08

Feb

Mentors

Nkechi Nneji ‘07

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As we’ll see over and over, successful people build support networks. Nkechi has an impressive network of people that support and respect her. In turn, she seems to absorb their best qualities. “I think the one thing I really took from my mentors was their joy in their work.”

Someone to Admire “There were certain people at CNN who I knew were just brilliant, especially people in the political unit, who I really admired. John King – a national correspondent – he is again insanely intelligent when it comes to matters of politics. And I always have a soft spot because I got him lost once; he was going to DC to anchor Larry King and I almost put him on the Uptown 1 instead of the Downtown 1. I sent him an email apologizing profusely and he just said, ‘No problem. It was a pleasure meeting you and good luck.’ I was thought, ‘That is a nice man,’ because other people would have eviscerated me. I was completely mortified.

Someone to Watch “Professionally, I would say I have two mentors – one is my first manager, Mark Norman, who I love and absolutely adore. He was one of my idols at CNN. He is insanely bright and understands how things work. I liked to watch him work; it’s just that simple. His wife, Annie, is how I got my job at CNN Special Projects. She’s another wonderful person, absolutely wonderful, she taught me a lot. Very warm people.”

Someone for Support “Another mentor was the executive producer of CNN Special Projects, Kim Bui. She is just the best boss I have ever had.

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful,

wonderful woman to work for…

I love her to bits.

She is truly someone who wants everyone to succeed for herself and believes that everyone should have the opportunity to try, and to grow, and to learn. I was a PA and I wanted to produce, she gave me that opportunity. Despite all the craziness in her life, she has been there for me and I will never forget it. As long as I live.”

Someone for Advice “Dean Mahoney, Maureen M. Mahoney, was my idol. We used to have meetings once a month; we used to sit and talk. She really supported me. She helped me navigate politics in my various positions. She was someone I could go to for advice, especially towards the end of junior year, she was someone I relied on.”

Someone for Second Opinion “Hannah Durant. We got along well together and she taught me how to correct myself. Whenever I was full of vim and vigor, she would always find a way of diplomatically rephrasing whatever was going to come out of my mouth. I learned from her not to necessarily speak first and not necessarily to speak loudest. It’s sometimes better to wait, to both form an opinion and to voice it. Sometimes it’s more powerful than being on a soapbox all the time.”

12 years ago Short URL 1 Comment

Nkechi Nneji

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02

Feb

Loving the Job

Nkechi Nneji ‘07

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There are a few things that make Nkechi’s job perfect for her – the early mornings, spurts of high-energy work, focus on politics, and opportunities to charm high-profile guests. This is not exactly every person’s idea of fun, but it fit Nkechi perfectly!

Breaking News “I was at CNN during the 2008 election, and I just loved every single minute. A lot of times I had the early shift, which is 6 am to 2 pm. I loved it, you know? Watching the news unfold. Every day was different, some days it would be a slow day, nothing going on, other days it would be breaking news. I was sent to stake out Obama, attend some press conferences and write wires, all kinds of things.”

Cool Guests “My second week at CNN, Larry King was in New York, so I got to meet a lot of famous people – Suze Orman, Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar… Benjamin Netanyahu. Whoopi Goldberg is one of the coolest people I have ever met. She brought Sheri Shepherd, who was new to The View at that time, no one really knew who she was. As I escorted them back downstairs, Sheri Shepard says, ‘lets take a picture’ and I said, ‘I’m sorry. As a CNN staffer, I’m not allowed to ask for pictures.’ She said, ‘but you are not asking, I’m asking.’ So we had someone in the lobby take a picture of me, Whoopi and Sheri.”

12 years ago Short URL 2 Comments

Nkechi Nneji

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01

Feb

The CNN Connection

Nkechi Nneji ‘07

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How does one find a job? Often, the story is not about an online application and a rigorous interview process, but a random, fortuitous meeting – a story like this one. Unlike the other posts, there are no short teachings to be teased from this serendipitous anecdote. The moral of the story is, sometimes the world moves in mysterious ways.

“Well, I graduated from Smith in May of 2007. Like most Smithies of the time, I thought, ‘Well, I’ll just get a job – I’m a Smithie!’ I was gravely humbled – gravely, gravely humbled.

So I was with my mother outside of CVS. We bumped into one of her friends from church, Dan Lane. We started talking and for some reason politics came up. I love politics, mother’s milk to me; I can natter on and on and on. He goes, ‘wow, you know a lot about politics. Where did you go to school?’ I said I went to Smith, and he goes ‘oh wow, Smith! That’s a really good school.’

He asked for my resume. About a month later, I got an email asking if I would like to come to CNN to interview. I went in for an interview, sat in Gene Bloch’s office and basically reiterated that I can learn very quickly, I don’t have a lot of experience, but I learn quickly and I have leadership skills… and I learn very quickly. They offered me a free-lance position at $15 an hour and with no benefits. I said, ‘I’ll take it!’

I found out about a month later that Dan Lane’s sister, Nancy Lane was the Senior Vice President of the Newsgathering at CNN. So my resume went straight to the top and then got funneled down.”

12 years ago Short URL 1 Comment

Nkechi Nneji

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