My high school English teacher had us all bring in mirrors & look at ourselves and write a paper about what we saw in the mirror. When the bell rang, she put on Michael Jackson’s “Man in the Mirror.” She made me want to be a teacher, or so I thought. But, the college math class for that turned me right off that course & I ditched the division for English with a writing emphasis & a minor in Communication. I went from working for the college yearbook to reporting for a small neighborhood paper, while still a college student— covering twin cheerleaders to murder cases & also interned at the local city paper. There were jobs at KFC, Pizza Hut & Ruby Tuesday’s all in between, as well-- then after graduation, I applied at a local television station in Norfolk, Virginia. To this day, I wonder why she hired me & she said: Because you put yourself through school. So, I bartended nights, went home to sleep for a couple hours & headed into help produce & run the teleprompter for the weekend morning show. And, I was in heaven. I made the move to a bigger market, but the nickname “Content Queen” stuck with me & I wore that tiara well. I had to. I didn’t really have a choice. In St. Louis, I was the supervising producer of a live 6-hour show, 5 days a week and constantly on the lookout for relevant, relatable content. A public relations person once joked I was the most famous person in St. Louis television who wasn’t on television. I helped take the last place morning show to the #1 morning show in St. Louis, beating CBS, NBC & ABC’s national morning news shows– combined. Our show called for 15 segments a day, 75 segments a week. Whether that called for getting a bull to the tv station (yea, did it) or putting a camel in the newsroom (yep, that happened, too) or booking an entire realm of guests and personalities that included Kevin Hart, Hulk Hogan to Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. It takes a team to put together a newscast. It can’t be done with just one person. There are assignment editors, photographers, reporters, engineers & then there are the producers. But, many people don’t realize what a producer’s role is. They are the gatekeepers. They are the connectors. They are the decision makers. They are the writers & the copy editors. They are the ringleaders. They are the puzzle masters. They are the creatives. They are deadline driven. They are content driven. They are the storytellers. When I left my TV job, another public relations person said to me: I always thought of you as Oz behind the curtain and I know this: There’s no place like home. Content is my home. All the years spent producing television have now prepared me for this new digital age, where you no longer need permission from a TV producer to tell your story. You can tell it. Whether it’s in a three-minute Facebook video or a :15 Instagram Story. The opportunity is there. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter are the new CBS, NBC & ABC. They are your channels. You deserve to be there. You have a story to share. Share it. Your story is your most valuable asset. It’s what separates you from everyone else. There is R-O-I in Y-O-U.