Erica Miller

You know, my kids, and I know that sounds so cliche, but whenever I became a single parent of three again, it would have been very easy to just say, I can't do this. But I've looked at them every day and thought, gosh, you know, they need food, and they need clothes, they're growing boys and girls, and they're so supportive. They are my biggest cheerleaders. They read all of my content, you know, they'll send me a message, Mom, I read your story, or Mom, I saw your story on the TV, and they are just my biggest cheerleaders. I think that I've pushed myself hard. This is a stressful business, and sometimes it can take its toll, but I've never experienced a massive burnout where I just said, I can't do this anymore. And I think it's because of them. They understand when we work late nights on election night, or we're working late because of football season, and my children are so gracious - mom will order pizza, don't worry about dinner. They're wonderful, and they have built up my confidence so much every time I've said, okay, I want to try to go for this promotion. I would say my children very, very much.

The best career advice I ever received was from a news director who told me: always take the interview. He said, number one, you don't know what opportunities will be there if you don't take it. If you're scared, and you don't want to take it, or you're worried what we're going to think, you could miss out on something really awesome for yourself. I applied that same advice in other ways, still here in my same market. I did take that interview, I was offered a job, and what I learned from that experience was, number one, I'm really not as - sometimes I say that I don't actually know what I'm doing, and everything is like winging it, but going and taking that interview, I did gain some confidence in my ability to actually do my job and articulate the job that I do. It gave me the confidence to say, no, you know what, I actually do know what I'm doing. And then it also gave me the confidence to be able to advocate for myself here in my current station. When I saw opportunities for advancement, instead of just sitting back and letting that pass me by, I went after that, and actively. The other advice was delegate. I used to not be a delegator. I wanted to - I didn't trust people. And I have learned now to trust other people to do the things that need to be done, especially if you're training them. Delegation has been a lifesaver for me.

The biggest challenge, honestly, is staffing. We live in West Texas, we're a small market, we're considered a starter market. And unfortunately, sometimes for a lot of positions, the pay isn't great. So I'm having to ask people to come here in an area that is ruled by oil and gas, so apartment rents are very high, housing costs are very high, grocery bills are high. I'm asking very young kids to leave their homes, leave their parents when they graduate from school, and come here and give me 2 to 3 years of their time for not the best money - journalists have never made the best money, and that's okay, we don't do it for the money, but we still have to make ends meet. It's tough. These kids sacrifice a lot to come here and build their careers. West Texas isn't the prettiest place to be - it's dirty, there's a lot of dirt and wind, it's very industrial. I love it, I'm partial to it, I was born and raised here, but getting people to come out here is probably the biggest challenge we face each day. An opportunity that I think presents itself really well in a starter market like this is if you're a new journalist getting out of school, you're going to be very limited in what you can do in a big market because your role is going to be very defined. Here, if you come to my station, you're able to take on roles that maybe aren't specific to you. With our reporters, they get anchoring opportunities that they would not have if they were in a bigger market. If you start small, you can build in a really big way. You get to learn all the aspects of news, and then when you're ready to go on to your next market, you're really well prepared in a way that you probably wouldn't be if you were somewhere else.

The biggest value in terms of work is building positive and healthy newsroom culture. I've worked in newsrooms before that have not been very kind. There's been a lot of competition among each other, a lot of toxicity. It is a very high-pressure, high-stakes job, and my biggest belief here at work is that we have to build a culture that supports each other, builds each other up, not tearing each other down. That doesn't mean we're gonna never argue - we're gonna argue, but we're gonna do that in a respectful way, and give each other an opportunity to have their feelings heard and be able to make meaningful changes going forward. I want a kind newsroom culture. Above all else, I want a compassionate one where if somebody comes to me and they're just tired, maybe they need a mental health day, maybe they're just overworked - we can't go, well, but you have a deadline. It's like, hey, what do you need from me? Do you need to go home and come back at this tomorrow? How can we build an environment here that is supportive of each other and takes care of all of our needs? In my home, the biggest thing for me is my family. I have an amazing family - my mom, my aunts and uncles, my sister. It's Family First, all the time. We lead with love and compassion, before we lead with anger in anything. That's really work and home, is just leading with love and compassion, because I think that is so rare these days. People are very quick to anger and quick to judge, and I don't want that in my home life, I don't want that in my work life. I want to lead with love and compassion.