Two great speakers at Mass Comm Week

Today I attended two awesome sessions with two very different speakers. Both seemed to be very personable and down to earth people. Both individuals seemed very thankful for where their careers had led them, and were very passionate about their work. At 2:00 pm Ralitsa Vassileva, a CNN news anchor for Your World Today, gave us a view into her life as a journalist. She spoke about her first job in the media under a communist government in Bulgaria. She witnessed the fall of communism and a dramatic change from propaganda filled stories and radio announcements to the press having new freedoms never experienced in her country before. This gave Ralitsa an incredible opportunity of being apart of the new and free journalim that was developing in Bulagaria. Ralitsa had studied English and trained to become an interpretor. She had never dreamed of a career in journalism. "English was my window to the world," said Ralitsa. She told the packed room of students and professors how lucky we were to not have to deal with propaganda and a government controlled media.
Ralitsa was stumbled upon by CNN and Ted Turner while she worked in Bulgaria. As sort of an experiment she co-anchored for CNN and did great in front of the camera. When Ted Turner decided to invest in a world news program, Ralitsa was flown to Atlanta with only two suitcases in hand. Since then she has done countless interviews with world leaders and traveled all across the globe. She discussed how well you must know the cultures and be open-minded when traveling and interviewing foreign leaders or everyday people. She said she loved her job because journalism gives her access to things few people ever get to see or witness. She is able to step into people's lives and said that human dignity never dies.
As advice for students, Ralitsa described how her career began by taking a chance and entering a contest in Bulgaria. She told students to never say no to new opportunites, and you never know what job best suits you until you find it. Ralitsa talked about keeping a good attitude and remaining positive. "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade," said Ralitsa.

The next speaker today at 3:30 was the comical Bobby Bones who has a morning show on Austin's radio station KissFM 96.7. This semester I recently discovered their morning radio program and absolutely love it. I listen to the Bobby Bones show every morning on my way to school and I must say it is difficult for me to turn it off. I just had to see what he was like in person, and I was pleasantly surprised. The room was jam packed and Bobby could have easily been mistaken for any other student at Texas State. With his wild curly hair and his jeans with flip flops, he told his story of how he became one of the youngest radio hosts in the U.S. Bobby was a very laid back kind of guy that knew what he wanted from a young age and got their from what he described as some lucky breaks. What I really liked about him, was how straightforward and honest he was about the radio industry. He told us how cut-throat it can be and how difficult it is sometimes. Bobby discussed the low pay and the bad hours, but if you love what your doing then those things don't matter as much. He described how fortunate he was to be where he is today, and that he loves working with Amy and Lunchbox.