Nerissa Sugars - Newhouse Speaks

Nerissa Sugars PR and Marketing Director at Burbank Airport - May 9, 2021

Nerissa Sugars grew up in Orange County, California, and had an early interest in journalism when she was young. In high school, she did something called SPelling Plus which was her first taste of video and TV production as well as journalism. She went to college at San Francisco State and majored in journalism. She then transitioned to broadcast journalism after enjoying her ABS interns

hip at a local station. After finishing three semesters at ABC, she took a job at ABC as a production assistant out of college. During her stay there, she became an assistant producer where she wrote segments and took care of talent. She then transitioned to being in front of the camera. She eventually became morning anchors and eventually primary anchors with her husband in Pennsylvania.

She emphasized that moving from news to PR is possible however moving from PR to news would damage the integrity of the job. As she described it, “...it is a completely different ballgame”. She talked about how when you are in PR you are protecting the interest of your organization, therefore, have bias. Transitioning from a job that is like this to the news would harm the integrity of news telling.

She also talked about how being a great storyteller is about being open. She stated, “Everyone has a story and everything is a story”. Being a master storyteller is extracting the story. When looking at a story, make sure to remember that there is a person behind it. She emphasized to remember that the root and heart of the story is a person. She recommended getting to know the person before and spend time with them. She said to get to know them like a new friend, basic details as they make a huge difference for comfort level and make a huge difference in the information you get when you try to get the actual story.

She also said to be open to your story changing. She gave an example about how she went to meet with a family whose house recently burned down. However, after talking to the subject, she found out that the family had lost so many old artifacts from World War II. She said to be flexible and always be open to change.

She also talked about when you ask questions about your subject, always ask why. The occupation of journalism is one of the few where it is your job to be nosey. Asking follow-up questions to the questions you prepare is essential in order to converse with your subject and get to know them on a deeper level. Almost always, she stated, will you learn seething you did not expect when talking to your subject.