Taking on New Adventures

The more I think about how my life has changed for the better because of my long CNN career, the more thankful I am that I was able to remain grounded (or mostly grounded, depending on who you ask) throughout that same career. I worked with the best in journalism. I worked with some really interesting people. I worked with people I loved. But on the flip side, I worked with some doozies who leaned towards the sucky category. It’s absolutely no different than any other business. Just more in your face and public than other jobs.

I was going through my list of stories I covered and they are just way too long to name here. But they include hurricanes, wars, plane crashes, train crashes, deaths of celebrities, deaths of former Presidents, deaths of normal, everyday people who got thrust into the A-block of a newscast due to the circumstances surrounding them to terrorist attacks, terrorist arrests, mass shootings, the election of 2 Popes, Super Bowls, World Series, major anniversaries for key moments in our history, political debates, elections, and the most horrible trials one could imagine. I witnessed and was involved in them all.

I traveled, worked late, worked early, worked a lot. And while I loved it, it also was daunting for my personal life. Friendships suffered, my health suffered and I was tired a lot. But I still enjoyed the travel, enjoyed being a part of something bigger than me and enjoyed being around so many interesting people.

My range of emotions has seen every level good and bad and I can confidently say that no matter what I go through in my work life these days, I’m never as stressed about getting it “right” as I was in my news life. That’s right, for those of you who don’t really know me, I took my producing skills to a new job — conference planner. And while so many of the skillsets are applicable, one thing is certainly not: Nothing I do today will even come close to what I did during my time at CNN. And I’m 100% ok with that!

My life now has a bit more structure. It also still allows me to travel, be around a variety of people with a variety of interests and check out new places that I would otherwise not get to go to. I’d say it’s a pretty great evolution from the days of news to the days of conferences.

Now, on to planning the 2020 conferences!