twitter show that gives Forbes viewers a look into the news they may have missed throughout the week. With our society's obsession with continuously creating content, there's no way everyone sees what they want to (or need to) see. My role as host of the show is much larger than reading words off a script. It's to hand-select the stories that deserve your attention or may have unfairly fallen beyond your radar in the ever-maddening political news that seems to come out each and every day. I feel a responsibility to our viewers to not only bring these stories to light in a concise and enjoyable manner, but to listen and grow from their feedback. With all the distrust of mainstream media and the rise of fake news, it's all I can do to stand up for our journalists and affirm the strength and importance of their stories.

Bringing this show to life took this long because we wanted—we needed—to get it right. I wouldn't be anywhere without the tireless efforts of our video team, who helped me shape FF into a format that can be created each and every week, in addition to our regular job responsibilities. They teach me every day about production and perfection, and I couldn't be more grateful for the experience to work with them. 

We will continue to improve the show each and every week, as we're constantly learning about what our audience wants and needs. I look forward to the challenge—I know our team will rise to it again and again.

Tune into Forbes Flash each Friday at 10 a.m. EST via @Forbes on Twitter.