Kathleen Saal

Did anyone ever oppose your career plans when you were young or push you in a direction you did not want to go?

I’ve been a gifted artist since I was young. I remember announcing my intentions at the family dinner table one night (7th grade?). To my dad’s credit, he never said, “no.” He recommended instead that I pursue more education after high school, and if I still wanted to be an artist after that - I could still attend art school if I wanted. By the time I entered high school, he had instilled in me a curiosity to find out if certain careers would be to my liking. I volunteered at our veterinarian’s office, I worked in my dad’s office one summer, and I learned customer service working at a bank in the summer and holiday breaks, even in college. I look at all of this today and realize that the lessons I learned from every single step have made me who I am today.

How did you start building your network?

I have never met a stranger! I often joke that I collect people — they are all from different points in my life, even my 10 years living and working in Germany, and I treasure every single one of them. Each of them brings a wealth of knowledge, experience and insight and I am a better person for having them all.

What is the biggest challenge you had to overcome to get to where you are now professionally? How did you overcome it?

Sometimes the biggest challenge in your career can be something beyond your control: a LAYOFF. In the industry of journalism, it happens. Not all the time, but it does happen in the industry — to varying degrees — I’ve seen it happen to others since early in my career. It happened once to me, too. No fault of my own - the company was prepping for sale to another company. The bad part of a layoff, though, is the immediate effect on you, because you go from having a great career - to having nothing. This is where your network of friends and colleagues comes to play. It is also why — no matter where you are in your career — you should always have a current resume. It is also why I am a constant practitioner and advocate of being a lifelong learner. ALWAYS learn, even if it’s new ways of doing your work. New tools, new knowledge can create new opportunities. They also ensure that your skill set remains relevant in an ever-changing world and job market. Key to everything is never rest on your laurels. Keep moving forward — and keep a positive attitude!

How did you pick your career? Did you know all along?

No, I didn’t know all along about my current career but, looking back now, I can see how all of it makes sense and got me to where I am today. I loved art and photography since I was in 1/2nd grade, and wanted to be an artist. I also loved science and history. Even learning sentence diagramming, subject/verb agreement in elementary school, spelling bees, vocabulary, math — ALL of this was very influential. Because we had a lot of pets — fish, dog, turtles, rabbits, birds — I had a strong desire to be a veterinarian. I even volunteered with our veterinarian during the summer to see what it was like. From there, I checked on Marine biologist, because I loved science (won science fairs in Grade school - and high school). In addition to science, I absolutely loved history, and still do. I always loved doing research and putting that into reports. An English class project in 12th grade - on a topic of our own choosing was an exercise on fact finding, interviews, and documenting your resources. I got an A+ and was hooked. My first interview was my grandfather. Along with this, I was also born with an over-abundance of curiosity about EVERYTHING! Today, I can write about anything - including sports, business, engineering projects - because of that curiosity, research and all the amazing skills and knowledge I have gained since I was a little girl. My natural curiosity is a gift — the rest of it involved a lot of hard work and passion. That’s how I got to where I am today.