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I won’t say her name because there are so many just like her.
While she was still in high school, her father — a friend — asked me to talk with her about her ambition to someday be a great journalist, perhaps on the Today show.
As I always do in such cases, I told the truth. It’s a hard business. You start in a small market for terrible pay. Each step up the ladder puts you in competition with an ever-stronger pool of people who want the same thing you do. You will probably never make a fortune. At some point you might even get fired, possibly through no fault of your own.
Of course, my speech did no good. It never does. Everyone believes they are the exception.
Because she was smart and talented, she got into a good university with a strong journalism program, coming out well prepared to go to work.
Being determined, and willing to sacrifice both geography and money for a start, she got that first job and began to learn her trade.
I occasionally went to her station’s website to see how she was progressing. She was a quick learner and making great progress. I wasn’t surprised when she called a few years later to say she had been offered a promotion to a bigger station within the same company.
She had one reservation. The new job paid