Sneak Peek: “Ashley on Cam.” aka, what’s Ashley doing in Boston?

I came to Boston with the excitement and interest in figuring out what spectrum of broadcast news I should be focused on. Should I be a producer? Should I be on-air?

A funny realization hit me last week.

I came here with the misconception that everyone could produce; and only a certain few could be on-air.

And I was wrong.

It takes a pretty special talent to produce OR to be reporting in front of the camera.

Lucky me, I’m getting a wealth of exposure to all types of situations and opportunities that are allowing me to work on the necessary skills to be good––as well as figure out what feels better. What do I really want to do? It’s very different pathways even though they’re in the same newsroom.

This week’s flex work involved doing a professionally set stand-up report with some coaching. I’m sharing for the furthest from vain reasons (I HATED people watching me. An inherent problem if this is what I want to do). Instead, I’m sharing it because–as someone who was considering graduate school; I think it could be helpful to others interested who want to see what the grad school experience can be like.

I want to post it so my family can get a sense of what the heck i’m doing 14 hours away.

And I’m posting it to kind of get over myself and insecurities a little.

Only way is to jump right in, right?

I had some mixed feelings about posting the whole take (it’s only like 3 minutes long); but at the same time––that’s really the only way to see what I’m doing right now. Which happens to include gibberish and giggling sometimes in the middle of forgetting what I’m supposed to be saying.

Overall, I’m SO excited about how much progress I’m making. This session was abundantly helpful to really iron out some vocal things that I need to work on. Look forward to taping an even better stand up with my next package.

In things I need to fix: don’t be an up-talker, say the letter “W” correctly and get used to those crazy bright lights.

This is just the beginning!

PS: Isn’t BU beautiful!?

For best viewing: Make sure you let it load all the way first. Otherwise it looks grainy and the audio doesn’t match up. In other things I need to learn to do better: downsize video files better. If for some reason it’s embedding here grainy and not so great; check it out here instead.