This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Hofstra chapter.
This week’s Campus Celebrities are two prominent and powerful Lawrence Herbert School of Communications alumni, Beth Carey (’94) and Theresa Patiri (’00, ’04). Carey is the Senior Editorial Producer of the “Nancy Grace” Show at HLN and Patiri is Senior Vice President of Production at WEtv and Wedding Central.
Along with a few other School of Comm collegiettes, I got a chance to sit down with these women at a small luncheon hosted by Hofstra’s ‘Women in Leadership’ and the Office for Development and Alumni Affairs. Moderating the lunch panel was Meredith Celentano, Assistant Vice President for Development and Alumni Affairs and Adria Marlowe, Assistant Dean at the School of Comm.
Carey and Patiri dished out invaluable advice about tackling life post grad to the room of juniors and seniors. Among the topics covered, the speakers stressed the importance staying humble and working your way up the TV network ladder.
“TV is all about teamwork,” said Carey. Echoing her sentiments, Patiri explained, “No matter how high up you get in the ranks, you still have to roll up your sleeves and dig in to finish the quality product that’s expected of you”.
Theresa Patiri
From constant emails to midnight call times, Carey and Patiri stressed the demands of the job. And since it was an exclusively female event, they were candid about how the job sometimes affects their roles as wives and mothers.
“Honestly, there is no such thing as balance. If you do it right, its a 24-hour job,” laughed Patiri. “My advice is get as far as you can in your career before you start having kids…that way, you’ll have the senioritity to talk off for a soccer game here and there”.
As for the “bitch boss” double standard in the work place?
“It comes with the territory, you know. News is still very much a man’s world” said Carey, explaining that if you hold your own and prove yourself by delivering, your record will speak for itself.
Beth Carey
Special thank you to ‘Women in Leadership’ and the Office for Development and Alumni Affairs for putting on the event and for more information about upcoming panels, visit their official page on Hofstra’s website.
*Carey and Patiri are pictured fifth and sixth from the left with some Herbert School of Communication collegiettes. Photo credit: Adria Marlowe.