Wiley Henry, a portrait artist, photographer and former newspaper editor, went through a period of unemployment until he landed a senior account services specialist/writer job.   

Q: Was your faith tested [during your unemployment]?
A: Oh yes, definitely tested. I stayed on bended knees hoping and praying that the Lord would open a door for me. And He did. And it was definitely a faith-tester ... . Every time I thought I was getting close to landing a job, it failed.  It didn’t come through.





And also, just when unemployment [benefits] were about to run out, that’s when I got the call from Deidre [Malone, who hired him to work for her firm, Memphis-based The Carter Malone Group LLC]. I had about a month left [of unemployment benefits].  That’s God... .  

We are taught in church that God is an on-time God [and] that He was will be there when you least expect Him to be. I’m a living witness that He will be right there.

Henry is reachable at wileyhenry@earthlink.net.

Deidre Malone runs her own PR firm, The Carter Malone Group LLC, based in Memphis, Tennessee. She hired Wiley Henry to help her firm's clients.


Q: What advice do you have for journalists who may be considering PR?
A:  Seek a mentor.
When you are a
journalist sometimes you have
an affinity to not want to deal
with public relations professionals. This is an awesome career to have … .

A great deal of what we do is strategic communications. I recommend they seek out small PR firms that may need assistance like Wiley ... . You can learn to pitch and put together a communications strategy. That’s something you can learn.

Her firm is reachable at http://www.thecartermalonegroup.com/.

During my Feb. 19, 2011 visit to the Newseum in Washington, DC, I met Belva Davis, the first black female TV journalist in the western United States. Ms. Davis was promoting her memoir “Never in My Wildest Dreams: A Black Woman’s Life in Journalism,” which was written with veteran journalist and editor Vicki Haddock.  The Newseum is a breath-taking interactive museum of news. I happened to fortuitously hear the announcement that Ms. Davis would be taping a television interview in the Knight Studios at the Newseum that afternoon.

“Never in My wildest Dreams” chronicles the rugged path she endured en route to achieving her journalistic milestone. The book describes some of the hardships and indignities she endured, such as when she and then-KDIA news director Louis Freeman, also an African-American, were driven from the 1964 Republican national convention by a group of attendees hurling racial epithets.
    
Ms. Davis is married to veteran photojournalist, William Moore, whom I also had the pleasure of meeting during the book signing at the Newseum, a double treat.

While reading her book, I was struck by the fact that I never heard of her in any of my collegiate journalism studies.  If I hadn’t been in Washington, DC that February day, I would have missed meeting two American journalism pioneers. I just hope our textbooks are being updated to acknowledge their contributions to journalism and American history.

Thanks for all your hard work and fortitude!

Check out these links:

Belva Davis's website: http://www.belvadavis.com/

The Newseum, Washington, DC: http://www.newseum.org/index.html 

National Association of Black Journalists's Hall of Fame (2008), http://www.nabj.org/?page=HallOfFame

Hello New Year and greetings to the online community. I'm excited to join the ranks of bloggers everywhere. This blog will cover various topics such as digital media, video, audio, writing, journalism  along with ex-journalists and a host of other interesting tidbits.
I'm an avid reader too sometime I will share my thoughts about books I have read or am reading.

Now, on to the main event. Almost a year ago, I recorded a resume videotape and posted it on Youtube. It's time to bring it home to my blog and talk about the process of planning, scripting and posting a resume video.

First, I reached out to a good friend who is a videographer. He  had access to a great studio. He generously donated everything so I had no out-of-pocket expenses. Thank you!!

 My goals were to transfer my broadcast background to Youtube and to see what happened. That was it. I thought through the short script, which I initially wrote on index cards, then I memorized it by practicing aloud.

I had a lot of fun recording this -- we did it in two takes as I recall.