What do I want to be when I grow up?

From a young age, I dreamed of being on Broadway. My sister, Cindy got me involved in Community Theater and it became a passion. I studied voice with Frances Haut, a legend at Curtis Conservatory, and studied dance under Susan Stroman, now a Broadway legend! But by senior year in high school my desire to be an actress was dampened by an overwhelming fear of failure. Sure I got rave reviews for my dozens of performances in the Wilmington, Delaware area, but I never had the courage to find out if that talent could translate to the Great White Way. I chose what I thought was a more stable profession. Broadcast Journalism.

Now critics of television news will say there is as much theatrics in broadcasting as on Broadway, but that’s a different story. Boston University’s School of Public Communication turned out to be more like a trade school, and I had my first job at WBZ-TV by December of my senior year. I hop scotched from Boston to Providence to Salisbury (where I met Scott) to Louisville (where I married Scott) and finally to Baltimore in 1990 (where we later started our family).

Had I figured out what I wanted to be when I grew up? Not really. After Brittany was born in 1993 and Calvin in 1996, I continued to work in a grueling profession that had little regard for putting family first. I had wonderful childcare in my home, but I missed most of the day with my kids. My defining moment came in 1997, I interviewed a woman whose teenage son had committed suicide. Her name is Susan White Bowden and her story is well publicized. A TV anchor in Washington, DC, Susan thought her children were fine. Somewhere amid her hectic schedule and long commute, she missed all the warning signs. She had no idea her son was suffering until she got that horrible call at work saying he had taken his life with the antique rifle that was displayed over their mantle. Interviewing her changed my life. I got back to the station, called Scott and told him I was quitting my job. I could no longer be away from our little kids for so many hours a day. He supported me 100%.

I am blessed. We could have survived on one income if we had to. But I was able to translate my years of news producing into a lucrative freelancing career where I could pick and choose specific projects that fit my family’s needs. Livingston Productions was born a few years later. And thanks to wonderfully supportive clients and amazingly talented partners, we keep growing.

My “family first” mantra is challenged now and then, especially when deadlines loom and I spend more hours in front of a computer monitor than in my family room. But I finally know what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be there for my family.