Show Notes

• Waking up at 2:00am – for almost 30 years!
• The origin of Rhonda’s servant heart
• Where have all the local newscasters gone?
• Is the old adage true, “if it bleeds it leads”?
• About the Rhonda Walker Foundation
• The people who shaped her
• What Rhonda does that sets her apart from other news anchors

Connect With Rhonda Walker

✩ Website – https://www.clickondetroit.com 

✩ Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/rhondawalkertv

✩ Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/rhondawalker

Connect With Rhonda Walker Foundation

✩ Website – https://www.rhondawalkerfoundation.org 

✩ Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/rhondawalkerfoundation

✩ Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/rhondawalkerfoundation

✩ LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/company/rhonda-walker-foundation

Summary

Rhonda Walker is an award-winning journalist, philanthropist, and trusted Detroit news anchor. She co-anchors the weekday morning and noon newscasts at WDIV-Local 4 News, a role she has held since 2003. Rhonda is also the founder and president of the Rhonda Walker Foundation. Rhonda shares how she stays positive despite the difficult news she’s required to report, and what drives her to make a positive impact in her community – and in the world.

Full Transcript

Brian  

Welcome to another episode of LifeExcellence with Brian Bartes. Join me as I talk with amazing athletes, entrepreneurs, authors, entertainers and others who have achieved excellence in their chosen field, so you can learn their tools, techniques and strategies for improving performance and achieving greater success. Rhonda Walker has been helping Detroiters get motivated and ready for the day with her incredible energy, enthusiasm, impeccable style and passion for her hometown for the past 27 years. An award winning journalist and confessed morning person, she co-anchors the weekday morning and noon telecasts at WDIV Local 4 News, a role she has held since 2003. Known for her thoughtful interviews and human centered storytelling, Rhonda connects with everyone from national leaders to families facing everyday challenges. Beyond the anchor desk, Rhonda is a dedicated philanthropist and community leader, supporting dozens of charitable initiatives each year. She has received more than 50 honors for community service, leadership, mentoring and media excellence, including national recognition, such as the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Point of Light Award. Rhonda is also the founder and president of the Rhonda Walker Foundation, which was formed in 2003. Its flagship Girls into Women mentoring program boasts a one hundred percent high school graduation and college enrollment rate, with a 95% college graduation rate. I’m so excited for this conversation, and it’s truly an honor to have her on the show. Welcome Rhonda, and thanks for joining us on LifeExcellence.

Rhonda  

Wow, thank you for that incredible introduction. It’s great to be here.

Brian  

Well, it’s great to have you. Rhonda, you’ve been a trusted voice in Detroit for almost three decades. It’s hard to believe it’s been that long.

Rhonda  

Yeah, when you said 27 years, I’m like, wow, yep, the math maps out. [Laughter.] 

Brian  

Time flies. Obviously you’re very well known and recognizable here in southeastern Michigan, and yet I’m not sure everyone, even here in Detroit, knows your story. Tell us a little bit about your background, and especially how you got started way back then in broadcast journalism.

Rhonda  

Well, it takes me all the way back. I was born in Detroit. My family, my parents, lived here when I was young, and then my father, he worked in education. He was a middle school teacher, he taught theater and English. He got a new job in Lansing, where he was the director of adult education for the state. He was commuting from Detroit to Lansing every single day, and it quickly got old for him, so he up and moved our entire family to Lansing. So I grew up there; elementary school in East Lansing, and then we moved over to Lansing Middle school. High school, I graduated from Lansing Eastern, and then I went to Michigan State, where I studied communications, spent four years there. A lot of my upbringing was very focused on community service and a lot of outreach that we did as a family. We always supported homeless families and people in need, and my dad did a lot of mentoring. My mom is a registered nurse and a social worker, so a lot of our life was about helping others. On the education side – certainly with my dad – it was about the importance of education and trying to encourage our friends and our network about the importance of going to college. For me in high school, I would describe myself as a leader. I was a cheerleader, but also just someone that always tried to take on leadership roles, and I did a lot of advocacy for my peers. I was on some boards when I was younger. The Department of Education had a youth board, so I was on that. I was on a sex education organization and board for being a youth voice, for helping young people make good choices. Did a lot of fundraising. We did blood drives and raised money around homecoming for different causes. So I’ve always just been really community minded and love people, love helping people. I think as my life evolved, it just opened more opportunities to see what the needs are in the community and ways that I could use my platform to make a difference.

Brian  

Somehow you ended up at WDIV. If you were like I was – and probably like most people in the beginning of their career – you were probably just trying to get a job and get started in your career and in life, but clearly, things changed for you somewhere along the line. At what point did you realize your role at Local 4 news wasn’t just a job, but was a calling? 

Rhonda  

My first job in television was as a traffic reporter, and that was back in 1998. That was my first job in TV. I quickly realized when you work in television and you have that type of visibility and you build a trust with the viewer, they feel like they know you. So I got a lot of invitations to come and support charities – come and be an emcee for this event or will you do a story on our event? Will you mention it? Can you help us? I realized this platform really gives you an opportunity to help causes that are important to our community, that make a difference in people’s lives, organizations that are doing amazing work and how we can help as a voice in the community on television to really do some great things to help these organizations and their missions. When I was in about my fourth year on my contract at Fox 2 I was a traffic reporter, I was a weather caster, I did feature reporting, and I really wanted to elevate into fully doing news. While people will say, well, weather is news and traffic is news, and feature stories are news, it wasn’t the hard news side; I had a hard time segueing into that at that station. They saw me as the traffic girl and the weather girl and it was difficult to earn that credibility. But little did I know that there was another station just down the Lodge that had been watching me for the last four years and did see a place for me on the news side. In 2003 I was hired to be the morning anchor of the job that I have now at WDIV. It was really a profound moment for me, because I was at the end of my contract at Fox 2. I had an agent. He was shopping my resume tape around, all across the country. I’m getting interview opportunities in Milwaukee and San Francisco and Dallas, Texas and I don’t want to go anywhere. I want to live in Michigan. I’m from Michigan, my family’s here. But that’s this industry, it takes you all over the country. If you meet people that are in broadcast journalism, they’ve worked everywhere. But your goal is always to get back home, especially when you live in such a great town like Detroit. So to have a station that I didn’t even try to get a job with, that watched me, never met me, but saw me, saw my work, saw who I am, and saw my potential – where the station I just spent four years with didn’t – was just a huge moment for me. At that moment I realized there was a greater purpose. I felt like I was so blessed to have this opportunity to be a morning news anchor on the station that I did grow up watching. While I was born here in Detroit and moved to Lansing, we spent a lot of time here as a family. All my extended family was here. Many people may remember Carmen Harlan. She was the main news anchor on WDIV and she was friends with my aunt. They grew up in the same neighborhood and Carmen babysat her kids. I always looked up to her. I always thought, wow, I would love to have a job like hers, and then I got that opportunity. I earned that opportunity. I always felt like WDIV was the most prestigious channel, that it had the most veteran reporters. It was just another level when it came to journalism and news. I felt so blessed to be there that I felt like there was something more I was supposed to do with it, way beyond just showing up at three o’clock in the morning and doing my job. I felt a greater purpose realizing that God blessed me with this opportunity, because it is a relatively rare opportunity. When you look at jobs in broadcast television and a 27 year career on TV in the same city, there are not a lot of people that have those opportunities. And so I just felt so fortunate. I wanted to bless others the way that I felt blessed, to help others realize their dream, to use my story. Just to get into television to begin with, it’s not this easy road, but to be able to share it with others; I really did contemplate how can I make a difference. I had to wait a few months before I started the job on WDIV because of a non-compete clause so I decided I was going to go and speak at middle schools to teen girls, talk to them about believing in yourself, about setting goals, about the importance of the people that you choose to be around and how to choose friends and be around people that bring you joy, who don’t bring you down. It was these conversations I was having at these middle schools with these girls – probably about four or five schools in –  and it just hit me. I walked out of that school and I was drawn to look up in the sky, like, oh, this is what you want me to do with my life. At that moment in February of 2003, that changed my life.

Brian  

Rhonda, I definitely want to hear more about the foundation and all the work you’re doing in the community, but first I have to ask you about your crazy schedule, because that’s one of the things that jumped out at me when prepping for the show. I’m a morning person too. I know you are, but I read that your alarm goes off at 2am. Walk us through your daily schedule, because I’m very curious about what time you have to go to bed to be well rested for a 2am alarm clock.

Rhonda  

Well, a lot of my friends say that they’re amazed at how I function on so little sleep. It’s not something that I’m proud of, but for some reason, I just connected that way and I am able to function on very little sleep. Waking up at 2am, ideally I should go to bed at maybe six o’clock at night, but that’s very difficult with my lifestyle; I would never see my husband. But also we have meetings for my charity. I do a lot of work with other charities and speaking engagements. I find that it’s just a long day, but it’s a good day, I mean, I enjoy that. I get off work at 12:30 or 1:00 in the afternoon. I’m a golfer. In the summer, I can go out and play 18 holes while the sun’s still out. I get a lot in a day, just all the errands that you run. I might be in my work clothes, but I can go to the grocery store, I get my hair done, I get my nails done. I can do everything before five or six o’clock at night. It elongates the day. It does give you a little sleep sacrifice at the end of it – I try to get it when I can. I do try to go to bed at a decent time. I’d say my bedtime, usually I’m down by nine, but I try to get to bed at eight or 7:30 on some days. Some days I accomplish that, other days I’m a little bit sleep deprived, but I’ve found that morning cup of coffee, it still works well.

Brian  

I would think your evening challenge has to be one of the biggest challenges, because you’re so generous with your time. I see you at events and you’re emceeing or you’re speaking in the community, and a lot of those events are at night. That seems to be the challenge from my standpoint. I mean, you can shop whenever and lots of things you can do anytime, but a lot of the events that I see you involved with are in the evening and I see you the next morning at five o’clock on the morning news. I think, wait a minute…

Rhonda  

[Laughter.] That’s what a lot of people say – Oh, I made sure I got up right at 4:30am so I could see if you made it. I’m like, thanks a lot!

Brian  

For a while I thought maybe you had a twin. [Laughter.]

Rhonda  

I have high energy. I love people. I’m selective about the charity events that I host or guest speak at or attend. Usually it’s something I’m really passionate about and it does bring me energy. It gives me that energy boost. Sometimes it’s like, oh my gosh, how am I going to get through, and then the minute I get there and I see people, it’s exciting, and you’re looking forward to doing a good job. If it’s a speaking engagement there’s a sense of really wanting to kill it this time. It pumps you up, it’s an adrenaline rush a lot of the times. Then I’m the first person out of the door when it’s over to try and catch that quick night’s sleep.

Brian  

So high energy and little sleep. I’m going to work on both of those. I did that for a long time. I can’t do that quite as well anymore.

Rhonda  

Yeah, well it does take its toll, I have to say. I’ve slowed down a little bit.

Brian  

Rhonda, as you know, local news has changed considerably during your career. I read something recently that I thought was interesting. I had no idea that the number of local newscasters has significantly decreased, with a study showing a roughly 75% drop in US local journalists since 2002. That surprised me. Again, it’s not something that I’ve thought much about, but what factors have contributed to that decline and what else has changed in local news over the time that you’ve been involved?

Rhonda  

The entire career that I’ve had, I have watched there be less and less human beings in the building from automation:  camera operators and technicians and audio engineers. A lot of things have now become automated where we don’t need a person to do these jobs and so it’s been tough. It takes a toll on local news also, because there are so many ways now that we can get our information. It’s right in your phone every single day, soon as you wake up, wherever you are, and we have to feed that with our website, with our app. It makes it so that some people don’t make that appointment anymore to watch the news in the evening or before they go to bed or as soon as they wake up because they’re just grabbing their phone to get a quick headline. That is our challenge. And because of that it spreads out the advertising dollars, which is how we how we fund our business. Now advertisers have their own media outlets, they have their own media channels, their own YouTube channels, their own podcasts, their own social media people. They’re pumping those advertising dollars and spreading it in many different ways. It’s impacting our industry and the amount of revenue that we’re bringing in so we’ve had to get creative. We have a 24 hour streaming channel that we launched about five years ago, but we’re still in the process of trying to feed that for 24 hours. It’s not like we have the access of a huge network. We still have the same people that are trying to provide all that content 24 hours a day. In fact, as you mentioned, we have less people. We have less people on air, less people behind the scenes as well, but still have to deliver the same amount of news, the same number of hours of news, and the same in-depth content and original content. It’s definitely a unique time in our industry and everybody is navigating that. I think we are going to continue to see large media companies that are gobbling up some of these smaller ones and some of them aren’t going to make it. It’s a downsizing, for sure, but local news is so important that we’re fighting for it. We’re trying to be innovative and keep up with the changing times. I’m really proud of the media company that I work for, Graham Media. We’re kind of an industry leader with a lot of our innovation, we’re in good standing, and so I feel confident about it. But it certainly is a changing time that we’re all trying to navigate together.

Brian  

Speaking of change, it seems like the local news has also faced a lot of criticism in recent years, everything from being too focused on crime or crisis – what’s the adage? “If it bleeds it leads,” – to erosion of credibility and trust, which I think is true for media in general, that’s not just a local news issue. Criticism even; too much traffic and weather and maybe not enough substantive news. Although I do love your weather people and traffic folks in particular. But from your perspective inside the newsroom, what do you think critics get right and where are they off base or maybe a little too harsh?

Rhonda  

Well, I think that you get media in a lot of forms. People are consuming media on their phones, maybe from credible sources, maybe not. There are a lot of commentators, people that may work on networks but are really just giving you their opinions. You can’t lump it all together how you’re consuming news, you kind of have to break it apart. Local news is different than network news. In our newsroom, we have a lot of integrity, a huge responsibility to fact check. We don’t just put anything on the air. It is vetted and confirmed and we work very hard on that. That is a huge part of what we do every single day when we’re making decisions and what news we cover. We’ve spent a lot of time over the years… I mean, if it “bleeds it leads” is really not our philosophy. I know that’s kind of how we were decades ago but that’s not who we are as a station. We’re very much community minded. Being in different communities we have – it isn’t just the city of Detroit or just Wayne, Oakland and Macomb County – we try to spend time covering news and stories throughout all of the counties in our viewing area; it’s very important to us. So the criticism on news and media, we have a huge, high responsibility. We can’t just do as someone calling themselves a news station on Facebook or on Instagram can, sharing pictures and sharing videos and pop things up on the air. We don’t work that way, we have rules and laws. It’s a lot different for local news, that’s the place you go for breaking news and you want facts and information. We know that we’re always a leader in that regard and we just want to maintain that all the time. But certainly in those very important moments of crisis or tragedy, or when you’re really wanting to rely on getting information real time that’s accurate, and it’s from police, it’s from whoever is responsible for what’s happening to provide that information, this is where you will get it from. It comes to us first. So it’s hard when I see and hear and try and tune out the criticism on our industry, because I know how hard I work, how hard my colleagues work, to get things right. It’s very important. It’s what we do and there is a difference. You can’t just lump all media [together]. [People say] well, it was the media and it’s like, okay, where did you hear that? Where did you read that? Who is that? What is that news source? And so it’s an education too, just helping people understand the importance of vetting information. You see people get scammed because they saw something on Instagram and they clicked on it, or they tried a product and that they said it was going to work and it didn’t, and then you have to go back and say, well, let me go to the credible source, let me go to a brand that I know, that I trust. We want to be that for our viewers.

Brian  

You mentioned tragedy, and you report lots of different kinds of news, including things that aren’t particularly pleasant to watch, that I’m sure aren’t particularly pleasant to report on, but you’re reporting the news in the community. Rhonda, you’re one of the most positive, optimistic people I know. I wonder how you maintain that in the midst of having to report difficult news. Not everything you report is difficult or negative, but you are exposed to tragedy and loss, if not on a daily basis, certainly on a weekly basis. I wonder, as a journalist, does that require a certain emotional distancing or separation? How do you do that without becoming completely desensitized? Because I know you’re an emotional person, and so I’m guessing that you feel that emotion and get caught up in those stories, and yet – whether it’s a news anchor or a nurse in the hospital – you can’t become enveloped by that and have that impact you negatively. How do you do that?

Rhonda  

That’s a great question, because I am an emotional person and the things that we cover do affect me. Certainly when it’s tragedy after tragedy after tragedy, it wears on you and it’s difficult. I think that we do have that switch though, where you have that moment and it’s awful, and now we have a job to do. We have a job to inform, to gather more facts and information, to update people as best we can. If there’s still a danger out there, to reassure people. And so you’re relying on, yes, the ability to feel how others feel, but also what information do they need? What do they need to know? How do I reassure? How do I help? How do I inform:  you should be here, go there to meet your kids, don’t go here, watch out for this. So I think you just put on your journalism hat and think about the person that’s watching, the person that’s most affected and impacted by whatever story that you’re doing, and try to be sensitive for them in informing them. I think for me, I do that a lot, where I’m always trying to think who the viewer is, and what that viewer’s perspective is of what I’m telling them, what questions would they have or what do they need to know, and trying to do the best I can to provide that that information. But also that reassurance – because I am an optimist in the midst of everything – no matter how bad it seems, that you can get through it and that you have to keep going. I think I’ve always been very self-motivated, but I try to motivate others and encourage others at the core of who I am. So I think that plays a role in it, too, but it is hard. I mean, you mentioned like a nurse or a doctor or police officer that sees a lot of tragedy, and if you see that ongoing all the time, it can really, really, really take a toll. So I do make sure that I use all my vacation time. I do try to have a social life and spend time with friends and family and get out and do things with my husband. A good outlet for me is golf in the summertime, because you need to have an escape. And so I do try to escape from it. Sometimes on the weekends, on Sundays, I’ve got to hunker down and make sure I’m ready and prepared for the new week and anything that I may have missed, but maybe on a Friday night and a Saturday I’m not watching the news. I get push alerts and breaking news, but I’m not as tuned in as I am Monday through Friday. You have to take breaks and you just have to take care of yourself.

Brian  

Sure. Is there anything that you would change if you could about how news is reported? If you could wave a magic wand and change the news industry to be more different in some way or more impactful, what kinds of stories would you tell?

Rhonda  

It’s interesting, because we do get a chance to tell these stories, but you might see that story one time on one newscast on one day but we may tell you about a crime story every newscast, every day, every time there is an update. So my one little uplifting, inspiring story is going to get lost in all of that, and that’s just the nature of how live news works. If I could make a magic wand, I would want to tell more stories of inspiration, more stories about people doing incredible things, young people that are taking on challenges and helping others, and our innovators great at music and sports and doing incredible things, like things that just uplift people, bring people together. There are a lot of stories that I wish that I could do that. Our streaming channel does actually enable us to do a lot more, and we’re still working on viewership in that regard. But certainly to balance more happy, inspiring, uplifting stories that bring people joy.

Brian  

The optimist is emerging. [Laughter.]

Rhonda  

We’re outnumbered though sometimes. It’s like, well, okay…

Brian  

Probably most of the time. Rhonda, you know I think the world of you and you’re impressive on many levels, and one of the things that I’ve always admired about you is your deep commitment to philanthropy and community service. You talked earlier about the origin of that, and I know you were raised in a household that valued community service, that valued adding value to people and giving back, and I’ve seen you through the years do that in so many ways with so many organizations. You mentioned starting your foundation in 2003. Again, going back to that big year in your life, I shared a couple impressive statistics about the results that you’ve achieved, but tell us more about the mission of the foundation and the impact you’re making in the lives of teen girls in Detroit.

Rhonda  

Thank you. Well, the Rhonda Walker Foundation, as you mentioned, we began in 2003 and the mission is to empower teen girls to realize their greatest potential and to be strong and confident and goal oriented, and to provide resources and exposure and experiences over five years. The girls come in as eighth graders. They stay with us until they graduate from high school. Over that five year period, I feel it can be so comprehensive that you really can have an impact. When I first started speaking at schools I would come in and talk to a class or an assembly for an hour and I quickly realized, how much of a difference am I making in their lives in one hour? They’re going to remember that the lady from TV came to their school but may not remember… I may not have that much of an impact on their life. So when I was developing the Girls into Women Program, it was important to me that I stayed with the girls and that this was a comprehensive, long term commitment to them. That’s why we’re five years. It’s career and personal development, it’s mentoring, health and wellness and fitness and community service. We teach the kids the importance of giving back too and I think that a lot of our kids… Particularly in Detroit Public Schools, it’s an impoverished city, and as much as we think that all things are equal, there’s a huge issue in the city of Detroit with a lot of our kids, in terms of the resources and the access. I always say that if you take any child and you put them in an environment where they have the resources, they have the exposure, they have the support, they have the encouragement, they have the roof over their head, their utilities are paid, they have food on the table, and they’re getting extracurricular activity exposure, they’re getting help and tutoring with their ACT and SAT tests and any classes that they’re having challenges with – they have all these resources – any kid is going to excel if they’re given those opportunities and that support and that attention. But then you start peeling away some of that access and opportunity and exposure, and then you bring in family challenges, it gets very difficult to achieve at the same level as, say, your suburban counterpart in private school. I just try to bridge that gap. That’s what my organization does. It takes kids that are underprivileged, that don’t have those resources and gives it to them. We do have year round tutoring, we do have standardized test prep courses, we do help our girls with college applications and writing essays and also provide a sisterhood of love and mentorship and encouragement and exposure to different things that they might not otherwise have. I remember when I got to Michigan State and I met new friends, some of them had cabins up north. It was like, we’re going up north this summer, we’re going up north, we’re going up north. I was like, what is up north? One time, me and my roommate, we road tripped up to Boyne and I’m like, wow, it’s mountains. I mean, I grew up in a middle class family, but we never went up north. We went and saw family in Youngstown, Ohio, in Pittsburgh and Evansville, Indiana, and we went to Cedar Point; those were our vacations. To be able to take the kids up north, through some friends in my network that have property up there – they’ve allowed me to bring the kids up – to go snowmobiling and see Clydesdale horses and go snowshoeing and sledding and just experience the breath of fresh air of up north. I took the kids to Drummond Island. We got on a ferry on a big motor coach and spent three days on Drummond Island where the girls learned about hunting, and we did cross country skiing and ice fishing and just these crazy experiences. Then when they get to a situation where maybe they’re starting their first job and people are talking about going up north, they can say I used to go up north all the time growing up and I am still afraid of snowmobiling after I almost hit that tree. I mean, they have stories and experiences. We teach them etiquette and we have a summer camp. A lot of times you feel uncomfortable in settings as you grow up if you didn’t ever have that exposure, and it’s awkward. So when you feel included and you feel comfortable in settings around adults and people with different backgrounds, I believe it helps you have more confidence. Which can lead to just believing in yourself in such a bigger way and setting bigger goals far beyond what you ever imagined, just because you had the opportunity to see it. To me, there are incredible networks of women that mentor and support our girls from, not only my friend group, but a lot of the organizations that financially support us. A lot of the women’s resource groups have posted our girls at their offices and taught them how to dress for success in their jobs. It’s just been fun to watch the girls develop and evolve, not only academically, but in their confidence. To see girls that come in super shy and don’t even really want to be there, but their mom’s like, I think this will be good for you, to five years later, they’re doing a speech – we work on public speaking – and they’re talking about how the foundation impacted their life. And I’m just in awe, I’m in tears, it’s just amazing to be a part of their lives. It’s amazing to be able to help young people realize potential they didn’t know they had and to bring out the best in them. I feel fortunate to be able to be in a position to help these young people because they deserve that. This is their greatest potential, but if it’s not tapped into, it’s wasted. And so I feel fortunate. I’m thankful for all the people that have supported the Rhonda Walker Foundation over the years, because without those resources this wouldn’t be possible. Then it’s just up to me to be consistent, to be a good leader, to make great choices for the girls, bring on the right people, have the right programming, always stay current – and that’s a full time job, but I’m up for it, and I love it. The outcomes are what make me so excited; just to see them graduate and go on and be successful women.

Brian  

I think at a really high level, what you do is open their minds to a world and to possibilities that they didn’t even know existed. I think one of the mistakes we make is thinking that – you have your life and whatever is encompassed in that and I do too – everybody is exposed to all of the things that we’re exposed to. I know one of the mistakes I make is always thinking that everybody knows the things that I know and that’s not true. So when you can take somebody whose geographic box is Lansing, Michigan or inner city Detroit and open up the world for them by taking them up north or taking them to a college… a lot of kids haven’t stepped foot on a college campus and don’t know the process of filling out applications or… (Rhonda:  Completely intimidating. Absolutely.) Exactly. And so that’s a huge service that you provide. They get exposed to the specific things, the literal things, that you’re exposing them to. But that also helps them to think about things that they otherwise wouldn’t be thinking of; their own possibilities, maybe not something that you’re directly showing them, but if you didn’t expose them to that, they wouldn’t have that thought that maybe I can do this or I wonder if I can do that. Or they ask you, or somebody else – one of the staff members – hey, I wonder about this, and that sets them on a path that they otherwise wouldn’t be a part of. I know that mentoring and modeling success are important components of the foundation’s programming. Surrounding yourself with success is a big concept for me personally. It’s something I talk about, write about a lot. I’m curious about the impact people around you have had on your own life and career. I know your parents were very – still are – influential, and certainly were as you were growing up. Who were some of the other mentors and models you’ve had along the way that not only contributed to your own success, but also contributed – either directly or indirectly – to the work you do through the foundation?

Rhonda  

My parents did the same thing for me that I’m trying to do for these kids; they exposed me. Growing up my mom and some of her friends started an organization that brought together other black families throughout the Lansing area, specifically to bring us as kids together so that we were interacting with other families, just to kind of put us on a path to being college educated and to be exposed to some of the success that these other families and parents had and to create this network. Ultimately, my mom was one of the founders of the Greater Lansing chapter of Jack and Jill. Jack and Jill of America is a family organization created by moms specific to African-American families across the country. I had school and all these other things and then this was this nonprofit organization that I was a part of outside of school. It is a national organization, so I was able to meet people – in our cluster, in the region and in the country – that were also in this organization. I spent a lot of time coming to Detroit with the chapters here. Some of my early friends were Dennis Archer, Jr. and Portia Roberson and some of these very prominent affluent families here in the greater Detroit area. Their parents were supreme court justices and doctors and lawyers and very prominent African-Americans. When you’re younger and you’re seeing that, seeing people that look like you having these very important, affluent jobs like surgeons and who live in these giant mansions in Palmer Woods and Indian Village, you’re like, oh my gosh, this is possible. So I think early on my exposure to just seeing and meeting other African-American families that were highly educated and fluent, that was like the bar for me. And that was my network as a kid. How fortunate was I to have these types of role models in my life. I’ve had a lot of mentors through the years, particularly once I started working in TV – not in my industry, outside of the industry, more from corporate America and from philanthropy  – where people saw me, saw my interest, saw my passion, and have showed me the path and provided support. I mean, I met you, Brian, and you’ve become a supporter of mine and the foundation. And so just through networking, I’ve just met some remarkable people, and I do try to surround myself with people that I can learn from, that do have a passion for giving back, but also have and had successful lives and careers and accomplishments. It’s not like I seek these people out, but I get to be in the room with them, and I’m very inspired by that. It inspires me every day.

Brian  

I think you attract that so – I don’t mean physically just in terms of putting yourself out there – first of all, you’re a positive, optimistic person, you’re a people person, you’re very easy to be around. And then secondly, you’re putting yourself in places where you’re going to meet people who are interested in community service and serving people and serving the community and making the world a better place. I think that gets back to that concept of surrounding yourself with success. When you’re in those circles, then you’re going to be around those people, again, doing the things that you’re doing. You’re a high profile media person first of all, so that doesn’t hurt. I don’t have that, but we have other things, other gifts and skills and things that we’re involved in, that, when we’re in those circles, cause us to meet people, to be part of those networks, and to be able to get to know people. It’s a wonderful, wonderful dynamic.

Rhonda  

I think that gives me balance too, because just being able to network with really great people – like minded people, givers, I like to call them, in the room that remind you about the goodness in the world, and the really good people that have big hearts and big hearts to help others – they’re not doing it for accolades, to get noticed, or to get clicks and likes and a news story done on them. It’s just quietly believing and helping others and doing good.

Brian  

And for me too, it causes me to want to be better. It inspires me and I want to be – not that I want to be like you or I want to be like somebody else or do exactly what they’re doing – it causes me to want to be my best self when I’m around people like that. I get lifted up. I think everybody gets lifted up when we’re around positive, inspiring people who are adding value and making a difference in the world. Then I look at, okay, what am I doing? And then how can I ratchet that up a notch or two in a way that’s appropriate for me? Again, not trying to be like somebody else. It’s not about envy or anything like that. It’s, I want to be my best self and I’m inspired to do that when I’m around people like that.

Rhonda  

Yeah, me too. And we all need that. You need that boost and you want to be that boost for others. But , I’m not on ten every day, some days are harder than others, where you really have to push yourself and you do feed off of others. They’re like, okay, I got that good news. I need it, I’m back on track.

Brian  

Absolutely, I’ve got you. Rhonda, as you know, our show is called LifeExcellence. You’ve certainly created excellence, not only in your own life, but in the lives of so many people you’ve impacted through the years and I wonder, what does excellence mean to you?

Rhonda  

I think it’s just doing your best, working as hard as you can. I mean, excellence, I think of perfection, which I don’t think there’s [anyone who] can be perfect, but you certainly can try to do your very best. I think that’s kind of what it means to me, just trying your best every day.

Brian  

I love that. Your career certainly stood the test of time. I’m always curious about what high achievers do to distinguish themselves from others in their field. What would you say that you’ve done, Rhonda, that most news anchors don’t do? You’ve been around quite a long time, and that’s not true of everyone in the media, certainly not true of news anchors. What have you done that others haven’t done that have resulted in the tremendous success and longevity that you’ve enjoyed as a journalist?

Rhonda  

Well, I woke up at two o’clock in the morning for the last 28 years. [Laughter.]

Brian  

That’s enough. Okay, next question. [Laughter.]

Rhonda  

So that’s a feat. I don’t know if there are a lot of other people that have been around as long as I have still waking up this early. Honestly, it is a feat, the five days a week for that long, waking up that early. It’s not easy, but I just think consistency is very important working on live TV every single day. Life happens, you have personal things that go on in your life, good and bad, and to be able to persevere and push through whenever those things happen and still show up every single day on live TV and do my job, it’s not always easy all the time. I think just the perseverance and consistency and just showing up every day ready to make it a great day and wake people up. I also think we’re all different. We all have our own passions and interests and I think what sets me apart is truly my philanthropy and how important it is to give back. It’s such a huge part of my life. It’s what I do on the weekends, it’s what I do in the evenings, it’s what I do at lunchtime. I’m really dedicated to it. I don’t know a lot of other people in my position that have started nonprofit organizations and really tried to be in the trenches to help change lives. I know we talk a lot about being in the community, and we’re doing stories but it’s one thing to tell a story, it’s one thing different to really be a part of someone’s life story and help to impact and change it. So I think that that definitely sets me apart. Everybody has what’s important to them and, to me, giving back and helping young people realize their greatest potential is just what my passion and purpose is. I treat it like it is a job and it is a huge responsibility, it’s one that I’m really thankful to have. It’s given my life so many moments of joy and fulfillment and just to be really proud. I think we’re on this earth for a short time and we can soak it all up and keep it to ourselves, or we can take our life experiences and resources in stories, in love, and give it to others, to give it to others that need it. I hope that I can do more of that in my lifetime and bring more people with me to do it too.

Brian  

I love the difference that you’re making in the community and in the world, and I really appreciate that you don’t have to do this, but you have gone all in on investing in the community. Again, you do it in many, many ways and certainly in the foundation. It is a job by the way, it’s a second full time job, and you certainly don’t have to have a second full time job and yet, you do it, you sacrifice sleep, and you invest time and energy and dollars. I just love that you’re doing that. I’m a big fan of you. I’m a big fan of the foundation and I’m a big fan of Detroit, having been born and raised in Michigan too. I grew up in Saginaw and have been in Detroit for quite a long time, so I’m all in on Michigan, and I’m all in on southeastern Michigan and Detroit. Rhonda, thank you so much for being on the show. It’s always wonderful to see you, and I’m very grateful for our time together today.

Rhonda  

Well, it’s been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for your support and for having an interest in having me on. It’s been fun.

Brian  

Of course. It has been fun. Thanks for tuning in to LifeExcellence. Please support the show by subscribing, sharing it with others, posting about today’s show with Rhonda Walker on social media and leaving a rating and review. You can also learn more about me at BrianBartes.com Until next time, dream big dreams and make each day your masterpiece.