It's been six years since I first freelanced at CNN and at times it didn't look like it would turn into anything. At other times, I seemed painfully close to getting the other foot in the door. Through a turn of events some time last fall, I found myself in a position where I could really help out the department by just being available at a time of transition and it served to put me in the right place at the right time. Not long after, a position opened up and I applied but there was another applicant who had the experience my new boss there was looking for. The department had shrunk and we were being tasked with coming up with new procedures for media management and this new guy who got the position I had applied for had plenty of relevant post production experience. My boss told me all this, saying it was a tough decision but he wanted me to stick around so he gave me a big fat raise and assured me that there'd be something else he'd need me for soon. Sure enough, another person in that department got promoted a week later and her position opened up. There was a month of waiting and hearing rumors that I was going to get the position until finally one day I received a call from my boss offering me the position.
Soon after, once we had solidified a start date, I put in my notice at NY1. I gotta tell you, NY1 really knows how to give a send off. There are a series of traditions whenever someone leaves NY1 on a good note. First, a glowing email from your boss about your departure, detailing your accomplishments etc. Then, your coworkers plan a going away party at a local bar and on your last day they get you cake in the conference room and you give a speech. Somewhere along the line you send out your own goodbye email. And by the end of it all, you're usually overcome with emotion.
They got me a nice gluten free cake from Tu Lu's bakery in the East Village:
My boss wrote a poem for me (which I still need him to send me) and I did a Letterman style Top 10 List in honor of David Letterman's last show the week before (Top 10 Things I Will Miss About NY1). That Friday we all went to The Crooked Knife on 14th Street in Chelsea and toasted my time with the company.
So, it was a great send off and I left it all feeling supremely blessed to have worked with such a great group of people for so long. And it was such a surreal feeling, too, the last time I swiped my ID badge through the card reader to punch my last out time. I stopped after that swipe and said out loud to my friends that were standing there, "huh, I don't work here anymore," as I let that fact just wash over me. Walking toward the elevator, it really started to set in that I was leaving. And the excitement of what lay ahead was immense.
Now, I'm a good two weeks into working at CNN full time and have gotten fully settled into the new routine, 9-5 hours, Monday through Friday, and with a view of Central Park out my window. The guys I work with are hilarious and everyone has been super nice. I've even run into a few old NY1 people who moved on to CNN years ago.
What's totally awesome though, is that in my first week, I had the good idea to get back in touch with the producer for one of the shows who had asked me to help him with voice overs a few months ago. I told him about my recent move to full time status and that I'd be around the building every day now if he ever needed help. Monday morning of the second week I worked there, he emailed me about reading a few scripts for Nancy Grace's show. So I went into the audio tracking booth and banged it out really quickly and sent it down to him. One revision, a little more intense and frenetic, and my segments were added to the show. Two days later, a new script. Not sure if this one made the show or not but he did cut a version of it so that I could have it for my reel.
So I'm just completely floored by that and then I get an email from one of Ann Wright's assistants, one of the agents that I've been chasing down and who sent me on an audition a few months back. She wanted to have a meeting with me. That day. My voice coach told me these meetings are usually just about personality and them getting to know me and just to be myself and relax. And it was. It was a short meeting and I was thrown off slightly by her asking me for a hard copy of my demo (even though I had already emailed it to her) which I didn't have with me. But all in all I felt good about it. So here's hoping I'll get sent on some more auditions soon.
That was one hell of a week last week. And there's more to come. I'm meeting all kinds of people at CNN that are connected in various ways to the things I want to do and I'm always meeting new musicians out and about. It's still to early to be able to tell what kind of an effect these people will have on my career but I have never felt so on track. It helps in that I feel at ease that I'm pointed in the right direction and now I can finally relax on the weekends for a change. Relax on the weekends and do things like this.
Top 10 things I will miss about working at NY1:
10. Breaking News (Just kidding they have that at CNN, too...they even stay on it much longer).
9. Getting put up in the Dream hotel during storm coverage, even without electricity or hot water.
8. Holidays when they order food, especially if it's Dino BBQ.
7. The quality of sleep you get after an overnight shift.
6. Scaring tourists off the elevator.
5. Being called "The Voice."
4. The assignment desk, producer's pod, politics and the control room all calling to ask, "are you rolling on the president?!"
3. Mis amigos en NY1 Noticias que me ayudan a aprender español
2. Breakdancing at the NY1 Christmas party (also, the NY1 Christmas party)
1. All of you crazy people.
