Q: As a young girl did you already know what you wanted to be or do in life?
A: I remember as a young girl I got a red typewriter for Christmas and wrote everything with it. So I knew as a young girl I wanted to be a writer.
Q: Who Influenced your career goals?
A: My grandmother most importantly, she always told me I was going to be something in life as a young girl.
Q: Did you ever look into the people who inspired you bios & see what steps they took in life to be where they are at now?
A: I was constantly looking people up, anyone who remotely interested me. This was before the Internet so I would have to go to the library, and I made a list of people that I had to get a book about or read up on. We had magazines in my house like Ebony and Jet. It was a great place to get information on all these people. The ability to work in the environments especially The Cosby show, where living legends and people came through from Miles Davis to Marian Anderson. They were the people I read about and saw on TV. They would look at me and ask what do you do here? They where so proud to see that mirror reflection, of someone young. Mr.Crosby was excited to introduce us. He would say," Yeah, Tell em what you do". It was a great and wonderful opportunity to meet my heroes and she-ros growing up.
Q: How did you get started in the field?
A: I was a student at Columbia and in my second year I actually stared working in the industry. I worked for pretty much every station here at some capacity as a intern or just a PA. I was a good talker and always prepared. I always made sure my work was done because the instructors here were in the industry, and I knew that was big leg up. I knew that if I proved myself to be comp ant, well reverse, and capable in the classroom, I had a potential recommendation from that person. So I was always recommended by instructors and it usually panned out into a job. I had full time classes and full time job but anything that I could do with my hours left I did in pursuit of my career.
Q: Having a B.A. in Television & Radio open a lot of doors in the media entertainment industry?
A: It did for me, I think just being prepared that moment I saw my life played out as if I was in a constant classroom environment. A big part of my life was that my parents involvement in the civil rights. It was critical so I took it as a serious mantra for myself , and “I will march for others, till they can march for themselves. “ was my families legacy. So I was hard to have that mindset as a child then come to Columbia and not do anything about it.
Q: Television & Radio go hand in hand in the industry?
A: I think all media go hand and hand. We are living in a multimedia platform society so if you can get your self together to not just do one thing, to do many things. There are many more options now because media is so much more expansive. If you study, do your homework, and really listen to all the wisdom that is here you have the potential to take those things forward with you and utilize them in a way. It gets you ready for the future and makes you competitive as well.
Q: Would it be best to study in Both Radio & Television?
A: I think that it is important to log on to the things that your are passionate about. I think you need to ask questions to yourself as far as why a personality verses a journalist. If you are someone who is really interested in controlling your destiny, do you really wanna control based on somebody deciding if they see you as pretty or if your hair is the right hairstyle.?Do you really want to be judge based on those things or do you wanna have tangible skills that can take you in any arena. Get those other studies that interest you to straightens your foundation so you would be stuck in that pigeon hole.
Q: Does the industry run off on networking and getting to know the right people?
A: You have to be prepared for the opportunity so you can network all you want but if you don’t have your act together, you don’t have the skill set, or the determination and drive then it does not matter how many people you meet. If you have that 30 seconds down where you can collapse what you are about and say this is what I am interested in and you grab their attention. They might see that you may have the potential to be the person that can do that job and that opens up a door. You have to be prepared for the moment you can always network but you have to be prepared for the moment.
Q: What are the steps that I can follow to be a successful black woman in the industry?
A: Do the work and get to know as many people as you can and make sure when they get to see you they see you at your best. When I mean your best they see you doing what you say you do. No excuses.
Q: Is Columbia the right school?
A: I don’t know…(Ms.Roper laughs)
