In Black America; Yvette Miley

From the University of Texas at Austin, KUT Radio, this is In Black America. Yes, a strong past master and taught me how to lay out a paper and I would write articles. I would go interview people and write articles and she would mark them up with her red pen and throw them back at me. And was so hard on me and I didn't understand why she was so hard on me. I was thinking, I am volatile, I am volatile. She should be happy that I'm giving her this poor quality work. It's free, but based on her guidance, I began to understand storytelling, I began to understand the importance of getting it right, I began to understand character creation. When I was still in high school and that led me to the yearbook staff, high school newspaper.

And once I got serious and thought that man I could go to college and maybe we can't afford it but maybe I need to think about college. So I began to think about that while working at church is chicken, I began to think what would be the job of someone who likes to read and interview people, talk to people. And that sort of put me on the path to journalism. Event in Miley, senior vice president for MSNBC and NBC News. And the 2017 recipient of the Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award for the National Association of Black Journalists. Miley is one of a handful of African American women in an executive position for National Cable News Network. Miley has worked for NBC Universal for more than two decades and is known throughout the industry for a passionate and dynamic leadership skills. Miley began her career at the Palm Beach Post newspaper answering the phone taking down high school football scores. In 1991 she began a broadcasting career at NBC 6WTVJ in Miami Fort Lauderdale as a producer and eventually worked her way up to assistant news director.

In July of 2009 Miley joined MSNBC as executive editor daytime and was quickly promoted to vice president and then senior vice president. I'm John L. Hanson Jr. and welcome to another edition of in black America. On this week's program, veteran journalist, event in Miley, senior vice president for MSNBC and NBC News in black America. I work behind the scenes for a reason and the spotlight is not something that I embrace. And I think a Lifetime Achievement Award is really not about me. It is about us as a collective. It is about the chucked stones of the world who went before me, who paved the way for people like me to come after him. It is for me and my job and my responsibility to try to open doors for people yet to come after me. And I believe that very, very strongly that, you know, my name might be on the award, but I didn't earn it by myself. It's not about me. It might recognize me as an individual, but I believe it recognizes the careers of all journalists of color who've been the first in the newsroom, the only in the newsroom or the one having to speak up in the newsroom or even a collective of people who look like us in different newsrooms,

whether they're working in digital on the digital platform or at a newspaper or in a television station or in an edit bay. I think it represents all of us. Event in Mali, Senior Vice President for MSNBC and NBC News has been instrumental in identifying and starting the careers of dozens of journalists both in front and behind the camera throughout a career. She is a well respected mentor who believes that performance, professional image and exposure to media executives are key factors to success. In her current position with MSNBC, Mali is in charge of talent management and development of personnel. She is the executive in charge of weekends, overnight and early morning programming. In 2015, Mali was named head of diversity and inclusion for both MSNBC and NBC News.

As a graduate of the University of Florida, Mali is the recipient of more than 10 enemies, Dupont, Murrow and Peabody Awards. Also, she is the recipient of the 2017 Checkstone Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Black Journalists. In an exclusive conversation within Black America, Mali spoke with us regarding her career, the importance of people of color in newsroom management and mentoring the next generation of Germans. Riviera Beach, Florida was really a very isolated community in Palm Beach County right next to West Palm Beach and I had an incredible childhood. I was the youngest of five and my mom who worked as a maid and filled in us hard work and really it was a time where if you got in trouble on 12th Street before I returned home to 9th Street, my mom knew about it already. Because it was that type of a community where everyone knew you, your mom, your family and they would keep an eye on you.

And I was called Little Whitaker because my mom's name is Edna Whitaker and last name is Whitaker and all my sisters and my brother, their name was Whitaker and everyone knew me as Little Whitaker. And so eventually I had to grow out of the shadow of my siblings but it was an incredible childhood where you would be able to explore and walk the neighborhood, swim all the time. It just was an incredible childhood. Do you remember some of your favorite subjects while you were in school? High school? You know when I was in high school I never made the honor roll, I never had a specific dream of college until probably in my senior year. I wasn't a poor student but I think that I was so socially active in all the extracurricular activities, yearbook, the newspaper, the band, the orchestra that I did what I needed to do in order to pass classes. And I think it was when I was working at church's chicken, I was working the drive through.

I also had to cut the chicken and lift the heavy pans of the whole chickens and cut them and work the drive through and then fry the chicken. And I burned myself a few times but when I was working off that circular saw, I just had one moment where I looked away and I thought I could have just cut my arm off on my hand or a finger or something. And up until that point I thought man I want to be a manager of churches chicken. And then that's when I sort of said you know maybe I should get a little serious about pursuing a college education. And so the latter half of my senior year that's when I began to work with counselors and then I began to pursue the idea that I would go to college. It would be the first time I was the first in my family to graduate from college, not the first to attend but the first to graduate from college. And I had an idea that I wanted to go to the University of Columbia at Missouri because I heard that they had the best journalism program. My mom stopped the car and gained some of the floor and said get out here.

That was only four hours away and it was an in-state school and she just said if you attend out of state we will never see you. We don't have the money to bring you home you know for holidays. So I ended up at the University of Florida and they say God orders your steps. So that was the perfect place for me the best place for me to be an incredible journalism program. And I graduated with a degree in telecommunications. So it ended up being the best place for me to be without me even knowing it going into the University of Florida. What was it about journalism that sparked yet initial interest? You know I really didn't understand that it was journalism growing up at the time that I grew up we would all gather around the television at 630 and watch the evening news. And my mom would say that I was a curious kid that when I was very very young I would stand and look into the back of the TV to try to figure out how they got the people inside. We just grew up with information and that was a center point for us as a family to gather around the evening news.

So I didn't really know what I that it was called journalism per se growing up. But over time I began to read everything I would read and read and read and that sort of opened the door for me to sort of discover and imagine life outside of my city or life outside of my block. And that sort of opened the door to ideas that I could and idea that I could find a career. And I worked for the newspaper I volunteered at the Florida Photo News when I was in high school a black weekly newspaper. And it was run by Mrs. Williams mean as a snake but just just a strong task master and taught me how to lay out a paper. And I would write articles I would go interview people and write articles and she would mark them up with her red pen and throw them back at me. And was so hard on me and I didn't understand why she was so hard on me.

I was thinking I am volatile. I am volatile. She should be happy that I'm giving her this poor quality work. It's free. But based on her guidance I began to understand storytelling. I began to understand the importance of getting it right. I began to understand character creation when I was still in high school. And that led me to the yearbook staff the high school newspaper. And once I got serious and thought that man I could go to college and maybe we can't afford it but maybe I need to think about college. Once I began to think about that while working at church is chicken. I began to think what would be the job of someone who likes to read and interview people, talk to people. And that sort of put me on the path to journalism. You remember that first job out of college? It was interesting because I could not get a job when I graduated from the University of Florida. And I had sent out like 45 at that point they were tapes.

45 resume tapes. No callbacks, no leads at all. And I was in the car with one of my older sisters and we were back in Palm Beach County. We were driving down Belvedere Boulevard and she's like, why don't you go into the Palm Beach Post newspaper and see if they have a job? I was like, no, I don't want to do it. I was a little depressed by like a month out of college, I still hadn't found a job. And she's like, no, really just go in and see if they have anything. So based on my older sister's encouragement, I went into the Palm Beach Post and they gave me a job. They gave me a job answering the phone on Friday night and Saturday to take in the college, I mean the high school football scores. Basically the high schools would call in and they would give you a code and they would to verify that they had the authority to call in and give you a code to make sure it was correct. And they would give you a score North Shore 14 Sun Coast 25.

And I would tell the editors, the sports editors, hey, I love sports. I can write a sports story and they're like, no, just take down the score and give us a score. So every time I would give them a score, I would write two or three paragraphs about the game. I got you. You know, and it was, I'm pretty sure it was overly dramatic and poorly written, but they began to understand that I could write. And they had a lot of things happening one week and it was high school volleyball and the sports writer, the beat writer for high school wasn't available and someone else was out sick. And they sent me to go cover a volleyball game and write about it. It was like, I was so thrilled, I was so excited. I was like, wow, and I'm getting paid for this. This is crazy. So I just, I started writing, you know, every now and then they would ask me to write something. I covered tennis, not as a beat reporter, but just as a fill in.

And it was so cool to get my byline and the newspaper, my hometown newspaper. So that was my first job out of college. You still got that, you still had that story with the first byline somewhere? I do have, I do have that story somewhere. I really do. My mom kept it as well. And yes, it was a, it was a little bit of an idea, an affirmation, if you will, that, okay, I might be able to do this. And as a result of graduating from the University of Florida, the Gator Nation really helped me get my first job in television. A few University of Florida graduates knew that I was working at the Palm Beach Post. And they had a job come open at WPTV in West Palm Beach. And it was a couple of University of Florida Gator graduates who worked there who said to that news director to give me a call and give me a shot. So that's how I eventually ended up in television. And what did they have you doing?

I worked as an assignment editor and basically answering the phones, understanding and listening to scanners, learning, you know what the codes were on the scanners in order to send photographers to certain things. And I think for maybe three or four months I worked both at the Palm Beach Post and at the television station. And I thought I was rich because I had two paychecks coming in. So you're giving up charges checking about in there? Yes. Not eating it, but working there. Working there, of course. If you're just joining us, I'm Johnny Owl Hanson Jr. And you're listening to End Black America from KUT Radio. And we're speaking with Yvette Miley, Senior Vice President for MSNBC and NBC News. Miss Miley, when did you move the Birmingham? I moved to Birmingham. I believe it was in 2001. That was my first job as a Vice President and News Director. And I moved there in 2001. And I think it was in June or July of 2001.

And it ended up being an incredible opportunity, a great chance to go and learn and develop, you know, develop as a leader and to work in a newsroom that was struggling to go from third to first in that market. Were you nervous when you moved there? I was very nervous. I was from Florida and most of my career had been in Florida except for a couple of opportunities in Pittsburgh. So I was nervous because it was, I would be the boss. So I was nervous in Florida up until that point. I had, I worked as the number two in the newsroom in Miami. I worked my way up from 1991 as a producer all the way to the assistant news director title. And I was very happy and content in Florida, very, very comfortable being in the number two spot in that newsroom in a very challenging Miami market. So the first, I was asked to take the job in Birmingham three times, the first, the first time I'd turned it down, second time I'd turned it down, the third time, the president of the owned and operated stations division made the trip from New York, J. Ireland.

And I was called up to my boss's office, the journal manager's office, Don Brown. And I, he said, I don't want to talk to you, go into the main conference room, go into the people's conference room, he called that conference room, the people's conference room. I walk into the people's conference room and there is a president of our stations, divisions, J. Ireland sitting across the, sitting at the table. There's no one else in this 20 person conference room. And he looks at me and he said, he vet, I'm not asking you. I'm telling you to take this job for the company. And I was floored and I said, okay, when do I start? And that was pretty much the conversation. And he said, I want you to go to Alabama and, and turn that station around. And that was, so the third time I said yes, I could not say no at that point. So I said yes at that point to take the job in Birmingham. Considering Birmingham's legacy, was it difficult for you to navigate the city knowing his history? Before arriving in Birmingham, I obviously had a lot of preconceived notions about what that reception would be like when I arrived.

There was definitely some level of resistance to me being a woman of color coming into that newsroom. I had leaders prior to me who were people of color. So I did have a little bit of a preconceived notion of what, what happened when I arrived in Birmingham. But I can tell you that the people were warm. I was embraced. And any hurdles that I had while I was there in Birmingham, it was the people of Birmingham who helped me overcome. The things that I, that I faced. So it was a very, very rewarding experience. Now you turned the station around, you went from third to first, but then you left there and went back to Miami Fort Lauderdale. Right. So in 2004, I got an opportunity to return to WTVJ NBC6, but as the news director, as the vice president and news director. And, you know, I could not have dreamed of a better scenario. I could not have dreamed of a better opportunity to be able to work in the Miami market, to grow up in the Miami market really to earn my stripes as a journalist in the Miami market and then to return as a newsroom leader.

You couldn't script a drama better than that. And then to also still have my family and our north of me, my entire family. So it was, it was awesome returning to the Miami newsroom. What is it about NBC, the corporate that allows you to thrive thus far? You know, I think a lot of times, you know, when you think of an organization, you think of, you know, the name. You think of the building and you think of, you think of it as an icon almost in terms of what it might represent, but really beyond the brick and mortar of NBC and really beyond the peacock logo. There are some really incredible people who along the way coached me, counseled me, corrected me and put me in an environment to grow and succeed. And people along the way who also said, this is a challenge for you.

And here's how you can rise to meet that challenge. And so I don't think there were only people who had my best dentures in mine. I don't think there are only people that NBC who had my best interest in mine. But I think that people who were pulling for me, their voices in my mind, outweigh anyone who is going to be negative or not against me. And I have this thing where I believe very strongly that you will always have naysayers and negative people putting hurdles in your way. And if you focus on them, you have a negative energy about yourself. I've always positioned myself, if I have two or three people who believe in me, that's where I focus. I focus on the people who believe in me. And I don't try to go about proving people wrong. Because in the end, you probably won't be able to prove people wrong if they have an idea about you that they are just going to stick to no matter what.

So I don't focus on trying to prove people wrong. I focus on trying to prove the people who believe in me right. That's a much more healthy or way for me to position myself. When you received a call from the National Association of Black Journalists informing you that you were going to be the 2017 recipient of the Chuck Stone Lifetime Achievement Award, what was your immediate reaction? That I don't deserve that. I worked behind the scenes for a reason. And the spotlight is not something that I embrace. And I think a Lifetime Achievement Award is really not about me. It is about us as a collective. It is about the Chuck Stones of the world who went before me, who paved the way for people like me to come after him.

It is for me and my job and my responsibility to try to open doors for people yet to come after me. And I believe that very, very strongly that my name might be on the award, but I didn't earn it by myself. It's not about me. It might recognize me as an individual, but I believe it recognizes the careers of all journalists of color who've been the first in the newsroom, the only in the newsroom. Or the one having to speak up in the newsroom, or even a collective of people who look like us in different newsrooms, whether they're working in digital on the digital platform or at a newspaper in a television station or in an edit bay, I think it represents all of us. And so I'm humbled to accept it, but there's a big responsibility. I believe with or without a Chuck Stone Award, there's a big responsibility for all of us who occupy a space in this industry to represent excellence. How important is it to have Yvette Miley in those meetings that's going to determine what Americans view on television, particularly in the news division?

I can remember when I started out at the, when I was working in Florida, and I was just so happy being a producer, Edwin O'Dell, Ed O'Dell, one of the first African Americans hosting montage in Florida long time ago. I was in the newsroom, and he said, Yvette, I understand they're asking you, they're trying to promote you to 11 o'clock producer and executive producer. And I said, yes. And he said, I heard you turned it down. And he said, yeah, I love producing. I don't want to be anybody's boss. And he said, take a look at the editorial meeting. So he points me toward the editor meeting. And it's a glass room. You know, it's, you know, and he said, what do you see? And I was like, I see people meeting in the editorial meeting. That's what I see. He's like, no. What do you see? And I repeated it. And he's like, no, you don't see anyone in that room that looks like you. He said, there are like 27 people in that room. And none of them are people of color. You need to take the job as executive producer. And he said something that really has stuck with me. And it makes me emotional thinking about it.

He said to me, it's not about you. And that, that changed the trajectory of my career. I often say to him that I congratulate him and thank him for waking me up in that moment. But sometimes when things are hard and things are tough, you know, I was like, man, I curse you for putting me on this path because it's tough. But in that moment, I just was so happy to have my job. And so happy to write and produce, you know, half our newscast. I wasn't looking at the bigger picture. I wasn't looking at what change needs needed to happen and that I needed to be active participant in that change. So that was a moment that still hits me hard even today when I think about it. And I think about what he did for my career and what he whispered in my ear to wake me up. When you, when you look at programming that you all consider, is it obviously not done in the back end, but understanding that America is diversifying itself, so whatever product that you all present to the American public needs to be over diversity nature, correct?

Correct. And that goes into you all decision making as far as what are you all presenting to the public? And why is that important and why is that a particular item that MSNBC or NBC News want to project to his viewers? I think because and diversity for us means a lot of different things, I think that we should reflect the community or the people that we are trying to reach and serve. And I think that's a very real thing. And I think that for me, someone who's very close to and believes in that very core fact, I think that diversity is not a numbers game, it's a quality game. And I think that it's always a moving target because the country is continuing to change. And I think that we must be attentive and active in always and constantly evaluating and making changes in the people that we have as correspondents host and anchors.

And I think it's always going to be where we look at ourselves and say, what more should be done? What more can we do? And I think that's the active state that we need to be in in all of media. Obviously somebody groomed you for your position. Are you in a position to groom others to get where you are today? Absolutely. I count. And that's why I think the Lifetime Achievement Award speaks more to the constant effort to mentor teach. You know, I grew up under the saying each one reach one, each one teach one. And I am very active in mentoring, coaching and hiring and finding incredible journalists. Event in Miley, Senior Vice President for MSNBC and NBC News, and the 2017 recipient of the Checkstone Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Association of Black Journalists.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions asked your future in Black America programs, email us at in Black America at kut.org. Also, let us know what radio station you heard us over. Remember to like us on Facebook and to follow us on Twitter. The views and opinions expressed on this program are not necessarily those of this station or of the University of Texas at Austin. You can hear previous programs online at kut.org. Until we have the opportunity again for technical producer David Alvarez. I'm John L. Hansen, Jr. Thank you for joining us today. Please join us again next week. CD copies of this program are available and may be purchased by writing in Black America CDs. KUT Radio, 300 West Dean Keaton Boulevard, Austin, Texas, 78712. This has been a production of KUT Radio.