Kimberly Kaschalk

Drive, dedication, and support from friends and family.

The best career advice I've ever received is to always be willing to learn and self-assess. Even if you think you're doing a job successfully, look at that job and ask yourself, okay, this was very successful, but are there things I could have done better? What did I learn that I could take with me next time to make things even more successful? So just always, always be in that learning mindset, always be ready to learn. Even the newest, most junior person you deal with can teach you something, if you're willing to learn. It's not just that I'm teaching other people, they teach me something, too. Be in that learning mindset, always be willing to learn.

Don't be afraid. There's so much stigma out there, so much 'oh, are they gonna judge me because I'm a woman?' or 'can she really do this job?' or 'she's coming in here, she's gonna change the whole dynamic of everything.' I always tell people, make them see you as good at whatever you're doing. Make them see you as a good firefighter. Make them see you as a good news reporter. Make them see you as a good person, as opposed to a woman firefighter, or a woman reporter, or a woman. Make them see the job that you're doing, not your gender. Do that to the best of your ability and earn that respect. Don't be afraid to stand up for yourself, and don't be afraid to try something new, even if it's not a traditional female role.

Every fire's different. Even if you're in an area you've been to before, where the fire is burning, what the fire's doing, the political aspects of it, it's always different. We're dealing with not only the public, but we're dealing with the local municipal government entities, state government entities, federal government entities. So just trying to make sure we're getting them clear and accurate information, and we're getting it out in a timely fashion is definitely the challenge.

As far as news reporting and editing, more and more news organizations are closing or being bought by larger entities. They cut the staff and force those who are left to do more with less. It's a struggle to find good, unbiased news sources that do "old school" reporting and present both sides of the issue fairly and equally.

You need to be able to communicate with people on their level. I tend to be very direct, and sometimes that can come across the wrong way. It's definitely about making that connection to people, whether it's my staff here in Pennsylvania, or whether it's out on a fire. Making that connection, being genuine, getting them to trust you, and to understand we're doing these things for a reason - that's important in both my personal and professional life. We've really lost our ability to communicate with each other face-to-face because of text messaging and other technology. I think that hands-on, personal connection is definitely something that is both a challenge and is very rewarding. You can really change somebody's original perception of not just you, but the job you're doing by talking to them, rather than at them, and by listening to them. That interpersonal communication is something that's lacking in our society.