WEBVTT - Ginger Zee: How to Find Calm After a Storm–Processing Trauma, Depression, Finding Support 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:08.119 Big things happen when you're pretty, pretty bold, pretty clever, 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.399 pretty strong. I'm Danielle Robe and each week I chat 0:00:12.440 --> 0:00:15.720 with a trailblazer who puts a new spin on pretty. 0:00:16.320 --> 0:00:20.840 We talk passion, purpose, and how good life looks when 0:00:20.880 --> 0:00:24.920 looks aren't your life. These are their stories, but this 0:00:25.040 --> 0:00:30.560 space is for you, the dreamers, doers, and beautiful minds. 0:00:31.600 --> 0:00:36.800 Welcome to Pretty Smart. You've seen her on Good Morning America, 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:43.680 ABC News, and even Dancing with the Stars. Ginger z 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:48.320 is the first ever female chief meteorologist at a major network. 0:00:48.640 --> 0:00:51.680 She's also the managing editor of the Climate Unit at 0:00:51.720 --> 0:00:55.120 ABC News. She's chased her fair share of weather events 0:00:55.120 --> 0:01:00.720 through the years, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and wildfires, but it 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:03.520 was weathering, a more personal storm that took her on 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:07.640 a journey of self discovery. Ginger wrote openly about her 0:01:07.680 --> 0:01:12.200 mental health struggles in her first memoir, Natural Disaster, revealing 0:01:12.200 --> 0:01:15.360 that after getting her dream job at ABC, she checked 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:19.600 herself into a mental hospital. But Ginger says Natural Disaster 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:24.039 barely scratched the surface. In her follow up memoir, A 0:01:24.040 --> 0:01:28.040 Little Closer to Home, Ginger is digging even deeper and 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:35.520 telling us all about finding the calm after the storm. 0:01:35.640 --> 0:01:40.480 So Ginger, I read your first book, Natural Disaster. I 0:01:40.600 --> 0:01:43.120 cover them. I am one, and I wrote you a 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:47.080 way too personal email about how much it moved me. 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:52.600 You write about your experience at local affiliates in Michigan 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:56.840 and Grand Rapids in Maryville, Indiana, and then Chicago for 0:01:56.880 --> 0:02:02.080 five years. And you've always been so intentional and goal oriented, 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:05.480 so much so that you made your passwords on your 0:02:05.480 --> 0:02:08.359 computers your goals. So at one point it was today's 0:02:08.400 --> 0:02:11.920 show ten yep, And I'm sort of dying to know 0:02:11.960 --> 0:02:15.160 what your password is now how I share it with us? 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:17.720 Well, I can tell you ones that have passed, so 0:02:17.960 --> 0:02:21.920 I still I have versions and different versions of shows 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:25.880 that I've been pitching, so show names or concepts, I'll 0:02:25.919 --> 0:02:28.760 often put those in there with years or mix them 0:02:28.840 --> 0:02:31.919 up with dogs names and things. I do a lot 0:02:31.960 --> 0:02:35.160 of times now when I have found this great kind 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:39.679 of fusion of my identity really include a lot more 0:02:39.720 --> 0:02:43.160 personal goals, you know everything, And it's not just goals, 0:02:43.200 --> 0:02:46.880 I guess I've even evolved it into intention and so 0:02:46.919 --> 0:02:48.800 you know how like in yoga, you set an intention 0:02:48.919 --> 0:02:51.920 for your practice. I started doing yoga so regularly I 0:02:51.960 --> 0:02:53.840 was like, wait, I need to set an attention for 0:02:53.919 --> 0:02:56.320 my day. I need to set an intention for my week. 0:02:56.760 --> 0:02:59.520 And it can sound a little cheesy and kind of 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:02.440 like you know binder journal that says things to you, 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:06.000 but actually no, and it works a lot like passwords, 0:03:06.040 --> 0:03:08.520 and so I'd say I do them more as intention. 0:03:08.320 --> 0:03:11.280 Though I love the evolution of that. I recently started 0:03:11.280 --> 0:03:13.920 doing affirmations and I thought they were cheesy before, but 0:03:13.960 --> 0:03:14.800 they actually work. 0:03:15.120 --> 0:03:18.200 Yeah, I mean, there is something to this and I 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:22.239 am so inspired to keep talking about it because again 0:03:22.440 --> 0:03:24.720 I don't care. And when you said I wrote you 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:26.919 a way too personal email, first of all, I don't 0:03:26.919 --> 0:03:30.080 think there is anything as too personal, especially from somebody 0:03:30.120 --> 0:03:32.600 who's writing these types of books. So don't worry about that. 0:03:33.240 --> 0:03:37.160 It is the intention of my book, certainly the second one, 0:03:37.240 --> 0:03:41.000 to receive more emails like that, because I've seen the 0:03:41.040 --> 0:03:44.960 circle of mental health life through my first book and 0:03:45.000 --> 0:03:47.400 what it has meant to so many people and still means. 0:03:47.480 --> 0:03:50.000 I mean I had one last week that said you 0:03:50.080 --> 0:03:52.680 saved my life, and it was like, what this is 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:58.120 still happening. This is talk about feeling emboldened and confident 0:03:58.160 --> 0:04:01.000 in going into a book that that has a whole 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:04.040 lot more. There is nothing that makes me feel better 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:06.640 than rolling the dice because I know it's going to 0:04:06.640 --> 0:04:09.720 come back in spades with people telling me their stories, 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.920 so please keep sharing. And it believed me yours was 0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:15.280 not to take away from it, but a lot of 0:04:15.280 --> 0:04:18.080 people had that response. So that's the beautiful part. 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.080 That's the mark of a great story. To back up 0:04:21.080 --> 0:04:22.880 a little bit so we can catch everybody up if 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:25.599 they haven't read your first book yet. You became the 0:04:25.640 --> 0:04:31.120 first female meteorologist of a major network, and as a 0:04:31.120 --> 0:04:34.080 goal oriented person and someone who had worked so hard, 0:04:34.120 --> 0:04:38.560 I can only imagine the joy and validation that that 0:04:38.640 --> 0:04:42.560 gave you. And in the midst of that, you check 0:04:42.640 --> 0:04:45.880 yourself into a mental health facility almost immediately after getting 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:50.280 the job. Can you tell us how you decided to 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:51.960 make that bold decision. 0:04:52.960 --> 0:04:56.720 I think the real change came for a decade. I'd 0:04:56.760 --> 0:05:00.360 been through a really harsh journey in my mental health health, 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:04.160 with suicide attempts and some big struggles and big traumas 0:05:04.240 --> 0:05:08.120 that I was not addressing whatsoever. I didn't realize how 0:05:08.160 --> 0:05:10.039 much those had to do with where I was, But 0:05:10.160 --> 0:05:13.279 in that moment, the real reason I went to the hospital. 0:05:13.920 --> 0:05:16.400 Was because the entire time I was on my roller 0:05:16.400 --> 0:05:20.719 coaster of a mental health journey, my career had fortuitously 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:24.760 kept rising, and I was at this I thought crux 0:05:24.839 --> 0:05:28.920 point where I thought everything I have worked for working 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:31.480 with Diane Sawyer, which was now going to be in 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:34.840 my reaches because I got this job, it could come 0:05:34.920 --> 0:05:38.760 crashing down if I don't finally attend to the thing 0:05:38.800 --> 0:05:42.240 that I've been ignoring for the last decade. I think 0:05:42.279 --> 0:05:44.320 I was in one of those dark, dark places. I 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:46.840 was in the midst of a really abusive relationship I 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:49.800 didn't want to live, except I woke up that one 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:53.159 morning thinking I don't want to I don't think I 0:05:53.200 --> 0:05:56.800 deserve it, but somebody else does. And if I find myself, 0:05:56.839 --> 0:05:58.920 you know, like Diane Sawyer doesn't want the woman who's 0:05:59.440 --> 0:06:02.760 getting safe by the cops from an abusive boyfriend in 0:06:02.839 --> 0:06:06.160 her show, Like that's not Those two things don't go together. 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:08.960 And so it was almost like the gravity of my 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:13.080 goals and my aspirations coming to fruition rocked me to 0:06:13.160 --> 0:06:16.120 a point to say, don't screw this up, and it 0:06:16.200 --> 0:06:19.520 is worth living. Not only worth living, but let's go 0:06:19.600 --> 0:06:22.120 check this out. And see where it takes us. And 0:06:22.160 --> 0:06:25.200 so I don't know without the job, if I would 0:06:25.240 --> 0:06:27.760 have felt good enough. And this speaks a lot to 0:06:27.800 --> 0:06:31.560 where we still are societally. I had a break. I 0:06:31.680 --> 0:06:33.800 was done with my job in Chicago. I had a 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:35.920 couple of weeks that I was supposed to be moving 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:39.240 and I felt freedom to go without repercussion. And that's 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.719 something that I still don't think that we I think 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:43.560 if I went to my boss right now and said, hey, 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:45.200 I need to go for a week to go to 0:06:45.480 --> 0:06:48.240 a mental health in something or rehab, I think they'd 0:06:48.240 --> 0:06:50.159 be okay with it. Since I've written books and such, 0:06:50.640 --> 0:06:52.839 but I don't know that societally we're even close to 0:06:52.880 --> 0:06:55.839 that on a grand scale. And that's what this type 0:06:55.880 --> 0:06:57.760 of book is meant to do too, is just kind 0:06:57.760 --> 0:07:00.320 of say we have to get there, have to be 0:07:00.400 --> 0:07:02.680 able to treat mental health just like we treat drug 0:07:02.760 --> 0:07:05.640 and alcohol rehabilitation, where not only do we say well, 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:07.520 good for them, but we're kind of like, that's kind 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:10.520 of sexy, right, Like you're doing it, you're working on yourself. 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:13.880 That's what mental health needs to be too there, especially 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.520 now when so many people have been catapulted into a 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:20.240 place they may never have touched before because of this pandemic. 0:07:20.600 --> 0:07:23.800 I think about people who have rose to like more 0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:28.120 public personas and then years later come out write a 0:07:28.120 --> 0:07:31.560 book about something that's meaningful to them. You get this 0:07:31.600 --> 0:07:33.680 big job that you've worked for your whole life, you 0:07:33.760 --> 0:07:36.760 check yourself into a facility, and then you write a 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:40.280 book about it, almost immediately and tell the whole world. 0:07:40.840 --> 0:07:45.160 Yeah, it was definitely a choice where I thought maybe 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:46.880 I did this too early, and it was, you know, 0:07:46.960 --> 0:07:49.160 right before it went to print. I was like, maybe 0:07:49.480 --> 0:07:51.440 maybe I should have given it a beat, because I 0:07:51.440 --> 0:07:53.160 don't know if I'm ready. And I asked my husband. 0:07:53.160 --> 0:07:55.560 I remember not sleeping that night before it printed because 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:57.559 I thought, well, once it prints, you can't go back. 0:07:57.960 --> 0:07:59.920 I could have pulled it right then and there. And 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:02.400 he said, if you aren't going to write a book 0:08:02.400 --> 0:08:05.400 that's going to change somebody's life and upset somebody, then 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:07.120 you're not going to write a book that's worth reading, 0:08:07.200 --> 0:08:08.640 and you're not going to write a book that means 0:08:08.680 --> 0:08:11.040 anything to anyone. And he was right, you know, And 0:08:11.080 --> 0:08:14.400 it was my first release of my executive level people 0:08:14.440 --> 0:08:17.640 pleaser saying Okay, I'm going to tell you a couple 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:20.200 of things that are so far from perfect about myself, 0:08:20.680 --> 0:08:24.680 and I guess I don't care, or I'm just going 0:08:24.760 --> 0:08:27.480 to think I'm right here in the middle. It could 0:08:27.520 --> 0:08:30.160 have gone one way or another, and thankfully it went 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.880 the way that you know, I think I got constant support. 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:35.880 And somebody asked me a question about this, and I 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:38.920 think was really interesting. They said, what if he were 0:08:38.920 --> 0:08:42.040 in Flint still, would you have ever written this book 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:44.160 if you didn't think you had the voice or the reach. 0:08:44.720 --> 0:08:46.959 And my answer to that is, I don't know, because 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.120 I can't put myself in that place because I don't 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:51.320 know what that would feel like. But I do think 0:08:51.360 --> 0:08:55.040 that it is my responsibility of having the privilege of 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:58.880 this reach, of having this voice, of having the ability 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.920 to do it too, because I got out. I'm the 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:06.240 lucky one that had the financial support and the family 0:09:06.280 --> 0:09:08.600 support and all the things, and now the voice to 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.000 be able to reach many, many people. So I think 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:13.640 it was exactly the right time once it printed, and 0:09:13.679 --> 0:09:16.160 once actually, by the time I read my audiobook for 0:09:16.240 --> 0:09:18.920 Natural Disaster, I got done and I was like, I 0:09:18.960 --> 0:09:22.720 don't think I shared enough the legal all the legal changes. 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:24.760 I was like, well, that was kind of weak hold on. 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:28.280 Really yeah, that's how it felt. So that's how much 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:30.520 I changed within a couple of weeks. And that is 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.400 a great lesson from both books, is how temporary those 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.880 feelings can be. And say I had let's just say 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:39.760 I had done this and my worst nightmares came true 0:09:39.760 --> 0:09:42.880 and that you know, my job says we're not going 0:09:42.920 --> 0:09:44.880 to renew her because we don't really want that stain 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:48.080 on us or whatever. The stigma might be right, and 0:09:48.120 --> 0:09:50.319 that nobody else hired me. Again, I don't think that 0:09:50.360 --> 0:09:52.600 would have ever happened. I think that that's that's not 0:09:52.640 --> 0:09:55.400 where we are, thankfully societally. I think people are really 0:09:55.440 --> 0:09:57.120 ready to talk about it. We just don't know what 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:00.000 to do with it. And when I say I checked 0:10:00.160 --> 0:10:02.600 myself into a mental health hospital, people still rise there. 0:10:02.800 --> 0:10:05.120 That's when their eyebrows go oohm, Now what is that? 0:10:05.160 --> 0:10:05.480 Okay? 0:10:05.920 --> 0:10:08.280 Like if I say I have depression or i'm you know, 0:10:08.320 --> 0:10:10.840 people say I suffer with anxiety, we all are like, okay, 0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:12.920 even people that say, oh, I go to a therapist. 0:10:12.960 --> 0:10:16.840 I think at that point we're pretty good. When we 0:10:16.880 --> 0:10:21.320 talk about real severe intervention and real maintenance over time, 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:24.120 that's why I wanted to write the second book because 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.760 this is not a one and done. It's not like you, 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:28.480 you know, you go to a physical trainer and you 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:30.840 get in six shape and you eat right for six months, 0:10:30.880 --> 0:10:32.400 and then you're like, Okay, I'm never going to go 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:34.040 to the gym again. I'm going to look just like this. 0:10:34.520 --> 0:10:37.360 That's not how mental health works either, And that's the 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.800 other goal of this second book. 0:10:40.160 --> 0:10:42.559 You talk about it, I guess in between books on 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:46.400 Instagram too, like, I feel really connected to and inspired 0:10:46.440 --> 0:10:50.080 by a lot of your eating disorder and disordered eating posts. 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:55.920 You just have this incredible way of putting it all 0:10:55.960 --> 0:10:58.960 out there, and it makes people feel connected to you. 0:10:59.040 --> 0:11:01.079 It does the opet of what I think we all 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:04.920 think it would do. It makes people come closer. But 0:11:05.040 --> 0:11:07.400 you mentioned people pleasing. I wanted to ask you. In 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:09.680 the first book, you say you came into this world 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:12.679 ready to say yes, and you call yourself a new soul, 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.280 But you also say that you're a people pleaser and 0:11:15.960 --> 0:11:19.199 embracing the word no in the first memoir was something 0:11:19.679 --> 0:11:23.760 that was difficult from the first book to the second book. 0:11:23.760 --> 0:11:25.040 Where are you at with the word no? 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:29.720 Ooh oh, I am far from perfect, far from where 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.840 I think I probably will be when I get you know, 0:11:32.880 --> 0:11:35.640 when I keep practicing it. But I have come so far. 0:11:36.040 --> 0:11:39.040 I know my boundaries now, and I have really the 0:11:39.080 --> 0:11:42.320 pandemic I can think for that in part because it 0:11:42.440 --> 0:11:45.600 allowed me to fuse my identity even more. It allowed 0:11:45.640 --> 0:11:48.040 me to go back work on deep traumas and to 0:11:48.200 --> 0:11:52.160 really set intention for where and how I want to 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:54.200 parent my kids and what I'd like to do and 0:11:54.240 --> 0:11:58.200 where that goes, and setting boundaries. And that's what I'll 0:11:58.280 --> 0:11:59.920 use instead of the word no, because I think I 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.360 still don't like the word no. I think that boundary 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:04.880 is a better word because it doesn't have to be no, 0:12:05.000 --> 0:12:06.800 it has to be this is what works for me, 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:09.600 because this is what I need right And I have 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:12.880 built a career on saying yes. Reading Will Smith's book 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:15.240 right now, So did he, and he wanted to do 0:12:15.320 --> 0:12:17.440 more and more and more. And I haven't gotten to 0:12:17.480 --> 0:12:19.160 that part in his book, but I think we all 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:23.480 get there where he realizes the implication of his what 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.319 he thinks on other people. And it's when you start 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:30.880 impacting negatively the other people around you and yourself with 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.599 the lack of boundary that you really need to reassess. 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:38.040 And I was so grateful that within the pandemic it 0:12:38.320 --> 0:12:41.079 said no for me, and then I was able to 0:12:41.080 --> 0:12:43.560 take a step back and say, wait a minute, this 0:12:43.600 --> 0:12:45.760 is the part I need to work on. So thank 0:12:45.800 --> 0:12:49.120 you world for stopping in the very weirdest way just 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:51.680 for that moment, so that I could go into the 0:12:51.720 --> 0:12:54.280 next part with some priorities and boundaries. 0:12:54.960 --> 0:12:59.200 When you became the first female meteorologist of a major network, 0:13:00.160 --> 0:13:01.360 what did that title mean to you? 0:13:02.440 --> 0:13:05.640 So there had been so many women that have paved 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:08.840 the way in television first right. I work with some 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:11.440 of them, Barbara Walters and Diane Sawyer, and I think 0:13:11.480 --> 0:13:13.439 a lot about what it meant for them back then, 0:13:13.520 --> 0:13:16.640 specifically Diane, because she did start out doing weather. She 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:20.120 was an actual weather woman, I will say, because she 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:24.280 was not educated or trained. And I think that broadcasting 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.240 did a disservice to the science of meteorology because they 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.120 didn't start with scientists on TV. It started with people 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.040 who were not And so to be able to watch 0:13:32.080 --> 0:13:35.360 this transition that really hasn't it's pretty young. I mean 0:13:35.679 --> 0:13:38.360 since the eighties when women started to be able to 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:41.120 know I mean, there are a couple before that, but 0:13:41.240 --> 0:13:44.080 really the big change, especially in local markets, came eighties, 0:13:44.160 --> 0:13:47.000 nineties and two thousands. So to be able to be 0:13:47.160 --> 0:13:50.040 in a position as a chief meteorologist at a network 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:53.520 that nobody has been a meteorologist, let alone a woman 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.839 who's a meteorologist, there's a big learning curve for our 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.240 audience and for the network kind of even produce and 0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:02.079 stuff that I work with. I think if we went 0:14:02.080 --> 0:14:04.959 around ABC right now and asked what is ginger Z's title, 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:06.680 I don't know if they would know that I actually 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:09.560 have a scientific background and education, because it takes a 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.400 long time to educate people about who you are, right 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.560 and what your background is and what you can do. Constantly, 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.120 our whole lives are about reintroducing ourselves. Doesn't it just 0:14:18.120 --> 0:14:21.880 feel like like the perpetual first date, Like everywhere you 0:14:21.960 --> 0:14:24.960 go you're like, oh, right, you don't know anything about me? Okay, 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:27.440 you got to kind of it really humbles you back 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:31.120 to that point and how I feel great. I feel 0:14:31.840 --> 0:14:36.040 extreme excitement because I think there's such opportunity, but I 0:14:36.080 --> 0:14:40.920 have to constantly remind myself when things don't go quite 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.680 as planned that we've come a long way, you know, 0:14:43.720 --> 0:14:46.640 and being in this position have I am so lucky 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:49.280 that so many people started before me. But now I 0:14:49.320 --> 0:14:53.680 have this place where I can really push forward, break glass, 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:56.400 smash walls, and hopefully do as much as I can 0:14:56.440 --> 0:14:57.360 before they kick me out. 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:01.040 I don't think they're kicking you out anything. What do 0:15:01.040 --> 0:15:04.240 you think the biggest or one of the biggest shifts 0:15:04.360 --> 0:15:07.920 is that you've made on ABC and vice versa. How 0:15:07.960 --> 0:15:10.480 has the title and the position changed you? 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:14.120 Oh gosh, it's has changed, you know, like when you 0:15:14.520 --> 0:15:16.880 most people, when you get into broadcasting, I'll think that 0:15:16.920 --> 0:15:19.320 the network is the top. This is it. This is 0:15:19.360 --> 0:15:23.040 the best, biggest job out there in what I do, 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.720 and it is. But once I settled in after the 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:30.640 first two three years, I realized, wait a minute, it's 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.160 not the top. This is just the beginning again. I'm 0:15:33.200 --> 0:15:36.480 starting over. I'm starting over not only in educating people 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:38.320 who I am and where I am and what I do, 0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.160 but in what I want to leave as a legacy. 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:44.119 And so I realized that, you know, my thirty seconds 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:47.440 talking about windshill and then you know, doing whatever I 0:15:47.520 --> 0:15:50.680 do is wonderful and it's a great kind of beacon 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:52.840 at the top. But they have to build the whole 0:15:52.920 --> 0:15:55.040 pyramid of what I want to leave behind and what 0:15:55.080 --> 0:15:57.800 I want. So I've built this incredible weather team of 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:02.240 meteorologists behind the scenes. I've now started and really worked 0:16:02.240 --> 0:16:05.040 hard for an actual organized climate unit, which I've been 0:16:05.040 --> 0:16:08.360 fighting for for three years. That's come to fruition, and 0:16:08.440 --> 0:16:11.320 the next level for me is not only producing kind 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:15.960 of long form climate series environmental series, but I want 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:20.040 so badly as I've always wanted to do, to be involved, 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:24.680 if not the face of the newest entertainment scientists. You know, 0:16:24.720 --> 0:16:27.160 there was mister Wizard who I grew up with, then 0:16:27.200 --> 0:16:30.000 there was Bill Nye. We have not had another one 0:16:30.720 --> 0:16:33.880 kind of gelled together for the kids of today. And 0:16:33.960 --> 0:16:35.720 if that's not a woman, I don't want to be 0:16:35.720 --> 0:16:38.480 a part of it, right, A lot of it's got 0:16:38.520 --> 0:16:40.040 to be a woman. And if it can't be me 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:41.960 because I'm aging out or something, and it's got to 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:45.680 be like a YouTube scientist, I'm there for her. I 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:49.240 want to produce her. It doesn't matter. I just want 0:16:49.240 --> 0:16:50.520 to be a part of that. And so I think, 0:16:50.760 --> 0:16:53.640 you know, you realize that you have so much more 0:16:53.960 --> 0:16:57.400 to give, and that's why I'm sure there are a 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:01.120 lot of people like us. I think we'll always feel underutilized, 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:03.200 if that makes sense, Like, wait a minute, I could 0:17:03.200 --> 0:17:05.679 do so much more, Well, then go do so much more. 0:17:05.720 --> 0:17:08.400 And that's what I've been grateful for. ABC and GMA 0:17:08.480 --> 0:17:11.400 specifically have been such great platforms. I think of them 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:14.040 as the starting point now and I got a climb again. 0:17:14.680 --> 0:17:17.240 When you did Dancing with the Stars. Were you nervous 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:19.560 at all that people wouldn't take you seriously as a 0:17:19.600 --> 0:17:21.119 scientist and meteorologist. 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:23.800 I hoped they wouldn't so that I could inform them 0:17:23.840 --> 0:17:24.880 else the other way. 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:26.560 Really, I hope for. 0:17:26.520 --> 0:17:30.160 Those conversations because I don't expect it, you know, Unfortunately 0:17:30.160 --> 0:17:32.399 we're just I don't know that we're there. And so 0:17:32.560 --> 0:17:35.320 I always loved when people would be like, oh, how 0:17:35.320 --> 0:17:37.560 can you put stepret in an address on a dance 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:39.840 and then think that you're a scientist. I'm like, I know, 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.720 is this amazing? The doctor that you go to can 0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:45.920 also play racquetball, and you know they can do anything. 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:49.919 The female doctor that's my best friend, she still today 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:53.440 walks into deliveries and one of the people in the 0:17:53.520 --> 0:17:57.040 room will say, when is the doctor coming? It's unbelievable. 0:17:57.440 --> 0:18:01.280 What not just this science goes through, so I say, 0:18:01.800 --> 0:18:05.399 dive into it, go so far left that they can't 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:10.240 even comprehend, and then inform them that all people, not 0:18:10.280 --> 0:18:13.320 just female scientists, but all people, are complex human beings 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.879 who are able to do many things, super skilled and 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:21.280 talented beyond and that's how we should look at people 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.720 and stop with the one. You know, I wrote about 0:18:23.720 --> 0:18:25.240 it in the new book, and I said, it's like 0:18:25.600 --> 0:18:27.320 it's like it's like the world wants us all to 0:18:27.359 --> 0:18:29.879 have the chiron that lower third on television, that just 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:32.640 gives you one title. That's not fair. That's not who 0:18:32.680 --> 0:18:35.840 we are. Each part of us has such complex layers 0:18:35.920 --> 0:18:39.639 of identity, and that's where we get in trouble when 0:18:39.680 --> 0:18:42.760 we don't realize or give empathy to all the other 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:43.679 layers in between. 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.960 I'm always pretty taken by your limitless thinking, because I think, 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:53.440 specifically in broadcast and in traditional media, you're so molded 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:57.359 like there is only one archetype. And have you always 0:18:57.400 --> 0:19:00.399 been able to see beyond that or was that something knew? 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:02.800 How lucky I was that I didn't go to school 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.240 for it? I think because I think had I or 0:19:05.280 --> 0:19:07.159 I didn't want it in the beginning, You know, I 0:19:07.200 --> 0:19:09.199 went to college not thinking I was going to get 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:12.560 into television at all, and I didn't study television, and 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:14.680 so I do think that I was fortunate to have 0:19:14.800 --> 0:19:18.639 a science education and then more of an experiential on 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.359 the way up through broadcasting communication. And so I do 0:19:21.400 --> 0:19:23.840 think that I would always look at in my early jobs, 0:19:23.840 --> 0:19:26.080 I'd be looking around. I would see people doing the 0:19:26.119 --> 0:19:28.800 same things the vagina hands. They would do the voice 0:19:28.840 --> 0:19:31.280 that sounded like somebody else's voice and then talk to 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.280 me and sound different. And because I hadn't grown up 0:19:34.320 --> 0:19:37.159 with that ideal, I think that helped a lot. It 0:19:37.160 --> 0:19:39.159 didn't mean that I didn't fall into it. At times. 0:19:39.160 --> 0:19:41.480 I can go back and find some not the hands. 0:19:41.480 --> 0:19:43.040 But I do find some times where I'm like, what 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:45.080 am I doing all my voice there? Because I'm worried 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.200 about somebody taking me seriously with a high pitched voice 0:19:48.280 --> 0:19:51.399 or something. But I'm so grateful that I had that, 0:19:51.640 --> 0:19:54.359 And I constantly when I was teaching at Valpareizo, I 0:19:54.359 --> 0:19:59.200 would constantly tell my students look around, find that singular, 0:19:59.480 --> 0:20:01.800 that archet type that people do all the time, and 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.320 don't do that right, find your things that you the 0:20:05.320 --> 0:20:07.800 one that get that got me back then, and and 0:20:07.880 --> 0:20:10.840 when I got to the network, it's almost impossible to 0:20:10.880 --> 0:20:13.400 not do take a look as you can see any 0:20:13.400 --> 0:20:15.480 of the stuff that's like, well, obviously we're saying it's 0:20:15.480 --> 0:20:19.639 on television, right. But there are times, yes, the crutch 0:20:19.680 --> 0:20:22.919 words are like the very cliche. And I've been pretty 0:20:23.000 --> 0:20:26.119 pretty outspoken in that in finding those words. And even 0:20:26.119 --> 0:20:28.760 like the word motorist because of the Virginia thing that 0:20:28.840 --> 0:20:31.960 just happened. I was like, okay, team, we are never 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:34.600 because would you say, hey, Mom, I saw a motorist 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:38.560