By Maria Malvar

It all started, like so many fairy tales, in a place far, far away: Austin, Texas, where Gina Garcia dreamed of working in news. The daughter of a cop, as a young girl she spent endless hours listening to the dispatches coming from her father’s police radio. They sparked her curiosity for news.

Now Garcia, 29, is an associate producer for “The CBS Early Show.” And, though she has met public figures such as President George W. Bush and covered major events including the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, her life is anything but princesslike. She has slept outside hotel rooms, guarding the show’s guests from being swept away by rival networks. She has slogged through mud and debris to report on Hurricane Rita’s impact in Texas.

Garcia studied journalism at the University of Texas, learning editing and production skills while working for the campus station, KVR-TV. As a senior, she was awarded a Bill Archer Fellowship. Named for a former Texas congressman, the fellowship program provided a semester-long internship in Washington, D.C. Garcia was placed at NBC’s “Dateline.” “I originally wanted to intern at ‘20/20’ because I admired Barbara Walters,” Garcia says. “I came to find out years [later] that one of the head executives read my name on the list of interns and, being a Longhorn himself, assigned me to work on the show he was connected to. I actually met him many years after.”
 
When she graduated from UT in 2001, the only opening at NBC was in the mailroom. “With a college degree, I was sorting mail, but I had to pay my dues,” she says. “Luckily, that only lasted about [a] month before I was promoted to a ‘Today Show’ greeter – in which I would have to wake up at 4 a.m. and essentially be a gofer.”

While she was a guest greeter, Garcia simultaneously freelanced as a production assistant and managed the overnight news desk for the local news division. Nine months later, she was plucked from local to network news to work as assistant to “Meet the Press” moderator Tim Russert when his assistant went into labor unexpectedly. She researched, handled all of his travel and booking logistics and assisted in writing letters to political dynamos in Washington, D.C. She then found her niche and field produced and researched for NBC’s “Nightly News,” “Meet the Press” and MSNBC.

In 2004, Garcia landed a spot as a booker, field producer and researcher for “The Today Show.” There, she produced various pieces from a news trip to Cuba and the lead-up to Barack Obama’s election as president. Garcia also garnered an Emmy nomination for producing coverage of the 2007 Virginia Tech tragedy, where 32 students were shot dead before the gunman, also a student, killed himself. “I always thought I would be a NBCer for life, but I like to be where I’m challenged and evolving as a producer,” she says.

In 2008, CBS “offered me a position I couldn’t turn down,” Garcia says of becoming an associate producer.

She currently works on stories that are featured at the top of the hour, signifying their importance. This past March, she worked on a piece featuring the lawsuit brought against Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey, on the count of animal cruelty. Her current position at CBS gives her more flexibility than any of her previous jobs. “I get to do it all. I have the title of [associate producer], with all the producer abilities,” Garcia says.

She knows how to hustle. In early April, the 4-foot-11 Garcia raced in pink rain boots through a crowd of other journalists at Andrews Air Force Base to get an exclusive network interview with the Maersk Alabama members who’d been held hostage by Somali pirates.

Competition among the three major network morning shows is cutthroat, Garcia attests. “The Early Show” generally ranks third in the ratings, and she and her colleagues scramble to move it up.

“You never get a good night’s rest; you are always wondering what the competition is doing,” Garcia says. “You are constantly trying to stay ahead of the game.” Failure comes with the territory, she adds. “You fail every day on a regular basis.” 

But benefits outweigh disappointments. “The best part about my job,” Garcia says, “is meet[ing] ordinary people doing extraordinary things – the movers and shakers of the world.” Although working in news requires long, unpredictable hours, Garcia enjoys what she does. “I love getting to know what is going on globally, on a day-to-day basis. What better gig is there?”

She’s far from ready for the fairy tale to end.

Q: When did you realize you wanted to get involved in journalism?
A: I have to give a lot of credit to my dad, a former cop. I use to spend hours listening to dispatches on my dad’s radio scanner. This instilled my desire to know what was going on in the world.

Q: Have your parents been supportive of your career path?
A:  My dad has always wanted me to do something with [fewer] hours. They both support me, and my mom of course is concerned with my health and long hours. They wish I worked less – but they have been rooting for me the whole way through.

Q: What is something about the industry that you wish you’d known?
A: I wish I would’ve known how much this business is all about the connections. It’s a who you know type of business. Going into it, you have this grand idea that you can make it anywhere, but ...  I would say the majority of people knew someone who lifted them along the way.

Q: What are the perks of your job?
A: You have your ears to the ground – you gotta love that. You get to meet ordinary people doing extraordinary things – the movers and shakers of the world. I have also met a ton of celebrities and past presidents.

Q: What do you like and dislike about your job?
A: I love that I get paid to know what is going on in the world. The frustrating part is not being able to plan ahead. My friends will call me to hang out, go to happy hours or make plans, and I can’t join them. You just never know your schedule in this industry. The hours are long, as you know.

Q: What was life as a booker like?
A: It was 24/7. You never get a good night’s rest; you are always wondering what the competition is doing. You are constantly trying to stay ahead of the game. The worst is when tragedy hits, because you have to be immune to the situation, but it drains you emotionally. As a journalist, you need to find a balance between [wearing] your journalist hat and your human hat -- and know when to wear it.

Q: What has been your favorite job?
A: It would have to be my current job, as associate producer of “The Early Show.” I get to do it all. I have the title of AP, with all the producer abilities. I also write the most important part of the show: the top. It is great to be able to produce the most important segments.

Q: What has been your most memorable experience in journalism?
A: I had to sleep in a car during Hurricane Rita, in 2005. [NBC] had sent us out to Galveston, Texas, to cover the storm, and we had been informed that [officials] were going to close the bridge – meaning you were stranded on the island if you did not flee. We opted to stay and cover the story. Thank God the storm turned. If not, we would’ve been hit. 

Q: What was your favorite story to produce?
A: Oh, gosh, you can’t ask me to pick just one. The two stick out, though, [are] my visit to Cuba and reporting on Sept. 11. I traveled to Cuba in 2007 to interview an American student who couldn’t afford to attend med school in the States, so she decided to attend school in Cuba. ... [She] had to sacrifice the typical American luxuries – electricity, warm showers, television, air conditioning. She would scrape together pennies and nickels just so she could buy toilet paper. She did this all for the sake of going to medical school. [With] the Sept. 11 stories, it was amazing to see the people that sacrificed so much of themselves to help others. It was also astonishing to see everyone’s reaction. The way the nation reacted to the tragic events ... and how everyone came together during such a difficult time.

Q: How do you choose stories for your segment?
A: I do a little bit of everything: hard news, entertainment, soft news. I try to find a story that matters to all people. I want the story to affect people [who] watch the segment at home. I want it to relate to them, to hit home.

Q: What is the most challenging part of your job?
A: You are constantly being thrown into the fire ...  into something you know very little or nothing about. You have to teach yourself a lot in this industry. You learn on the go. My old boss once told me, the day you stop being scared in your job is the day you leave.

Q: Tell me about a time when you failed in this industry.
A: You fail every day – on a regular basis. You don’t get the bookings you want or another show beats you to ensure a guest. Like with any profession, you have your ups and downs.

Q: Similarly, how would you measure success?
A: It is not about your title but how you feel about your job – be it having a piece you worked on make the air or make the wire. It really is all perspective.

Q: What is it like being a minority – a Hispanic woman – in this industry?
A: You are alone. It’s hard to put into words. It’s almost as if people expect you to work for Spanish cable news because you are Hispanic, but I am as American as the person standing next to me.

Q: What are your plans?
A: Oh, gosh, I have no idea. You never know in this industry. I would eventually like to be a producer, a technical one, with the title and everything.

Q: If you could do anything you wanted, careerwise, what would you do?
A: If I could get paid to be a volunteer for the rest of my life, I would do that.

Q: But you aren’t a volunteer if you’re getting paid.
A: Well, yes. I guess I’m trying to say that if I could live as a volunteer and have my expenses covered, I would. I love to help people – I feel it is very important. In a small way, I feel that I help people out by doing my job. I help them understand what is going on. Finding a balance in your life -- [among] work, your social life and volunteering -- is extremely important. Without this, there is no balance.

Interview conducted, compressed and edited by Maria Malvar.

Gina Garcia’s Tips for Success in the Media

• Don’t be afraid to work the long hours and volunteer for the big projects no one wants.
• Write as much as you can, and get it checked by your bosses or others in the profession.
• Read as much as you can get your hands on. Half of the job is understanding the stories and the players.
• Know the line between networking and brownnosing.
• Keep in touch with contacts; you never know who will know the next great story.
• Know you will fail miserably, as well as succeed, so be prepared for both with alligator-thick skin.