In Their Shoes Extraordinary Women Describe Their Amazing Careers

introduction When I was a teen, there were three things my parents heard from me on any given day. The first was "I don't know" as an automatic response to any question regarding why I had done something stupid. The second was the lyrics to some pop song, sung at the top of my lungs while playing the air guitar. And the third? "I figured out what I want to be when I grow up." This last one always raised eyebrows and drew laughter from my family. After making my announcement at the dinner table (for example, "I'm going to be an animal conservationist and save the giant panda from extinction"), my parents would ask to have it in writing. Apparently they wanted to get it on the record, so the next time I flip-flopped they could wave it in front of my face, as if to say, "Uh-huh, Deb.Sureyou're going to join the Peace Corps." Maybe they had a point. I did change my mind about careers a lot. There was the time I wanted to be a teacher. Then a veterinarian. A rescue worker. Come to think of it, the animal conservationist phase did last a couple of years. Oh yeah, and let's not forget my personal favorite, a "farmer's wife." (I'm not joking. My only defense is too many years of watchingLittle House on the Prairieas a kid!) Then everything changed. I sawBroadcast News, this movie where Holly Hunter plays a high-stakes network news producer. Her character, Jane, was smart. She was sassy. She was even neurotic.She was me! From that matinee on, I wanted tobeJane in the worst way. I wanted her job, her cool Georgetown apartment, her simple bob hairdo, and her invites to press dinners at the White House. So I went to college and studied journalism and television production, and even put together a few of my own "news pieces" for classes along the way. (I specifically recall producing a hard-hitting segment about the different steps involved in feeding my dog, Ari. Clearly I was well on my way to big-shot newsmaker.) I researched everything I could about the news industry and interned at the local NBC affiliate in my small college town. It was all falling into place. I'd be Debbie Reber, VINP (Very Important News Producer). I'd waltz through the revolving door at Rockefeller Plaza wearing Prada, my hair in an up-do that looked sensible, smart, and sexily disheveled all at the same time, and hurry off to meet a pressing deadline. I landed a summer internship at NBC News the summer before my senior year, where I sat less than a hundred feet away from Tom Brokaw's anchor desk. Al, Matt, and Katie at theTodayshow were right down the hall. There I was. Just like I'd imagined. Except it was anything but. In my internship I saw the real side of news. The windowless work spaces, the layers of foundation worn by on-air personalities, the rigid divide between godlike anchors and lowly production assistants. The drama. The backstabbing. The politics. Once I graduated, I quickly learned that the kind of job I wanted was nearly impossible to score. I mean, I knew there'd be competition, but I had no clue that I'd be up against recent grads with family connections and no student loans to worry about while they earned next to nothing fetching coffee for the teleprompter guy. I also learned that most news professionals got their start in smaller television markets like Dayton or Little Rock and worked their way up. Of course I assumed my brilliance and savvy would enable me to go straight to playing with the big boys and girls. So I gave it a whirl. I used my internship connections to con Tom Brokaw's assistant into letting me interview him under the guise of "postgraduate work" and got meetings with the executive producers of some prime-time news shows who promised to put my resume "at the top of the pile," but I just couldn't land a job. Over time, I let go of the dream of becoming "Jane" andReber, Deborah is the author of 'In Their Shoes Extraordinary Women Describe Their Amazing Careers', published 2007 under ISBN 9781416925781 and ISBN 1416925783.