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By Lisa Byerley Gary When Sharrie Williams began her first full-time job in television after graduating from UT, a news job with a small station in Jackson, Tennessee, she also waited tables to make ends meet.<\/p>\n \u201cIt paid that poorly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n But Williams had goals. She wanted to learn everything there was to learn about television news in exactly one year. Then she would move on to a bigger market.<\/p>\n Today Williams is a reporter and anchor at ABC-owned WPLY-TV in Philadelphia, the fourth largest television market in America. Her journey from a station on a dirt road in market number 186 to one of the most popular evening news shows in the country was driven by goals, hard work and confidence, she said. And she\u2019s still working hard for her ultimate goal: network news.<\/p>\n Williams, who grew up in Bartlett, a suburb of Memphis, did spend just one year in her first job, then she made a tremendous leap from market 186 to market 40 in Birmingham, Alabama, where she spent four-and-a-half years as a reporter, anchor and sports anchor.<\/p>\n From there she leapt to market number 17, a CBS station in Miami, and after three years, moved up to the CBS station in Dallas, the fifth largest market in the country. Three years there led her to Philadelphia.<\/p>\n She hasn\u2019t waited tables in a long time.<\/p>\n Her career has led to interviews with sports stars, presidents and celebrities such as Barbara Walters. While the glamorous subjects are exciting, she said, it\u2019s the more ordinary ones that often appeal most to viewers. Her interview with the parents of a baby with a severe birth defect that would allow him to live for only a few hours went viral. People across the country cared about \u201cthe bucket list baby.\u201d<\/p>\n Talking with people dealing with tragedy and grief requires special skills as a journalist, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to balance being a factual journalist, not getting involved in a story, with letting interviewees know, \u2018I\u2019m a person, too,\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Her ability to show empathy while remaining professional has set her apart, she said. And that matters in telling a story.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t forget, these are people,\u201d Williams said. \u201cAsk yourself, if it were my family, my situation, how would I wanted to be treated?\u201d<\/p>\n Professionalism and compassion are a given, Williams said, but her ultimate expectations for herself is perfection.<\/p>\n \u201cThe stakes are high,\u201d she said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t forget.\u201d<\/p>\n Her best news director ever, she said, was the one who \u201cwas on me all the time,\u201d who would call her the moment a live segment ended to critique her performance.<\/p>\n \u201cI saw that woman in my dreams,\u201d Williams said.<\/p>\n Later, the news director told her that she pushed because she saw that Williams had potential. But potential only goes so far.<\/p>\n \u201cYou have to hit the mark every day,\u201d Williams explained. \u201cThe news goes on the air at 5 p.m. whether you are ready or not. You have to be ready.<\/p>\n \u201cThe job is the job, no matter what newsroom,\u201d she said. \u201cMy expectation is always more than anyone else has for me\u2026\u00a0 I always say to myself, \u2018Be good, Sharrie.\u2019 That way, no one will be able to say, \u2018You sucked.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Being a woman and a minority in the newsroom has been a challenge, she said. Even though times have changed, \u201csome barriers still need to be broken.\u201d\u00a0 In her second job, she became the first black female to do television sports in the Birmingham market. That year, 2007, was her most difficult.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you are first, it will be difficult,\u201d Williams said. \u201cBut the level of support I got was just as loud as the people who didn\u2019t get it. We have to choose what we focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n Her focus, as always, was on excellence.<\/p>\n \u201cDo your homework. Come in early. Stay focused. Be your best,\u201d she said. \u201cThis business is not for weak people, or for people who can\u2019t deal with conflict. You have to be grounded in who you are and be ready.\u201d<\/p>\n Sharrie Williams has developed that work ethic through years of experience. She worked with The Volunteer Channel as a UT student and later with Fox Sports Net South while she was still in school. She was always looking for opportunity, she said, always introducing herself to people in industry and maintaining contacts. On spring break, she hit the road to tour television stations and ask for advice.<\/p>\n She still works hard to be the best and to get better, she said, and to tell a story better than anyone else. That means learning social media platforms and other new ways of disseminating information. She maintains the Facebook page her Philadelphia station developed for her and live-Tweets just before she goes on the air.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople still want the stories,\u201d she said. \u201cThey still want to know they are getting credible information. There will always be a need for news gatherers. There will always be a need for people who can write the story.\u201d<\/p>\n To students, she advises, \u201cKnock it out of the park every day. You never know who\u2019s watching you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Lisa Byerley Gary Instructor, JEM 414, Fall 2014 When Sharrie Williams began her first full-time job in television after graduating from UT, a news job with a small station in Jackson, Tennessee, she also waited tables to make ends meet. \u201cIt paid that poorly,\u201d she said. But Williams had goals. She wanted to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,20,8],"tags":[66,51,6,67,68],"class_list":["post-2621","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alumni-news","category-featured-story","category-news","tag-abc","tag-alumni","tag-jem","tag-sherrie-williams","tag-wply-tv"],"yoast_head":"\n
\nInstructor, JEM 414, Fall 2014<\/strong><\/p>\n