New York City Day 52: Good Morning America

Today was greeeeeat! We got up early and headed to Good Morning America studios. We walked past a loaded crowd of people and security and wounded up walking through a big black door. Once we got in the door, we signed in and were escorted into the studio. The studio was...medium sized guess, lol. I'm mostly going off of my perception of what I expected the show to look like. I expected to be fairly big. But that typically happens when I'm on someone's set; I imagine it bigger than it need's to be, lol. No but really, the set was pretty packed to my surprise. Robin Robert's looked amazingly beautiful! We kept shifting standing positions because they were shooting from all different locations.

I saw "The Couch" and thought to myself, "I want to sit up there." Lo and behold, I would get my opportunity. After Robin finished one of her segments, a production person said, "Ladies with Jacque Reid? The Reid Group? Someone's here to see you" It was as if your father is waking up the 5 year old version of yourself on a freezing Saturday morning and telling you Santa Clause is downstairs! You don't know what to do with yourself. Lol, I felt so official!

I walk up to "The Couch," introduce myself and sit with Ms. Roberts. She was so genuine and beautiful and kind hearted and I just wanted to put her in my pocket and carry her around with me! We spoke with her briefly and it was a few minutes I'll never forget.

Later on in the show, we saw Emerald Lagasse, Edward Norton, and Joss Stone! I saw Emerald stepping into the back room after he was just outside cooking up...something! Afterwards, Joss Stone hit the stage briefly and Edward Norton was interviewed shortly afterward. Edward was fairly small and he gave me Wolverine with his hair! Joss as well lost some weight. I don't remember her being that small...she still had her shoes off, lol. Demeshia and I were singing when Joss was singing and her drummer had a lot of fun with us. He was saying that we can hold a tune, lol. When suggested that Demeshia and I could take her back up singers spot, her male singer replied, "never!" Lol, whatever!

After Edward Norton, Joss performed about 2 songs that were amazing and that I am considering buying! I love her! We headed to NBC to do our last teleprompter reading. This time it was a little less pressure. We had actual video to go with our readings and that was fun. I really enjoyed this one.

Afterwards, we went to Ditch Plains. It's our last Tuesday going to Ditch Plains until we leave New York :-(. On a good note, it was there where Demeshia met the Food Networks' "Chopped" co-host, Marc Murphy. The cool thing about it is that he actually owns Ditch Plains as well as several other restaurants and he was just sitting there with another young lady while he chomped on his own food! Lol, it was great!

Demeshia literally cried! That was cool. I mean, I honestly didn't think she'd cry, buuuuut she did. It was great. He was reeeeeally cool, I mean, he play's a cool judge on the show so that was refreshing to see that he was so cool. So, she cried told him she loved him, we left, she composed herself, we returned with her camera to get a picture of her and him, we left, we then returned to get his information, lol! He was more than amped to give us his info.

The funny thing about the whole situation was LITERALLY, 10 minutes prior, Demeshia and I were on the train talking about this experience as a whole. We were talking about how thankful we are to God. I tell you one thing, God is funny.

I remember when Ms. Reid told us we had to gather $1,000 before coming to New York. It was a struggle for mer personally. I planned ahead, but life happened. Then I got to New York with $100 to my name. The day my mother dropped me off at the train station, she literally stopped at a local jewelry shop and sold some of her PRIZED jewelry. That was a big moment for me to take in. She then gave me $100 dollars.

Another think I learned is that, faith without works is dead. As the week's progressed, I started calling up people left and right to help support me while in New York. The response was amazing. People literally gave what they could. Even Ms. Reid opened her heart and gave me some cash. Then one day, I sat down and thought about the amount of money I received from those various people and the funny thing is, it all amounted to be roughly $1,000. Lol, that's why I laugh. Because God looked out for me. He didn't do it the way I wanted or expected, but he DID it HIS way and in HIS timing and HIS timing was perfect.

It's finally starting to set in on me of how much this experience has changed my mindset, my life and my goals. Honestly, words cannot express how thankful I am for this experience. So, I guess you'll just have to see and look for me at the top.

New York City Day 24: Essence Magazine

Aside from all us thinking that our journey in New York should be a reality show, we also said that we should be featured on someone's magazine! Our wish...kinda...came true. We all got flashy in preparation for a feature in Essence Magazine. We were able to meet the other interns at Essence; all of which had different styles which was pretty amazing. We took a tour of Essence and every corner I turned, I kept saying to myself, "I could work here, I could work here, I will definitely work here!"

Me & Taraj P. Henson at Essence Magazine lol

I was overjoyed to see EVERY SINGLE THING in that building. Literally, every corner we turned, I was more and more in LOVE! I never thought I'd walk through the doors of Essence Magazine (Theeeeeeee Essence Magazine), I never thought I'd be in that building! It was an overwhelming feeling. Ok, now that I've recuperated, let me tell you the full story. While there at Essence, we were being featured, alongside the Essence interns, in an August edition of "Young Black & Amazing." All we pretty much had to do was find a word that represents who we are. Easy enough right?!

So that was pretty cool to me. I'll never forget it!!! Afterwards, we went aback to City Towers and met with Michael (he prefers to be called that). He was very lively. He was very excited to speak with us and it was very clear early on! I really enjoyed his speech. He gave a lot of good advice on how to stand out as an intern and potential employee.

He urged us to read, read, read, read and read some more. He said that the worst thing to happen in a news room is for someone to talk about a story (no matter how big or small) and to have someone in the room say, "I haven't heard about that." Lol, that is pretty awkward and I can't agree with him more. He also mentioned how important it is to be prepared.

If you're coming in for an interview, it's important to know about the company, recent news and how you can contribute to the success of the company. He said, when you're sitting down in the lobby waiting to be interviewed, don't just sit there and twiddle your thumbs, read the magazines! Look busy! lol!

He said a lot of thing's that were relatable, especially for the young ladies in the group who have already graduated. I just wish I would have heard these things earlier on in my life, no telling who's business I'd practically own by now! Lol