Image by FIU, courtesy of Creative Commons
Written by Camila Fernandez/BBC Managing Editor
Still today, men continue to dominate the media industry. Despite challenges, women journalists too are advancing and playing important roles in the field.
To demonstrate their growing influence, the Lillian Lodge Kopenhaver Center for Advancement of Women in Communication will host a webinar with guest speaker NBC News Vice President of News Partnerships, Dianne Festa.
As part of a monthly leadership series, the center aims to motivate and provide students, particularly women, with tools to become transformational leaders in communications. Last month, the center invited News Local 10 reporter Glenna Milberg and Don Silver, chief operating officer at a marketing and public relations firm to discuss the impact of social media.
“We want to give [women] the ability to be empowered,” said Lillian Kopenhaver in a previous interview with Student Media. “To tell them the kind of things they need to be able to do so that they become the leaders in mass communications in the years to come,” she said.
A Class of 1983 FIU Alumna, Festa graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism. Soon after, she worked as NBC Miami bureau coordinator and covered the Grenada invasion and civil war in El Salvador and Nicaragua.
For 30 years, Festa has worked with NBC News covering four presidential summits and during the early ‘90s the First Chechen War, a hostility between Russia and the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. She has earned an Emmy award nomination in 1993 for her coverage in Moscow, Russia during a parliament revolt.
Around that time, Festa was also the Weekend News Manager. She was responsible for coordinating worldwide news coverage for NBC News. She has also served as the acting bureau chief in Amman, Jordan during the Persian Gulf War.
According to Sigal Segev, associate director at the LLK Center, the leadership series provides valuable insight for students from those who have climbed the ladder in their prospective careers.
Segev said that journalism students and all other communications majors can learn much about their fields of interest, especially since they are similar to each other in the media industry.
“They are different angles, [yet] they share many aspects. It is relevant to any student that seeks a career no matter what discipline they choose in the end,” Segev said. “[Students] can learn from a leader in their field that achieved a lot in their career.”
Recently, as Vice President of the News Partnerships team, Festa has leveraged the department’s relationship with its affiliated stations. She has also increased local participation on NBC News projects and prime stories such as the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina.
The webinar will be held live at the center, but for those who are unable to come can also join the discussion through its website link. There will be a moderator and students can ask Festa questions directly online.
Israel Enriquez, a senior recreation sports manager major, agrees that women continue to triumph in the journalism field. Interested in sports news broadcasting, Enriquez said there continue to be more female sports reporters.
He also said students can learn from leaders like Festa who have a can-do attitude.
“She’s probably worked hard to get where she’s at, so I think what they can learn from that is to not give up on your dreams and keep fighting for it,” said Enriquez. “Women are on the rise.”
The webinar will take place Tuesday, Feb. 10 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. at the Biscayne Bay Campus in the Academic 2 Building room 252. Participants can also use the link: https://connect.fiu.edu/kopenhavercenter to view the webinar in real-time. Admission is free.
camila.fernandez@fiusm.com
About Post Author
