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Amazingly, my news career began after snagging an exclusive interview with former Philippine First Lady Imelda Marcos about her life in exile. The Marcoses left the Philippines in 1986, when the Filipino people rose up against them (People Power), after decades of alleged corruption and other crimes. The Marcoses had fled to Hawaii, where Ferdinand eventually died. Now, Mrs. Marcos was living in a New York City townhouse on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.
At the time, I was a student reporting part-time for Channel 2 First State News — the now defunct television station in my home state of Delaware. My crew and I had driven two hours North to the Manhattan townhouse of Mrs. Marcos and was surprised to find, when the former first lady stepped into the living room to greet us, that both she and I were wearing nearly identical suits and necklaces! After the interview, Mrs. Marcos showed me her favorite painting of a Ying/Yang symbol, and offered us refreshments. My crew and I declined, and we drove back to the station and got our story on the air. Later, New York beckoned, again, and I moved there to begin my first full-time job at 30 Rockefeller Plaza, where I worked as a production assistant for NBC Nightly News.
WORKING ON A PACIFIC ISLAND
My goal was to become a television reporter. Those in the news business know that rookie reporters can’t start their on-air careers in the #1 market (New York City.) It was necessary to start in a small town, learn the ropes, make your mistakes. My first full-time job as a general assignment reporter job took me to the Pacific island of Guam. At KUAM-TV (NBC), I anchored and produced weekend newscasts, and covered a range of domestic and international stories during the week. Some of the stories, I distinctly remember, include an exposé of deplorable living conditions under which a particular group of underpaid Filipino expatriate construction workers lived. Several dozen slept in cramped barracks next to open sewers. After my story, a the employer paid them and promised to upgrade their housing. Some of my favorite times were when I had the opportunity to ride Navy HELOs to aircraft carriers floating in the Pacific. I left Guam after seven months and returned to the mainland.
SOUTHWEST FLORIDA
The next career stop brought me back to Fort Myers, Florida. At market leader WINK-TV (CBS), I substitute anchored on weekends and reported on hundreds of stories, including hurricanes, floods, and citrus crop freezes. I was part of a strong newsroom which prided itself on breaking investigative stories — corrupt officials, deadbeat Dads, and scammers were often exposed. Among the human interest stories I covered, a few left an impression in my mind, such as the tragedy of teenage boy who was murdered by his two best friends with a box cutter. They wanted to steal his new car — a high school graduation gift from his father. I profiled the difficult life of a Mexican migrant worker, and featured champions of the environment who brought me along on fast-moving airboat rides across the Everglades.
BACK ON THE EAST COAST
After two years in Florida, I headed North to new journalism opportunities on the East Coast, where I had grown up. In New York City, I worked as a news writer for New York 1 News, and a reporter for News 12 New Jersey. After nine months, I received a call from the ABC station in Philadelphia — the fourth-largest television market in the country — which offered me a general assignment reporting position. Station powerhouse, WPVI-TV (ABC), the network-owned market news leader, was the station that I had grown up watching. My parents lived only 35 minutes away. In ‘Philly’, there were the usual big city stories — crime, strikes, city government, and elections. As the rookie, I was the first reporter to arrive in the morning. I usually covered court cases and criminal activity. After four years at the station, I left to finish writing a book that I had been tossing around in my head for years.
A RESOURCE BOOK FOR STUDENTS
Throughout my news career, I volunteered to mentor students and interns. But, I found myself repeatedly answering the same questions from newbies attempting to break into television news. So, I decided to write a book containing all of the information that I wish I had when I was just starting out. ResumeTapeBook: The Job-Hunting Handbook for Television Journalists, was a 778-page tome of aggregated advice from a dozen contributing authors, and hundreds of reporters, news directors, and producers. It revealed never-before published data such as the starting salaries of television reporters in all 210 television markets, and the news culture at each of those markets. The book sold briskly on Amazon during its five years of publication and landed in the career offices of many of the country’s top journalism schools including Columbia University in New York City, Medill at Northwestern University, and the University of Missouri. I was fortunate to be invited to book signings at journalism conventions nationwide.
JOURNALISM’S DIGITAL AGE
Eventually, the traditional business models of news began to change, as did the process of gathering and disseminating news. It became the perfect opportunity to return to school, perfect the skills of digital journalism, and specialize in the specific topic. In the Fall of 2010, I moved to New York City, and entered the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University. I earned a Master of Arts degree in medical and science journalism as Robert Wood Johnson Foundation scholar. The accomplishment was bittersweet. Years ago, I had relinquished my acceptance seat at the same school to accept the WPVI-TV reporting job in Philadelphia. Immediately after my graduation, I accepted a three-month health reporting fellowship from the Kaiser Family Foundation to work alongside health and science editor, John Fowler, at KTVU-TV (FOX) in San Francisco. There, I had the opportunity to enterprise, write, and produce a three-part public health series called “The Dental Epidemic of Alameda County.” The series went on to receive a third-place national award from the Association of Health Care Journalists (AHCJ).
FOUNDER AND CEO
Today, I am a digital journalist and media entrepreneur, leveraging a combination of my writing and television reporting skills, digital journalism expertise, and business acumen, to launch Blackline Review — a news and information site dedicated to covering aspects of the venture ecosystem in Chicago, with special focus on technology and innovation. Since our launch, we have won two Telly Awards in the Online News, and Information categories. I also co-anchor a business news show called, Illinois Business Week at TechNexus. I feel fortunate to have experienced the news business through various forms of media — print, broadcast and, now, digital journalism.
Editor’s Note: Rose will represent the Philippines in the Mrs. International competition in Florida in July. She is participating to bring more awareness to her Father’s illness – Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus (NPH). Rose is the 6th representative from the Philippines (you can look on the website for the names of the past Mrs. Philippines Internationals.) Last year’s representative was Alicia Almendral, a doctor from NYC.
The Mrs. International is a 26-year-old pageant that started out just for the 50 states, but in the last few years, it has started adding delegates from other countries. It emphasizes the accomplishments of married women and the importance of their chosen platforms.
Rose’s success has not spoiled her a bit. If at all, it even spurred her to do more for her community. Only a few knew that she was when Typhoon Haiyan ravaged the Philippines in November 2013, she coordinated media coverage for the effort. Later, she helped to manage the communications and logistical details to ship, with the assistance of the U.S. Department of Defense, more than 6,000 boxes of relief goods, collected in Chicago, to the affected islands.
She has done many other volunteer work in her community, among the notable ones were as VP, Strategic Development; National Board Member; and Marketing Director, National Association of Asian American Professionals (NAAAP) 2006-2010, Chicago Organizer, The Three Vigils for Laura Ling and Euna Lee 2009 and Director, Media Relations, National Federation of Filipino American Associations (NaFFAA) 2004/2014