Media Professional Interview: Hollani Davis

By Maddie Abram
November 8, 2008 

Hollani Davis, a WDBJ anchor and reporter, is pursuing her dream job in the media. One, which she knew she was meant for, and has wanted to do since seventh-grade.

Davis is a proud graduate of Hampton University. Aside from WDBJ she is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and the National Association of Black Journalists.

After starting her broadcasting career in the Southwest she is happy to be working on the East Coast.

Q: What made you want to go to Hampton University because it was so far away from your home in New Mexico?

Davis: As a kid I was exposed to a lot of things. I was able to travel a lot; my parents always made sure my sister and I were very exposed. I remember first off traveling to the East Coast and thinking I wanted to live somewhere on the East Coast because it's so different from the Southwest, that's what brought me to the East Coast. I grew up in Las Cruces, N.M., which is heavily Hispanic. I did not have a lot of access to people who looked like me, African Americans. It was really important for me to go to a historically black college and Hampton really fit the bill for me. It was perfect; it wasn't too big or too small. It had a really great journalism program and I just felt comfortable there. It was like love at first sight for me.

Q: Your major was Communication, what did you prepare for in high school and college to get on the media track?

Davis: In high school we had this little newscast and did it once a week. We swore we were so great, and I remember anchoring and reporting for that. When I got to college it's very rigorous, you are turning stories weekly. But you also have to go out every summer and do a real-life internship. Not an internship where you are listening to scanners but one where you're responsible for going out and coming back with a great tape of your own work, not other reporters work. I did an internship pretty much every summer; it was the best learning opportunity for me. School was great, but being out there in the field with reporters and photographers every day. Not even being in the business yet gave me a chance to cut my teeth and get a sense of the business. Had it not been for those internships I would not have gotten into the business as quickly as I had. I did so many, not everyone does this to get out in the business, and it's tough.

Q: What was your first job?

Davis: For my first paid job I was a weekend reporter in Abilene, Texas, which is an hour and a half outside of Dallas. It was kind of the pick of the litter, but such a great experience. When you're the weekend reporter, your responsible for turning a lot more stories, because there's only one reporter on the weekends. This gets you faster, more creative, and really good at multi-tasking. It was a great experience.

Q: What is your schedule like on a daily basis?

Davis: So inconsistent: today I will go to work at 5 p.m. there is no 6 p.m. news because of football. Go to work and see where I need to go and get out there and cover it. Or maybe I'll sit down at my desk with the producer and write some stories. I won't hit air until 11 p.m. You don't really have that much to do on the weekends unless something crazy happens then it's all hands on deck. Some weekends are fast pace; then again we live in Roanoke, Va. Sometimes there's news sometimes there's not. It could be a matter of reporting and me walking in the door, no lunch, and not getting back at my desk until that evening. Or some days you can hear the flies buzzing over my head, bored where you sit at your desk all day without finding a story. It all depends on what's going on.

Q: I'm from Alexandria, how is it different there from here in Roanoke?

Davis: There are lots of stories in places like that. Some reporters love it because you have crime, not that it's a good thing, but it brings a story everyday. When you live in the smaller areas you have to enterprise a lot more, but sometimes there's just nothing to enterprise about.

Q:  Do you like working in a smaller area, or would you prefer to work in a bigger area like that someday?

Davis: I would like working in a bigger area. I don't know if it would be Washington, D.C. Although eventually it's not about if you love your job but it gets to be about the quality of life. I'm not one to sit in two hours of traffic every day; I just don't want to do it. You have to weigh the pros and the cons. This is a nice size for me, I will probably advance a couple more markets, but will I ever do a Washington, D.C. Atlanta, or Chicago, I don't know.  It starts to become about a quality of life. Eventually you want to start thinking about a family and everything like that. We'll see, I'm really open and that's the best thing about being in this business you have to be open. You don't know on a day-to-day or month-to-month basis what you're going to be doing. It's great to be open. Yes, you have to be focused but if you're too focused it may hinder you in some way. You can always say hey I would love to move there, but what if there isn't a job open there? You have to be willing to go with the flow. Roanoke is kind of the best of both worlds. We do have great journalism and opportunities here, and there are opportunities for us to travel and do stories. We traveled to Washington, D.C. for the election; we've been to Raleigh. Roanoke is a hub where you have the ability to go to a lot of places.

Q: How did you know you wanted to pursue your career in the media? Was there someone who you looked up to and wanted to be like?

Davis: I Wish I had some great story but I don't. My parents took me to Atlanta when I was in the seventh-grade. We went there for vacation and we happened to go into CNN headquarters and I just knew. That's what I wanted to do. I've had that premonition since seventh-grade, and I don't think that's the most elaborate story but I just knew it was what I wanted and was passionate about it.

Q: Do you have any suggestions for students wanting to get into broadcast, specifically those wanting to anchor and report?

Davis: The main thing I have to say, and this because I've seen this happen at Channel 7, is we take probably three to five interns every single quarter. It amazes me how some people wait until their senior year or until they graduate to do their first internship. This is amazing to me because you can't learn everything in three months. They say they really want to do this, but where have you been your sophomore year or junior year, since many people can't do it freshman year. Yes, you may have to give up your summer, but if you really want it, then you have to give it your time. I started early and by doing so, I positioned myself to get a job when the time was right. My best advice would be to start early. You also should be open-minded. Your first job may have you go to Piddlededoo, Wyo., but that's where you have got to go. Even in Roanoke, it's not a huge market but it's bigger. You have to start from the ground up and build to the bigger places. I recently talked to some of the people who I did my first job with. We all agreed that it was the best experience of all of our lives. It was almost like college again; you're broke and trying to succeed, that's where you make the memories. You need to be willing to go anywhere and you can't expect to be on camera right away. You don't get to anchor before you report you've got to prove yourself first.

Q: Did you start behind the scenes?

Davis: I started as a reporter and I did produce. I was a reporter/producer. However, I think a lot of that had to do with having so many internships where I was behind the scenes. Because of that I was a little more capable. I was willing to do anything. Producing made me a better and faster writer. If you cant write, you can't do the basis of the business. I was okay with being a producer, a lot of people aren't. If you are well rounded you can do anything in the business.

Q: What is the most challenging part of your job?

Davis: Just the everyday reporting. This goes back to how we live in Roanoke, Va. There's not always news. Even though I have contacts and I do have a beat its just pulling something out that the public wants to know. Something that they can relate to, and that gets to be hard. You are expected to do something everyday and you have a deadline at 5 or 6 p.m. and that gets kind of tough. Compared to Alexandria where there is news all the time. I have talked to my friends who live in areas like that and its much easier for them, I sometimes think, well what am I going to do on Tuesday.

Q: What is the most rewarding part of your job?

Davis: There are so many rewarding parts to my job. I think it's just the satisfaction of, for me, doing what I've always wanted. Everything about it is rewarding, especially when you have a good day, when you help someone, or have a story that solves a problem. Once I had a story to do on a missing child, and it turned out she ran away. But when she came home and that story had a happy ending, it felt great. It's a wonderful satisfaction to be people's eyes and ears it's really nice.

Q: What impact do you hope for your work to have on others? Would you like to leave some type of legacy?

Davis: It's really early on in my career to be thinking about leaving a legacy. However, I hope wherever I go that people will say she's trustworthy and she's accurate. My biggest concern right now is getting the story right and delivering responsible news. Down the road I think I may want to change that legacy. But as you grow you tend to want more, for right now that's my focus It's a great feeling when you bust your but all day and beat the competition.

Q: Is there anything that you would like to change in the media?

Davis: I think that the jobs, even since I've been in the business, are not so much about story content anymore. Stories used to be 5 minutes long, then they were 3 minutes, now at the end of the day I have a minute and a half. There aren't too many facts that you can put into a minute and a half.  But because people are so on the go, they just want you to tell them what's important and be done with it. I wish we could be more content-based and we weren't going so Hollywood. Channel 7 isn't there yet, but we do have to throw in quick stories about Angelina Jolie but that's not news. I love just as much as the next person flipping through all of the entertainment and gossip magazines; but that's not what 6 o'clock news is. It's talking about local, state, national, even worldly things that are affecting your community and I don't think Angelina Jolie, and I'm talking about a lot of movie stars, have a lot to do with that. At times that's what the viewing audience wants to hear. It's hard striking that balance because if we don't give them what they want they'll go somewhere else, that's your job.

Q:  What is the biggest difference between anchoring here at Channel 7 and in Texas at KTXS-TV? 

Davis: You have different atmospheres and different stories, but you don't. No matter where you go you'll have house fires and car wrecks, just to name those sensational stories. We always say same call letters, different shop. Whether you're at KTXS, WDBJ, or WSLS they're different call letters but it's really the same stuff. The biggest difference, I think DBJ has a legacy of its own. You work with more journalists in this shop that have been there for so long. They're a wealth of knowledge, just to name one Keith Humphry. He's such a great guy and a great journalist. It's so nice to be able to work with him because he's older and I can learn from him. Then they're people my age and younger and you get to learn from them as well. You get the best of both worlds, you're always learning. If you're in this business and you stop learning you need to get out. It's a day-to-day learning process.

Q: What are some of the awards you received from the Texas Association of Broadcasters?

Davis: I received five; the three I remember are Best Hard News Story, Spot News, and Creative Story. Since I've been in Virginia I haven't entered into any competitions but I need to. I also received Person of the Year from the NAACP. There are different groups that recognize you, but those are the main professional ones that I received.

Q: What do you do with the National Association of Black Journalists?

Davis: It's a network group and that's its primary purpose. They also make sure there is diversity in newsrooms. Not just African Americans but other ethnicities. They do it to make sure people are seeing themselves on TV.  I'm just a member of that and for me it's just a network group.

Q: How do you like reading off of the teleprompter? 

Davis: It's not hard at all. You tend to forget about it after a while. People think it's hard but it's not. Nerves are a part of the job. I get nervous right before we go live, but to me that's what keeps you alive. Once those nerves go away you maybe need to find something else to do. It's adrenaline, that's what it is.

Q: Are you still active with your sorority, Alpha Kappa Alpha? Have you done anything with any of its members to help them pursue a career in the media?

Davis: It's a worldwide organization. Once you leave college you can still be active at graduate level. We meet once a month, but I do community projects every other weekend. It is also a network group. Yes, I am always willing to help, if I have a sister whose daughter wants to work in the media, I tell them to call me. Through networking I try to help people out. This is one of the things I am more active in, the benefits are so rewarding. I do a lot of community service through Alpha Kappa Alpha.

Q: Do you have any advice on what the best actions are to get an internship in the media?

Davis: If you want to be a journalist it's necessary to do the research. It's easiest to go wdbj7.com and you will see a link that's for internship information. It's funny when you get calls because the information is right there if you research it. It will tell you everything you need to know, and who contact. Do the application process, we get constant requests but that's where it comes back to who you know and who have you met. Contact the people you meet that tell you too. Are you persistent? You may not get an email back the first time, because they want to know if you're persistent. The people who tend to get in are the ones who call the boss and follow up. It's same with any job this goes a long way. Once you get them on the phone it's your chance to sell yourself. What is it that sets you apart? It's going to be that persistence.