Nicole Silveira
Gasia Mikaelian, Las Positas alum and KTVU news anchor, visited her former campus on Friday, May 8 to discuss what it took to get from an LPC student to her dream job as a Bay Area news anchor.
Mikaelian gave details on her past jobs at stations in Yuma, Arizona; Huntsville, Alabama and Houston, Texas before landing the job here in the Bay Area, that was always a goal for her because she is originally from Livermore.
Along with covering breaking news, she gets the chance to cover stories that interest her. In an interview over email, she shared one of her favorite memories as a news anchor. That memory was being able to interview two of her favorite chefs, Jacques Pepin and Martin Yan, both she has watched for years on PBS.
The passion Mikaelian has for her career translated into her talk and she even offered her best career advice to help students land their dream profession.
Mikaelian stresses that despite how “gross it feels” to point out your own success, “asking for what you want, being your own best advocate, and believing that you can get that job,” are some of the most important ways to land your ideal career, and learning to do that changed her life.
At the end of her talk, she opened the floor to answer students’ questions, while broadcasting a live Periscope.
When asked about internships in the journalism field, Mikaelian informed students about the internship program at KTVU. Mikaelian also offered students the opportunity to sign up with her for a tour through the studio. This way, students can see how she does her job before deciding if the internship program is a good fit.
Mikaelian stressed the importance of taking positions at smaller networks to work your way up faster in your field. “I can’t stress enough about getting that internship,” Mikaelian said.
The important lessons she made sure to emphasize were making yourself available at every possible opportunity and being determined to make the grind and put your energy into earning that dream career, will all pay off.
