My guest today remembers vividly at three years old that she wanted to be a television anchor. And she did become a television anchor but it wasn’t without challenge. I first encountered Joya Dass when I was a graduate student interning at CNN. It was an incredible internship. I had a chance to go backstage at New York Fashion Week. I had a chance to work closely with some amazingly talented journalists and I got a chance to watch from the sidelines how anchors like Joya prepared for live shows and reported on stories from oil markets to student loans.
Joya Dass is one of the first South Asian females to be seen on mainstream television in the United States. She’s been a business anchor for major networks for the last 15 years including CNN as well as ABC and Bloomberg and right now, she’s on the New York Stock Exchange floor every day for NY1 News and CBS. I just watched her give an incredible TED talk called Rethinking Failure, which we dive into on this podcast. We talk about what made her want to do that and the struggles that she had growing up in her family. In 2014, Joya was named the executive director of the South Asian International Film Festival presented by HBO. She also helms a documentary production company bearing her name. Joya is currently running a woman’s networking initiative which is fabulous, it’s called LadyDrinks. It champions the South Asian female entrepreneur.
You want to listen to this interview because we talk about Joya’s determination with a capital D. That time in college for example when she went to the bursar’s office and the financial aid officer told her that no one had paid her tuition bill and she was not allowed to come back to school. We also talk about the entrepreneurial path of journalists today, why you need to think outside the box.
If you’d like to learn more about Joya check out her website www.lady-drinks.com or follow her on Twitter @JoyaDass.
One of my favorite quotes from the interview: “Material things do not buy you happiness. It’s peace of mind and security.” – Click to Tweet
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