A super successful TV executive shares her best career advice for people in their 20s
Kathleen Finch knows a thing or two about success.
As the chief programming officer at Scripps Networks, the executive is responsible for content across six domestic networks, including Food Network, HGTV, and Travel Channel - and this year the former HGTV president led the channel to its highest ratings in history.
As she told the New York Times' Adam Bryant, she owes much of her success to something she did early on in her career.
Since college, Finch says, she knew she wanted to work in media. She began with an internship at Dr. Ruth's talk show in New York during college, went on to make videos for Apple, and ultimately ended up working at CBS News for 12 years as a producer before joining Scripps Networks. "I traveled all over the world and had the best time," she told Bryant.
But Finch didn't start out at CBS as a producer - her first job there was secretary to the news director.
"Quite a few of my friends said, 'What?' I said, 'Foot in the door.'"
"I knew when I met her that she would mentor me, and she did," Finch explains.
She believes getting your foot in the door is a crucial move for any young person starting out in their career, second only to learning how to write ("No matter what you're studying in college, be a great writer because it can stymie your career if you're not").
Once you have a dream job or place to work in mind, she suggests taking any job that will get you an in and can get you noticed.
"Then raise your hand. Work hard. Be the person about whom everybody says, 'She's next, she's the one who can do it,'" Finch says.
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