I know her as someone who came up a few years before me in the TV news business and a woman who has always been gracious and welcoming to other women in our business.
We were laughing about some of the obstacles we’ve overcome in our careers.
How do you show them you belong?
Truly, it’s a challenge in just about any job.
Deborah shared that she got a taste early on just as she was earning her first reporter’s stripes.
“I started working in TV while I was still in college,” she shared.
“One of the things that was going on at the time — the Atlanta city solicitor was busting all the strip joints. As we’re going into one of these places, ‘I see this sign that says ‘Absolutely no one under 21 admitted’ and I’m thinking, ‘Holy Smokes! If they start carding the reporters, I can’t do my job!’ ” she said.
“So I never told people how old I was, because I was always scared that someone would say, ‘You can’t be here; you can’t belong.’ ”
“You and I work in TV and radio, but it’s true in any job,” she said. “Whether you’re a guy or a girl, old or young, we’ve all been made to feel we don’t belong.”
“I’ve always chosen ... to make them a believer.”
Leave it to the wise Ms. Norville to remind me, “You can either give into their assessment or you can prove them wrong.”
Here’s to setting our own place at the table first, then making the naysayers believers.
Laughing all the way to belonging.
Daryn Kagan is the creator of DarynKagan.com. She is the author of “What’s Possible! 50 True Stories of People Who Dared To Dream They Could Make a Difference.”
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