the board of governors

  officers:

  Keith Sanders

  San Jos� State University

Vice President, San Francisco: 

  Kevin Wing

  ABC-TV/"Good Morning               America"

  Cynthia Zeiden

  Zeiden Media  

Vice President, Fresno: 

  Kim Stephens

  KMPH FOX 26 

  Pamela Young

  KITV 4

  Javier Valencia

  Consultant

 national trustees:

Linda Giannecchini

KQED 9

(National Awards Chair)

Alison Gibson

Media Cool

(National 2nd Vice Chairperson)

Cynthia Zeiden

Zeiden Media

(National Program Chair)

Steve Shlisky

KTVU Channel 2  

(Alternate) 

 governors:

Zara Arboleda

Children's Hospital Fresno

Kent Beichley

KRON 4/Pac12

Wayne Freedman

KGO ABC7 

Luis Godinez

KDTV Univision 14

Richard Harmelink

KFSN ABC 30  

(Nominating Chair) 

Pablo Icub

KUVS Univision 19

Brian Johnson

KHSL-KNVN

George Lang

The Big Picture

Da Lin

KPIX 5

Terry Lowry

LaCosse Productions  

(Gold & Silver Circle Chair) 

Sultan Mirza

KPIX 5 

(Webmaster) 

Jen Mistrot

KPIX 5

Joyce Mitchell

4 U Productions

Ross Perich

Trainer Communications

Greg Rando

KTVU Channel 2

Brenda Salgado

KGMB/KHNL, Hawaii News Now  

Sandy Sirias

KFTV Univision 21

Matt Skryja

AAA 

Stephanie Stone

KFSN ABC 30

Karen Sutton

Beyond Pix Studios

(Emmy Gala Chair)

Melanie Woodrow

KTVU Channel 2 

Alice Yu

KVIE 6

 committee chairs:

Activities/Programs:

  Cynthia Zeiden

  Zeiden Media 

Archives/Museum:

  John Catchings

  Catchings & Associates

  Linda Giannecchini

  KQED 9 

Awards:

  Julie Watts

  KPIX 5

Education:

  Steve Shlisky

  KTVU Channel 2 

Finance:

  Alison Gibson

  Media Cool  

Legal/Bylaws:

  Mark Pearson

  ARC Law Group 

Membership:

  Kym McNicholas

  Kymerview

 execUtive director:

Darryl R. Compton

NATAS 

The log-in takes you to your personal DASHBOARD where you can:

• Renew your membership
• Update your profile
• Fill out an Emmy� entry
• Resume an Entry that you started but did not finish          
• Review your submissions
• Upload your video
• Pay an invoice
• Review your payments
• Review e-mail that Emmy� Express has sent you

Additional resources include:

• Viewing the category list
• Viewing the Call for Entries
• Printing the Rules PDF
• Printing the Category PDF

You can log back into your DASHBOARD any time and keep track of all your Emmy� entries.

www.emmysf.tv

By Keith Sanders

Chapter President

        Every now and then, there comes a time when a home needs a fresh coat of paint, and perhaps, even a remodeling of sorts.

        Our Internet home for the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences -- www.emmysf.tv -- is no different.

        It was time to give our home a new look. 

        That new, fresher look for our Chapter website was unveiled at the Dec. 13 Board of Governors meeting at KTVU Channel 2 in Oakland. The revamped website has a more straightforward design. As an example, the Board of Governors' 

page clearly shows how the Chapter is organized with officers, trustees, governors and committee chairpersons.  

       But, the new look is only part of the story. Our site employs the WordPress content management system, which is now used by most chapters of NATAS nationwide, including the national organization. Switching over to this new look conveys a more uniform style with the national organization and the other chapters. Frontera Interactive provided the WordPress template, which has become our national brand. 

       Patty Zubov, the Chapter's marketing chairperson, oversaw the switch to the WordPress format.

      "What I like best about the new site is that department chairs and section heads can have a say in the design of their own pages, and can quickly update their pages themselves," Zubov says. In fact, the WordPress site can be revised by stakeholders almost as easily as editing a Word document. 
 

      The site includes all types of Chapter information, including:

      Membership: member perks and new member application;

      Awards: information about Emmy� entries, plus nominees and winners' displays;

      Circles: application to nominate professionals, or yourself, for over 25 years of service;

      Events: upcoming events and the NATAS Program Survey form; 

      Students: college scholarships, high school awards and student membership;

      About Us: Board of Governors' page, Chapter history and foundation information;

      Emmy� Express: membership renewal, Emmy� entry submission and event RSVP.

      Beyond the new look and reorganization of the website, there are more changes and upgrades in store.

      "The site will offer a chance for visitors to get to know the Board of Governors, with their bios and web links, and the Chapter's regions, with blogs from each area," Zubov says. 

      It will be easier to "save the date" for upcoming events, and the much-anticipated Video Center will archive recorded event programs. The home page will feature relevant news articles. Our regions (San Francisco Bay Area, Sacramento, Fresno, Hawaii, Reno and the Smaller Markets) will each have their own page for the first time.

     Interested in seeing your Chapter's new Internet home? Please visit www.emmysf.tv and let us know your thoughts. 

      Keith Sanders is president of the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and serves on the faculty at San Jose State University. 

      The weekend was spent unpacking, organizing, connecting, and praying that everything would survive the move without overly upsetting the delicate environments that the sensitive technical broadcast equipment had lived in for so long.

      The one robotic camera brought over more than a month earlier to set up the software and wiring with the remote controls in the control room three floors away was finally reunited with its brethren. But, having one working camera ready beforehand did not guarantee all remaining cameras in studio would join the new network wiring so easily. 

Saying Good Night for the Final Time Former KRON 4 anchor  Tom Sinkovitz  reunites with anchors  Pam Moore,  Catherine Heenan  and  Gary Radnich

The news interface service, the heart of any newscast that builds show rundowns, brings in video for packages and VOs and adds commands for automation, was safe and sound. Also mechanically and technically intact were the studio microphones and IFB lines -- communications lines necessary for the anchors to hear what was being broadcast and for the producers to talk to the anchors while they are on the air. 

      KRON's graphics, and separate ticker, were also only half-operational when KRON went to air during the early morning hours of Dec. 15. 

      Dec. 15 seemed to arrive too quickly for all equipment to be working and in unison. The TelePrompTer ran intermittently, causing the anchors to print and read scripts the old-fashioned way. That didn't stop the amazing crew and anchors from working with what they had and producing an excellently-solid first newscast in the new space. This elicited elated, though exhausted, applause from everyone in the control room, including management.

      During the second hour of KRON's regular six hours of morning news, the staff successfully aired its first remote live shot and interview with the anchors in the studio using Dejero backpack technology.

      Kent Beichley serves on the Board of Governors of the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and is a television production engineer at KRON 4. 

     Jeffrey Pierce is a multimedia journalist at KRON 4. 

By Cynthia Zeiden

National Program Chair, NATAS
 

     The San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers of San Francisco, or IBEW, are partnering to present a series of master classes in TV production and post-production that are free to NATAS and IBEW members. 

    The next master class is Saturday, Jan. 24 at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco.

    For non-members, the price is $25; it's $5 for students with a current ID in San Francisco. The classes will also be webcast live to NATAS and IBEW members, and at a later date, be archived on YouTube. 

      RSVPs are required. Please use the links below.  
      Registration begins at 10 a.m. with a networking reception. The class/webcast will begin at 11 a.m. Pacific. The online webcast audience will be able to ask questions of the instructor during question-and-answer periods, along with the in-person audience. The course will end at 1:30 p.m.  
      Here's what you get: in-depth tips and techniques from a Bay Area Television Master! Class begins with basic principles, but will quickly accelerate into advanced concepts.
 

Saturday, Jan. 24

Camera/Lighting 

Location: Academy of Art University, San Francisco

Instructor: Chris Bollini

     Chris Bollini, Emmy� Award-winning photographer, editor and producer, started his broadcast journey at a public access station in Marin County. After an internship, he was offered a freelance photographer position on a weekly news magazine show. From there, Bollini worked at KFTY Channel 50 in Santa Rosa, where he entered the fast-paced word of daily news. After two years, he changed pace and joined the creative services department to begin producing, shooting and editing local commercials and promotions. 

     After six years at KFTY, he was hired to work on a television program that merged the elements of news and production. The station was KPIX 5 and the show was an updated version of Evening Magazine, hosted by Mike Rowe and Malou Nubla. Eventually, the series morphed into Eye on the Bay with Liam Mayclem, Brian Hackney and Thuy Vu. It aired for eight years before it was cancelled. Currently, Bollini is very excited to be at KOFY-TV in San Francisco, working in the creative services and local programming departments. With shows like Creepy KOFY Movietime and Dance Party, Bollini says KOFY-TV is a fun and rewarding place to work.

Academy of Art University

79 New Montgomery Street (between Jesse and Mission Streets), San Francisco

Link to RSVP for Live Camera/Lighting Workshop 

Link to RSVP for Camera/Lighting Webcast

     Cynthia Zeiden is the activities and programs committee chairperson for the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 

       Sitting side-by-side on the KCRA 3 anchor desk delivering the news in Sacramento, Edie Lambert and Kellie DeMarco are stellar at what they do. Both women have long-standing careers as broadcast journalists, and earlier this year, in addition to delivering the news, both anchors also delivered babies.

       Nine months ago, Lambert and DeMarco each gave birth to little girls born two weeks apart. First, Lambert gave birth to Carlie. Then, DeMarco had baby Piper.

       During the holidays last month, the NBC station aired a station holiday promo featuring the news anchor team and introducing their babies to viewers. 

Ready for their Holiday Promo Close-Up Edie Lambert, left, with daughter, Carlie, and Kellie DeMarco with her daughter, Piper

 "Viewers shared the pregnancy journey with Kellie and me so it's fun to share where we are now," Lambert says. 

       DeMarco says she feels that viewers relate. They understand. 

       "As a first time mom, it was wonderful when viewers reached out to me," DeMarco says. "It's as though I've joined a special club. Women, in particular, are being really kind and generous. We're all going through the same thing. We're all trying to be good wives, good girlfriends, and good workers at the same time. It sort of surprised me that so many people stepped forward to offer such encouraging advice."

      Hitting the airwaves back in the late 1940s and early 1950s, television, for years, was a male-dominated industry. But, things have changed, and are continuing to change. Women have pioneered the field. According to a 2013 Radio Television Digital News Association report, women are represented in more than 97 percent of major market newsrooms across the country. Statistics show women are making a mark as TV professionals while also having full, personal lives. That includes having children.

     "It's really empowering to hear the statistics," DeMarco says. "When you go to journalism school, you think about how you can move up in this industry as fast as you can. More than a decade later, I look around and see all the women on TV holding big anchor jobs and they are all women who've been pioneers in this business. I feel lucky that Edie and I are both part of that movement."                  As women have integrated newsrooms on camera and behind the scenes, along with the changing times comes the realization that women -- like their male counterparts -- can have it all: careers, marriage, and children, if they so choose. 

     Together, pregnant on set, Lambert and DeMarco were symbols of that.

     "I'm not sure I ever looked at it as a pioneering voyage," Lambert adds. "I do see it as unusual. But, there was a station in Florida that had us beat!"

     Lambert is referring to WFOR, the CBS station in Miami. Three on-air personalities for WFOR's morning newscast -- anchor Rhiannon Ally, meteorologist Lisette Gonzalez and reporter Natalia Zea -- all had baby bumps while behind the anchor desk.

Co-Anchors Co-Expecting DeMarco and Lambert, on the KCRA set earlier this year

     On air, Lambert and DeMarco are smooth and have good chemistry. Personally, having babies at the same time went a long way toward enhancing that chemistry and their friendship. 

     "I really like it," DeMarco says. "Professionally, we work well together and our friendship has really gotten stronger. We understand what the other is going through as new moms. We know the juggling act well and that it's never easy. But we love our work and our children, so it's fun. We are there to support one another and you couldn't ask for anything more."

     Add to that, an outpouring of positive viewer input. 

     "We really had so much love and support from viewers while we were working pregnant," Lambert says. "It was so kind that they shared our joy. In fact, we heard from some viewers that they had nicknamed the 6:30 evening newscast "the mommy news", to see how much our bellies had grown."

     In addition to her nine-month-old, Lambert is also mom to her four-year-old daughter, Alise. "Pretty much every second of every day is accounted for," Lambert says. "When people ask me what I do for a hobby, I don't know how to answer that question. What makes me very happy is sleeping and showering."

     As for DeMarco, it's a juggling act as well. "I feel like I have a hundred different balls in the air at all times," she says. "I feel my first job is being with my baby, then from 3 p.m. to midnight, television news is my second job. If breaking news happens, one job crosses over into the other and I have to come in to the station early. At the end of the day, I am committed to my job and committed to taking care of my baby."

Baby News Update from the KCRA Newsroom Lori Waldon, KCRA news director (center), joins Lambert and DeMarco with their babies in the newsroom during a break in last month's holiday promo taping.

Lambert and DeMarco credit the support of their husbands and news director Lori Waldon for making it all possible. "So wonderful, so supported by my boss Lori Waldon," Lambert says. "She has been really, truly wonderful." Waldon took over as news director at KCRA/KQCA in August of 2012, replacing Anzio Williams. Waldon worked in news management at KPIX in San Francisco and KOVR CBS 13 in Sacramento before coming to KCRA. 

     Waldon also represents the changing journalistic landscape of TV newsrooms. According to a 2013 RTNDA report, women in the top 25 TV markets hold 30 percent of news director jobs. Sacramento ranks as the 20th market in size.

     "I feel like I work at the best station ever," DeMarco says. "Management understands the value of family and that I have to cover the bases with my baby. That means being able to go home at night for dinner. Then, it's back to work. Edie and I take our jobs very seriously and we are involved with each newscast."

     Without even having the time to realize it, the team is breaking down old stereotypes embedded in the innate history of television. The once male-dominated industry is becoming truly representative of viewers served.

     Lambert and DeMarco share evening newscast duties on KCRA and KQCA -- a Sacramento duopoly. Both have returned to work after maternity leave and now deliver the news as beaming mothers. 

     "On maternity leave, my bosses checked in to make sure I was okay and to see if I needed anything," DeMarco says. "It's an amazing feeling, especially as a new mom, to have somebody there who has your back."                                                                                                                                               "A couple of things have made this very workable for me," Lambert says. "First, having a supportive boss and second being able to go home on dinner breaks. After the early news, I drive home as fast as I can, read two stories with my four-year-old, talk about her day and tuck her in, and then I nurse my baby and I put her down. And while I am doing that, my sweet husband warms up something for dinner. I take some kind of food with me as I head back to the station and eat at my desk. We work unusual hours and being able to put my girls to bed is so important, especially when they're so little."

     Back at work, both anchors pitch in and tackle writing duties for the late newscasts. "It's critical to be able to spend time at home during the workday," Lambert says. "But, when I get back to work each night, I dive in, write copy, and copy edit for the 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts. Making it work requires you to pull your weight on both ends."  

     Lambert is married to Lloyd Levine, a former California Assemblyman who now owns Filament Strategies, a political consulting firm. 

     "Another thing, Kellie and I are both married to very supportive men," Lambert says. "They own their own businesses and have flexibility. That's really important given that our schedules can change dramatically with any breaking news event. Both of our husbands are hands-on dads."

     DeMarco is growing her family with husband, Evan DeMarco. There is no question that he is committed to being a dad. He is chief executive officer of Lifestyle Nutrition Labs and is a Sacramento entrepreneur who markets a new product called Mommy Water. It's a prenatal vitamin formula in a powder form designed to be added to water. "It's so much easier than taking pills!" DeMarco says. "While he's getting his business off the ground, he is so supportive of my career. During the holiday photo shoot, he brought-in our baby, dressed and ready to go. He's always helping out." 

    Anchoring the news is often perceived as a glamorous job. However, covering the news on a daily basis is far from that. It's hard, demanding work. "I have to laugh at that perception. If people only knew how it really is," Lambert says.

    Being a new mom working in TV news in this day and age is rewarding for Lambert and DeMarco. But it's far from easy. 

    "Some days, it's very difficult to say good-bye to my daughter when I head out the door to work," DeMarco says. "I really miss her. However, I am really proud of the work I do and I think one day, my little girl will be proud of me, too."

    "I would not trade it for anything," Lambert explains. "I feel so very blessed. I have the family and job I always dreamed of."

         By all appearances, it's difficult to believe that Joyce Mitchell began working in Sacramento television 40 years ago this year.

         That was 1975, the year Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme - a member of the infamous "Manson Family" of Charles Manson fame - attempted to assassinate President Gerald Ford during a visit to Sacramento that September. And, Edmund G. "Jerry" Brown, Jr. was serving his first term (and his first incarnation) as governor of California.

Joyce Mitchell, in her home office in Carmichael

    Among other things, that's what Sacramento television stations were covering on their newscasts back then. And Mitchell wanted to be a part of it all.

         And so, it's even more difficult to believe that before the Sacramento native became a news intern in 1975 at KCRA, Mitchell was already working as a political reporter for the state Capitol press corps.

          But, you'll have to believe it, because it's true. Her youthful looks scoff at any evidence that Sacramento's hometown gal has been in television news - or in journalism, for that matter - for four decades. And counting.

          Even though Mitchell no longer works daily in a television newsroom as a news producer, special projects producer or executive producer, she is hardly far removed from the business. She knows her stuff. And, she is more well-connected than her modesty would ever let you believe.

          The four-time Emmy Award-winning Mitchell, who, in 2010, was inducted into the Silver Circle of the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, remains very much involved in the business. In 2013, she was elected to serve as a Governor representing Sacramento on the Board of Governors of this Chapter. For the last 14 years - since 2001 - Mitchell has been serving as president of her own production company, 4U Productions. And, while she may own her business, she is very much involved with every project her production company takes on, from writing to producing to conducting interviews.

         And, from 1975 to 2000, Mitchell's name was synonymous in Sacramento with KCRA, and later, KOVR.

         She has been there.

Those Were The Days Mitchell, in an early photo taken at her desk at KCRA

         Born in Sacramento to Louis and Helen Mitchell, she grew up on the east side of town, attending Sacramento High School before graduating from Sacramento State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in government journalism. In high school, she wrote for the campus newspaper and knew that getting a hall pass meant more than just being excused from class to interview someone. It meant having unique access to administrators and people in positions of power. That was intriguing to the teen-aged Mitchell.

        Mitchell loved writing poetry, but she knew early that being a poet wasn't going to support her.

        "I always wanted to write poetry, but I knew I'd never make a living at it, so I found journalism," she says.

        By the mid-1970s, with her college education behind her belt, Mitchell decided that simply wasn't enough, returning to Sacramento State to study for her Master's degree in communication studies.

        It was during this time that she was a writer and a political reporter for Capitol News Service. She eventually became bureau chief.

        "This was during the heyday of (San Francisco mayor) George Moscone, and (then-state Assembly speaker) Willie Brown, and Jerry Brown," Mitchell says. One thing led to another, and in 1975, she found herself at KCRA as a news intern.

        "I started as an intern, then became assistant to the elections producer at the station. It was an election year (1976)," Mitchell says. "I put grad school on hold to go to work for KCRA."

Production company shoot Mitchell, with photographer and director of photography, Ken Day

     After her elections assignment, Mitchell eventually went to work in the station's traffic and promotions department.

        "I learned how a TV station ran," she says. "When you work on the daily log, you really understand how things work from a business standpoint."

        Talk about effective networking. As an intern, Mitchell was getting connected. On her last day as a news intern, she spoke with then-KCRA general manager, Don Saracino. She told him it was her last day as an intern, and Saracino asked Mitchell what she wanted to do in her career.

        "I told him that I wanted to work in the KCRA newsroom," she explains. "So, Don called the newsroom and told a manager to hire me, and I was hired as a writer."

        Mitchell became a writer for the station's 5 and 11 p.m. newscasts. She then began producing the news on Saturdays.

        KCRA made history in the late 1970s when its news bosses promoted Mitchell to be a producer. Back in the day, TV news was a male-dominated industry in most markets around the country, and Sacramento was no different. Only one female had ever produced a television newscast in Sacramento up to that point. And, let's not forget that California's capitol city has been served by television since the early 1950s.

      Some 25 years later, Mitchell came along, becoming only the second woman in Sacramento television history to be a producer.       

     "After a year of producing on Saturday nights, I was given the 11 p.m. show. That was a big investment in me," Mitchell says of KCRA.

      Mitchell says KCRA's 11 p.m. newscast was, perhaps, "the highest-rated 11 p.m. newscast in the country", so the pressure was on her to keep the Sacramento Valley tuned in to KCRA.

      "I was always under pressure to keep doing better," she adds.

      Women had been making inroads in TV news by then, but mostly on camera as reporters and anchors.

      "But, I wanted to be a boss. Usually men are the bosses, and women are in front of the camera," Mitchell says. "I wanted to be a boss. I like to say that I wanted to be Stan Atkinson's boss."

       Wow, that's big time.

Par For The Course Mitchell's producing skills allows her to be versatile on location shoots

       You remember Atkinson (Silver Circle, 1986). The longtime primary anchor at KCRA who made the station's "Where the News Comes First" a household phrase during his tenure there from the 1970s to the 1990s. Later finishing his illustrious career at cross-town rival KOVR in the 1990s (he also worked in the Bay Area, at KTVU, in the early 1970s), Atkinson is considered by many to be the dean of Sacramento television news.

      "I knew it was a male-dominated workforce, but I was determined to break in," Mitchell says. "I was determined to change the landscaping and change the culture. I wanted to make change. Being an anchor or a reporter wasn't appealing to me. That's why I felt that being a writer would allow me one day to be a producer."

      Within two years, she was producing the news at KCRA.

      And from then, and right through the 1980s, Mitchell was KCRA's prolific and ever-capable producer.

      But, you'll recall she put her grad school studies on hold to work at Sacramento's NBC station. While working full-time, Mitchell eventually returned to finish her grad work. Nine years after joining KCRA, she received her Master's degree in communication studies. The year was 1984.

      Always independent-minded, Mitchell took advantage of her good fortune at KCRA to buy a small house for herself. "I was always progressively thinking, and I always wanted to be a homeowner," she says. "I worked and I went to school. I was someone with goals, and I wanted to accomplish them. Not just for me, but as an example of an independent woman."

A fourth Emmy win for Mitchell

    Throughout the 1980s, Mitchell did it all at KCRA.

     "No job was beneath me," she says. "It was always about teamwork. KCRA is where I was taught that TV is a team sport. I need to be there to work with others, and I needed others to work with me. I did what I needed to do to get the product on the air.".

      But, as some producers in the business may attest, Mitchell admits that producing newscasts for a long time took its toll. It can take away a newsperson's "freshness", she says.

      In 1988, after 13 years at the station, Mitchell decided it was time for a change, and she left KCRA. To this day, the station holds a very special place in her heart.

     "KCRA was home. My friends today are many of the people I worked with at KCRA," Mitchell says.

     Once she left the station, Mitchell vowed never to be a fulltime news producer again.

      In the late 1980s, she had a baby, becoming a single mother to son, Jameson.

      She also began teaching television writing at Sacramento State.

      But, a year later, KOVR hired her to be a special projects producer. It was a very busy time, Mitchell says, between being a mother and working at KOVR.

      Mitchell remained at the CBS station for 10 years until 2000, when she decided it was time to leave TV news fulltime.

      For her, it was just time.

      But, not one to rest on laurels, Mitchell bounced back the following year, forming her own production company, 4U Productions, "TV rebels with a cause", as she puts it. Now in its 14th year, her company specializes in social cause television.

      Among her clients, Mitchell counts the state of California, the California Air Resources Board, and KVIE, the PBS station in Sacramento. Her clientele also includes non-profit organizations, such as Pathway to Prevention, whose focus is on drug addiction among children.

      "Everything I do today is cause-related," she says. "Even with the Air Resources Board. It's about asthma, and the quality of our air. I feel that it is important to do this kind of television. Television is a powerful tool, and I feel it's a responsible thing to give back to the community."

      There is no doubt that Mitchell loves what she does.

      "I love it, otherwise I wouldn't be doing it," she explains. "I have to love it to do it, but it's a lot of work. I have to write grants. I have to find the money to produce the programs that I produce. It's a lot of work. Sometimes, I will work on a project day and night. I rarely take lunch. But, I feel like I'm making a difference in the world.  And so, it's worth it to me."

      Last year, KQED in San Francisco called Mitchell to ask her to produce a live gubernatorial election debate between incumbent Jerry Brown and his challenger, Neil Kashkari. She assembled an entire crew of producers, camerapeople and engineers to pull off the live telecast. It was not an easy feat, but the former KCRA executive producer succeeded.

      The live telecast originated from KVIE in Sacramento, KQED's sister PBS station. 

Mitchell, joined by actress Mariel Hemingway, who served as host of A Choice to Heal -- Mental Health in California

      Last May, a television project near and dear to Mitchell's heart aired on four CBS stations in California. A Choice to Heal - Mental Health in California, was produced by Mitchell and hosted by actress Mariel Hemingway. Hemingway is a mental health advocate. Her famous grandfather, Ernest Hemingway, and her actress-sister, Margaux Hemingway, are among seven relatives who committed suicide. The documentary, which aired on CBS stations in Sacramento, San Francisco, Fresno and Los Angeles on May 31, focused on the prevention and early intervention of mental illness, an approach that is at the forefront of changing and improving the nation's mental health care system.

      The documentary aired during Mental Health Awareness Month.

      Mitchell knows that everyone has a story to tell.

      "Once you start meeting people, and if you see them sick, or dying, there's no turning back," she says. I'm just very involved with the cause. I care too much."

      It is an understatement to say that Mitchell is well-accomplished in her four decades in television. For someone who was encouraged by her grandfather to enter a Sacramento beauty pageant in her teens, it hasn't been a lackluster, ordinary career for Miss Perfect Type (newspaper jargon; it's the pageant title she won).

      Mitchell, who has an identical twin sister, Janice Mitchell, enjoys life in Carmichael with her husband, Dr. Eric Reininga, a psychologist, and their son, Jameson.

      When not working on a television project, Mitchell finds solace in painting and her love of art. She paints in oils, and is self-taught. She sells her paintings, and the proceeds are directed to her non-profit charitable organization, the Capitol City Aids Fund, which she co-created in 1997.

      To relax, she also enjoys cycling, long-distance cycling, working on her non-profit charity and playing Scrabble.

      That is Mitchell's world.

      When it comes to her life's work - telling stories for television - she says this.

      "Everyone has a story to tell. We just have to figure out the right way to tell it. The world is a really fascinating place."

     Reporters in newsrooms across the country generally have the same reaction to PR people. They work on the "dark side". They get holidays and weekends off. They never answer their phones. 

     Be it jealousy, or be it frustration, we've all dealt with that one communications "expert" who is anything but.

Zara Arboleda From TV News to Hospital PR

      Zara Arboleda used to be one of us. After 20 years in the business, it's fair to say she's done it all. Assignment desk, one-man-band reporting, general assignment reporting, investigating, anchoring. She's worked all shifts and all hours. But then one day, Valley Children's Hospital called. It was her post-television dream job and she felt she had to jump at the opportunity. 

     She's now the hospital's public relations manager and feels she still can't get away from news, or television.

     First, as far as television is concerned, Arboleda remains a Governor, serving Fresno, on the Board of Governors of the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. 

     Then, there's news. 

     There have been a number of big stories: a controversial fight between the hospital and the Central Valley's largest group of physicians. Arboleda was right in the middle, on television again; this time speaking on behalf of the hospital.

     She says it's a slower pace, the deadlines are longer, but -- and we'll all gasp at this -- she can take vacation in February, May, or November. 

     The nerve.

     There are some similarities. She calls Valley Children's Hospital her "beat". She works to track

All's Well in Hospital PR Zara Arboleda, at Valley Children's Hospital, with hospital mascot, Geo

down the stories that would be of interest to media, she coordinates interviews, and handles interviews herself.

     When asked what she misses the most, Arboleda says it's the people. And the ability to make split-second decisions. It takes a long time to get approval in the corporate world. I asked if she'll ever come back to our side of the world. Her straight answer? "Nope.  I was ready to move on from TV news. I love my job. I love that I feel like what I do has "meaning" again. When I pull up to the hospital, I feel happy. I needed that recharge. I have no intention of going back."

    When Arboleda watched election night coverage two months ago, she briefly missed her old job. But she quickly forgot about it in the excitement, joy and amazement of going to bed on time. And realizing that she'd have Thanksgiving AND Black Friday off. And Christmas, and New Year's, and Easter and Fourth of July.

    Stephanie Stone, a Governor representing Fresno on the Board of Governors of the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, is an anchor and reporter at KSEE in Fresno. 

How to Bounce Back from a Binge

        The holiday feasting is finally behind us. Since Thanksgiving seemed to roll right into Christmas this year, perhaps it was especially challenging for you to control your eating and manage your weight. If you consumed more calories than you expended, you may be starting the new year with a wider waistline and a guilty conscience. Well, don't fret because here are 10 humane ways to get back on track.

1. DON'T beat yourself up for "being bad". Avoid dwelling on having gone back for seconds (or thirds) and/or indulging in Aunt Clara's irresistible tray of homemade cookies. Beating yourself up because you "went off your diet" will only bring on feelings of failure.

2. DON'T starve yourself or overly restrict your calories to "make up for being bad".

3. DON'T vow to "go on a diet" and here's why...  

• Diets can make you fat. They can be counterproductive. Diets are associated with the Three D's: Deprivation, Defeat and Depression. These emotions can trigger a cycle of compulsive overeating, obsessions, and emotional eating binges.
• Most diets focus on weight (that is, chasing that elusive number on the scale) and not on how you feel.
• Diets are things you're driven to get on, but can't wait to get off. Your eating plan needs to be something you can follow and enjoy for a lifetime.
• Routine dieters usually start diets on Mondays or at the beginning of a new year and consequently, eat uncontrolled portions of their favorite "fattening foods" until they finally begin their diet. This behavior often results in having even more fat to lose.

4. DON'T punish yourself with a workout. Workouts should reinforce positive feelings, i.e., increased energy and greater psychological well-being, not negative ones.

5. DON'T skip meals to compensate for the excesses. Limiting meals and snacks will set you up for overeating at the next opportunity and start the cycle of starving and binging all over again. Stop recollecting what you ate with regret and try to follow the 3-2-1 principle: 3 meals, 2 snacks and 1 round of exercise per day.

6. DO eat mindfully the next time you eat. Stay in the present. Eating mindfully means you will:

• Stop eating when distracted by the TV, computer, phone, etc.
• Chew more
• Notice the different colors of food on your plate
• Eat only when physically hungry
• Eat with chopsticks or smaller utensils
• Stop eating when full

7. DO focus on fiber when you eat your next meal or snack. Strive for 40 grams of fiber from natural plant-based foods and not from something that comes with a wrapper (e.g., a fiber bar) or a lid (a powdered fiber laxative). The objective is to "eat real food" -- the essence of today's nutrition message. Nutrition has come full circle, from field to table, TV dinners, instant breakfasts, and now back to whole food that's as close as possible to the way nature made it.

By eating real food that's high in fiber, you'll naturally eat more fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds, and legumes (beans, lentils, peas, and peanuts) which are nutrient-dense and contribute to healthy weight loss and increased levels of energy.

8. DO drink more water. You use up to two pitchers of water everyday just to keep your body functioning. When you find yourself rummaging through the pantry or fridge for something to eat, but can't quite put your finger on what you want, your body may just need water. Thirst is often confused with hunger. So, relax with a soothing cup of hot tea or refreshing glass of water before taking your next bite.

9. DO differentiate between emotional hunger and physical hunger. Holiday time is an emotional time. While food fuels your muscles, it also feeds your feelings. When eating is triggered by an emotion rather than physiological hunger, it's known as 'emotional' eating, and it comes at a cost to your health if you don't control it.

The solution to emotional eating is to first recognize it as well as identify a pattern. The next time you have the urge to binge:

• Stop and ask yourself if you're physically hungry. Then rate your level of hunger on a scale of 1-10 (with 10 being ravenous and 1 being barely hungry).
• Next, rate your mood. For example, are you happy, sad, lonely, bored, and/or stressed? Then note what food you're craving. This exercise will help you identify whether your need to eat is emotional or physiological and which emotions are associated with particular foods. When you eat to satisfy an emotional need, you're more likely to binge eat, that is, to continue eating past the point of being full.

10. DO move your body. Exercise and physical activity strengthen your muscles. A loss of muscle mass slows your metabolism and ultimately, the ability and rate at which you lose weight. The goal in losing weight is to lose fat, not muscle. ♥ Remember, your heart needs strong muscles. Extreme caloric restriction and crash-dieting can diminish heart function. Muscle is active tissue and burns more calories, even while you're at rest. To maintain and build muscles, they have to be used and need proper nutrition especially when you pull back on calories.

       Karen's Fit Tip: At the end of each day, ask yourself what you did to get you closer to your goal and acknowledge that achievement -- no matter how small. These are the kinds of thoughts that will propel you forward and sustain motivation.

       Karen Owoc, a former Governor of the San Francisco/Northern California Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, is a Cardiac Rehabilitation Clinical Exercise Physiologist. She is the host/producer of "The Health Reporter Minute" and "The Health Reporter" television show.

        The National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has promoted David Winn to Senior Vice President News and Documentary Emmy� Awards.  Winn has been serving as the Director of News & Documentary Awards since 2004.

       "We are pleased to acknowledge the high-level of leadership and vision that David Winn has brought to the organization," says Bob Mauro, NATAS President. "His knowledge, skill and management of the News & Documentary Emmy Awards has raised the bar of one of our most important competitions and fostered its growth and prominence throughout the television news industry."

       Winn has risen from Manager to Director and now Senior Vice President, of the News and Documentary Emmy Awards, a premier national broadcast journalism competition that recognizes excellence in television news and documentary filmmaking. Winn directs all aspects of the competition-from the writing of the rules through the processing and judging of over 1,600 entries each year, to the staging of an annual award ceremony attended by the national broadcast journalism and documentary filmmaking community.