2006 SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS
ALFONSO ROSALES FEATURED AT WALTER KAITZ FOUNDATION’S ANNUAL FUNDRAISER
Alfonso Rosales, one of the Foundation’s 2006 Student of the Year Award recipients, spoke at the Walter Kaitz Foundation’s 2006 Annual Fundraising Dinner in New York on September 13, 2006. He told the audience of nearly 1,300 cable executives about his experiences as an Emma Bowen Foundation student working at Discovery Communications for five years. Following his graduation from New York University in June, Alfonso accepted a full-time position at Discovery working at the Travel Channel as a production coordinator. Alfonso shared the stage with Kyle McSlarrow, President & CEO of NCTA, Johnathan Rodgers, President & CEO of TV One, Pat Esser, President of Cox Communications, Judy McGrath, Chief Executive of MTV Networks, David Porter, Executive Director of the Kaitz Foundation, and Congresswoman Hilda Solis. Television Week, an industry trade publication, reported: "The star of the Walter Kaitz Foundation's annual fundraising dinner last week was Alfonso Rosales, a young man working for Discovery Networks who interned at the company through a diversity program run by the Emma L. Bowen Foundation. The quality of Mr. Rosales’ speech reminded the cable executives attending the dinner that promoting diversity in the television industry generates its own rewards."
EMMA L. BOWEN FOUNDATION 2006 SUMMER HIGHLIGHTS
Summer Conference - June 21-24, 2006 - New York, NY - For the third consecutive summer, we have brought together all Emma Bowen Foundation students for our annual summer conference. One hundred and eighty-three students and sixteen graduates attended this year’s 2-1/2 day conference.
Included among the highlights of the conference were presentations by Dennis Swanson, President of Station Operations for Fox Television, on My Network TV, followed by Tom Remiszewski’s counterpoint on the CW.
Mr. Remiszewski is Vice President, Programming and Marketing for CBS Television Stations.
Rosanna Scotto, co-anchor of WNYW-Fox 5, was the luncheon speaker for the annual board of directors / student luncheon.
A prestigious panel of Foundation graduates offered their views on careers in the media and their Emma L. Bowen Foundation work/study experience. Included on the panel was Jada Miranda, VP of Programming for HBO; Alturo Rhymes, a producer at CBS Newspath, Willie Sanchez, web producer for Fox Radio; and Adela Uchida, evening anchor for WILX in Lansing, MI.
An orientation was conducted for 87 students that joined the Foundation in 2005. The meeting’s agenda included Foundation policies, procedures, and expectations and provided a forum for new students to raise issues and concerns.
On Friday of the Conference, participants learned about the key issues involved in multi-platform content delivery with a tutorial by (photo from left to right) Ron Stitt, Vice President, Digital Media & Internet Solutions, Fox Television Stations; Robert Cohen, President, Scarborough Research; and Alex Gonzalez, Associate Director, Digital Media, ABC. A survey was designed specifically for our students regarding their “new media” knowledge and consumption patterns. Students completed the on-line survey prior to the conference and the results were incorporated into the tutorial.
Our experts were then joined by Dr. Margot Hardenberg, Fordham University; Ty Ahmad-Taylor, Director, Cross Platform Applications, Comcast; Tom Hjelm, Senior Director, Internet Content, NBC Universal; Stephen Harkness, Business Manager, New Media, C-SPAN; and Howard Shimmel, Senior Vice President, Client Insights, Nielsen Media Research.
Diane Sutter of Shooting Star Broadcasting was Friday’s luncheon speaker, and offered her insights as an independent broadcaster. The Friday afternoon session included representatives from the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Native American Journalists Association. 
They highlighted issues and concerns of Unity Alliance members and each organization's goals. Nefertiti Jaquez, a 2005 Foundation graduate and a reporter with WFOR in Miami, served as moderator, and the panelists included Derrick Henry, Senior Web Producer, The New York Times; and Herb Lowe, Newsday. Mr. Henry serves as director with the Unity Journalists of Color and Mr. Lowe is a former president of NABJ.
On Saturday, Wrisë Booker of Reid Dugger Consulting Group and a group of human resource executives introduced students to the Foundation’s new Career Guide: Strategies for Success.
Additional details about the guide appear later in the Highlights. Grace Killelea and Barb Cowan of Comcast, Sue Wombacher of Adelphia, Robin Bona and Jessica Gibson of CBS, Terri Moore of Time Warner and Bob Apter, formerly of ABC Sports, all participated in the half-day workshop on career strategies.
To balance the full daytime schedule with some evening fun, the seniors gathered for our traditional senior dinner and the entire group enjoyed a dinner cruise around Manhattan on the last night of the conference.
We especially want to acknowledge the organizations that provided the key funding for our conference this year: The Walter Kaitz Foundation, Wal-Mart, the Bresnan Family Foundation, the Reynolds Family Foundation, Court TV, and, for the eighth consecutive year, the Cable Television Public Affairs Association. In addition, the following companies and individuals helped us in a variety of ways to make this conference possible: ABC, American Legacy Magazine, Atlantic Records, BMI, Broadcasting & Cable Magazine, CBS, Clear Channel, Corporation for Public Broadcasting, C-SPAN, Discovery, Hearst-Argyle, Lifetime, Nielsen Media, Procter & Gamble, Time Warner, Television Bureau of Advertising, Oxygen Media, Scripps Networks, and Vinson & Elkins. A special thanks to NAMIC, the National Association of Multi-ethnicity in Communications, for providing free membership to our graduating seniors 
2006 Student of the Year - Tatyana Delgado and Alfonso Rosales were named recipients of the Emma Bowen Foundation’s 2006 Student of the Year at the annual Board of Directors / Student Luncheon held in conjunction with the annual student conference at Fordham University in New York City. Alfonso Rosales is an honors graduate of New York University where he majored in literature and film. 
Alfonso’s corporate sponsor was Discovery Communications and he has accepted a fulltime position with Discovery as a production coordinator with the Travel Channel. Tatyana is an honors graduate of the University of Maryland majoring in Journalism and government and politics. Her corporate sponsor was the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation and she completed her work/study program at WUSA in Washington, DC. Tatyana plans to attend law school in the fall of 2007 and is currently working at a law firm in the interim. The competition for this prestigious award was judged by Henry Rivera, Esq., of Wiley Rein & Fielding, Donna Gregg, FCC Mass Media Bureau Chief, and Dr. William Moore, Dean, School of Business, Salisbury University.
Class of 2006- In addition to our Student of the Year Award winners, we are equally proud of our other Class of 2006 graduates. As of August, 13 seniors have accepted fulltime positions in the industry. Seven will be working in production at Fox, C-SPAN, Discovery, CBS, Turner, and NBC Universal. Two will be working in sales, two in human resources, one in print media, and one in the record industry. Several other graduates are actively looking for positions in the industry. All of the Emma Bowen Foundation students that completed the program have maintained a 3.0 or better GPA and have met or exceeded the requirements of their sponsoring company while working. They are all well prepared to launch their professional careers. (See graduate profiles on our web site for additional details.)
Link Mentoring Initiative - Los Angeles, CA - For the fourth consecutive year, the Foundation conducted its Link Mentoring Initiative. Link was designed to unite a group of talented college students preparing for careers in the media industry with seasoned managers interested in offering these rising stars insights on corporate life and professional development. The mentees and mentors met in a group setting over the course of the summer and participated in five skill-based sessions facilitated by Wrisë Booker of Reid Dugger Consulting Group. The Link Mentoring Initiative was funded through a grant from the Walter Kaitz Foundation.
Each of the five 4.5-hour sessions consisted of a specific theme discussion, a group project development and a mentee/mentor Q&A session called Fabulous Forum. Session I of the Initiative focused on behavioral styles and their potential impact on work situations.
With insights on background and behavioral styles, the mentees selected group projects that would highlight the corporate experience. The objectives for Session II were to increase mentees’ skills in acknowledging others’ positive work performance, to raise awareness of effective networking techniques, and to analyze perspectives that affect productivity. Expanding development feedback skills, understanding the basis for use of organizational politics, exploring tips for optimizing the performance review process and discussing workplace issues encountered by professionals of color were the focus of Session III. Session IV offered students valuable tips for making professional presentations. Session V was dedicated to group presentations on topics including "Taking the Lead When You’re Not in Charge," "Managing Conflict in the Workplace," "Uncovering the Unspoken Rules," and "Obtaining and Utilizing A Network of Mentors." 
Fifteen mentees and 13 mentors participated in the summer-long program. Steve Sommer, Jenny Hanna, Michelle Varona, and Helene Dina of ABC; Julie Ballard Lebe of Ballard Executive Search; Paul Button, Paul Skolnick, Lisa Farmer Lane, and Ricky Jefferson of CBS; Gene Hawkins of Hallmark, Michele Moore and Todd Mokhtari of NBC-Universal, and Lourdes Nunez-Burgess of KCET served as mentors to Foundation students from ABC, Arbitron, CBS, FOX, Hallmark, KCET, and NBC. NBC Universal and ABC generously provided the meeting facilities for our sessions.
Link Mentoring Initiative Reunion
In addition to the 2006 Link Initiative conducted in Los Angeles, the Foundation hosted a reunion for the 2005 Atlanta Link participants. CNN served as host.
OTHER FOUNDATION ACTIVITIES:
Parents' Night - Each summer, the Emma L. Bowen Foundation hosts orientation meetings for the parents of new students in our program. In 2006, a Parents’ Night event was held in New York at ABC’s corporate offices. Students, parents, Foundation graduates and staff discussed the mission and benefits of the Emma Bowen Foundation program. Sade Baderinwa, a WABC news anchor, shared her personal and professional experiences to the delight of all who atttended. Other Parents’ Night events are planned for Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, DC during 2006. 
- Personal Mission Statement
- Planning For A Career
- Self-Assessment Tools
- Evaluating Educational Options
- Defining the Position You Want
- Assessing The Value Of Work Experience With The Emma Bowen Foundation
- Searching For Job Opportunities
- Prepare To Apply
- Resume Formats And Styles
- Cover Letters
- Customizing Resumes
- Types Of Interviews
- Preparing For Interviews - Company Research
- Practicing For Interviews
- Dressing For The Position You Want
- Interview Tips And Pitfalls
- Compensation And Benefits
- Follow Up
- References
- Multiple Job Offers - What To Do
- Sealing The Deal.
- Testing
- Retention - Navigating The Cultural Landscape
- Mentors
- Networking
- Unspoken Rules
- Managing Up
- Appendix And Resources.
Spirit of Comcast Day - Twenty-five students joined Comcast on June 20-21, 2006 for the second annual Spirit of Comcast Day. Emma Bowen Foundation students working at Comcast facilities around the country and their direct supervisors were invited to corporate headquarters for a unique opportunity to meet with senior management. Included on the day’s agenda were meetings with Ralph Roberts, Brian Roberts, Steve Burke, David Cohen, Marvin Davis, Mark Coblitz, Joe Waz, Charisse Lillie, David Jensen, Marlene Dooner, Bret Perkins, Payne Brown, and Susan Gonzalez.
In Memory of Mrs. Coretta Scott King:
I’ve never had to drink from a "Colored-only" water fountain. I’ve never been forced to give up my seat to a white person on the bus. I have been in classrooms where I’ve been the only black face, but never been forced to be in classes with only black faces. To begin this year’s Black History Month, I wanted to reflect on the life of Mrs. Coretta Scott King. Because of her many accomplishments, there are so many things that I don’t have to see.
It amazes me how Mrs. King, a wife and a mother of four, was able to balance her home life with her civic duties. I have a hard time with my single, childless life while Mrs. King juggled meetings with world dignitaries and stood on picket lines. I have only read books about the Dalai Lama, Bishop Desmond Tutu and Pope John Paul while Mrs. King held dialogues with these spiritual leaders. I have only seen old video footage of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Chairman Yasser Arafat shaking hands at the signing of the Middle East Peace Accords while Mrs. King witnessed this historical moment. While I was starting my first year of middle school, Mrs. King stood with Nelson Mandela as he became South Africa’s first democratically elected president.
Even before she stepped onto the world scene, Mrs. King was at the forefront of the Civil Rights movement in the US. She was Dr. Martin Luther King’s partner, both in life and in the movement. They stood alongside each other at marches and protests. She was as equally dedicated as her husband was to Civil Rights, and she would go on to form a coalition of hundreds of religious and human rights groups. She has been an advocate for women’s, children’s, gay and lesbian rights in this country for over a quarter of a century.
Mrs. King’s contributions mean a great deal to me. Not only did she stand up for social justice in this country, Mrs. King traveled to Ghana in 1957 with her husband to celebrate the independence of my family’s country. Even after the death of her husband and the enactment of the Civil Rights Act in this country, she continued to support Africans in their fight for freedom. Mrs. King was arrested in 1985 for protesting against the South African apartheid in front of the South African embassy in Washington, DC. I will always admire her commitment to all of our people, African and American.
A phenomenal woman is the best way that I can describe what Mrs. King is to me.
A woman like you should be reveredBecause you are the last of a dying breed.
A wife, a mother, America’s Black Caretaker
You helped carry our people and always fought in our favor.
From humble beginnings, you did it with grace,
Stood up for Civil Rights dead in the oppressor’s face,
Wouldn’t take no for an answer, not from our own birthplace,
And couldn’t let our citizenship take second place.
So there was no second class for this lady of class,
Her flight to excellence was all too fast.
Akua Tay, February 2006
Photo credit: NBC