Sash & Soul
Welcome to the "Fearlessly Authentic: Sash & Soul Podcast," the show that goes beyond the stage to prioritize mindset, wellbeing, and triumphs in the pageant journey. Each episode explores the power of embracing authenticity, sharing mindset tips, self-care strategies, and inspiring success stories to help you navigate the pageant world with confidence and resilience.
Sash & Soul
#22 Media Literacy & Navigating Current Events
Ready to master media literacy in the pageant world? Join us on Sash and Soul as Lila shares tangible tips when tackle the intricate landscape of media literacy, essential for any pageant contestant. Through her years of experience studying and working in the media, she's ready to bring essential information to the show and her clients.
We dive into the political landscape of recent events while leveraging Lila's experience in journalism and broadcasting. We unpack the nuances of media freedom and its critical role in handling political questions.
Experience how media literacy can shape your journey to leadership success. Reflecting on her transformative experiences in the UW-Madison Journalism School and dealing with the media portrayal of Asian Americans during the pandemic, Lila shares invaluable lessons and insights. From staying informed without losing mental peace to the impact of local versus national news, the lessons shared in this chapter are a must for anyone aspiring to lead with confidence.
Finally, we explore practical strategies for effective media consumption and interview preparation. Discover the importance of avoiding media echo chambers and the benefits of casual conversations over rehearsed mock interviews. Learn how to stay grounded and authentic while engaging with reliable news sources and fact-checking.
If you found this helpful, check out our complimentary Fearlessly Authentic Coaching Consultation where we will discuss coaching plans individualized to your success. Fearlessly Authentic values focus on empowering you to overcome self-doubt, providing tailored guidance to excel in interviews, public speaking, and self-presentation. Transform your pageant preparation and leadership journey with confidence.
Links to recommended news sources mentioned:
- https://apnews.com/
- https://www.theskimm.com/
- https://www.politifact.com/
Free App Download: Click here to download the Fearlessly Authentic App!
Socials: @sashandsoul | @fearlesslyauthenticcoach | @raeannajohnson
Websites: www.fearlesslyauthentic.com | www.sashandsoul.com
Email: info@fearlesslyauthenticcoach.com
April Masterclass: Volunteerism & Service Click Here to Register
If you’re looking for more than just surface-level prep—and you’re ready to prepare with strategy, support, and confidence that actually lasts—I’d love to be part of your process.
Schedule a FREE Consultation: Book a Call
Welcome to the Fearlessly Authentic Sash and Soul podcast, the show that goes beyond the stage, prioritizing a healthy mindset, overall well-being and triumphs in the pageant journey.
Speaker 2:In each episode, we dive into the transformative power of embracing authenticity fearlessly, From mindset mastery and self-care strategies to success stories that inspire. This podcast is your go-to guide for navigating the pageant world with confidence and resilience. Join us as we embark on a journey of self-discovery, empowerment and celebrate the stories of those who fearlessly embraced their authenticity on the path to pageant success. I'm Lila Sherry and I'm Rihanna Johnson.
Speaker 1:Welcome to Sash and Soul.
Speaker 3:Hello, you're always singing Hi, hi.
Speaker 1:I wasn't singing two hours ago. You guys, we have been chatting for two hours, trying to work ourselves away from staring at the crap in the corner and feeling a little bit better about life in general right now, like we were just not in a space to hit record when we first hopped on this call. No, I'm glad we waited. Me too, it happens. We came up with lots of good ideas, though once we started shifting our energy, that was fun, yeah yeah. Lots of good ideas, though once we started shifting our energy, that was fun, yeah yeah. So today we're going to talk about something that I think is going to be really helpful for all of you guys, something that I have historically struggled with myself, but Lila is kind of an expert on, so this is going to be really good.
Speaker 1:But in response to all of the just like heightened political stuff that's going on in America in particular, but obviously like there are global things going on as well, but with the attempted assassination on former President Donald Trump and and with President Biden stepping down from from campaigning to for reelection, and with him endorsing Kamala Harris, there's just like a whole mess of stuff going on.
Speaker 1:And from a pageant prep perspective, like I mean, first of all, just like a regular human being, trying to follow all of this stuff is a lot. But then, when you're also trying to follow it so that you have a good opinion on what's happening for a potential pageant interview or an onstage question, it's very overwhelming, especially if you don't have a political science background or law background or media background of any kind. So today Lila is going to do some coaching on media literacy and I'm actually really pumped for this because I've heard her talk about it quite a bit through our own sessions and coaching her and preparing for Miss Wisconsin and then Miss America and through all the workshops that she did as Miss Wisconsin. But for me to kind of be a recipient of all this information today right alongside you guys so super excited, lila are you?
Speaker 1:excited.
Speaker 3:I am excited. I wish I talked a lot about this during my year as Miss Wisconsin, but I wish I talked about it even more so because I never had a conversation with somebody or did a speech or did a presentation about it without people and most everyone being like I learned something new. This was really beneficial. I wouldn't have known this otherwise and it's essentially journalism 101. And I found this then, taking it one step further, knowing what I did in journalism and in the media and the stuff that I did working in the media helped so much when it came to answering political questions, answering current events question.
Speaker 3:And the thing is, when you walk into a pageant interview and you're a journalist, they don't hold back with those questions. It's all game, like you could be asked anything. Back with those questions, it's all game, you could be asked anything. And I just found that media literacy and the knowledge that I had was a huge benefit for me because I didn't walk into the room scared to answer any political question, really, because I kind of knew what to look for in the media and how things are being presented, and then, in turn all that to say it's one of the most helpful pieces of prep that I feel like I could give girls, because people aren't really talking about this again as much Like we're seeing it more and more, which is awesome, but people are not poaching on these things when it comes to the realm of pageant, specific related interview questions. So I'm really excited because I think this is something that we offer that I, frankly, I don't see and I didn't get.
Speaker 1:So yeah, could we just take a second, though? I want to hear you talk more about your experience, like your history, with the media, with journalism and broadcasting, so that we can get a really good foundation of, like, your credibility in this area. I mean, I know that you have a ton of it, but you've spent many years educating yourself and learning. You know all about all things media literacy so can we back up first of all to why you got into journalism in the first place?
Speaker 3:Great question. My mom is an immigrant from Beijing, china, and she grew up with like is an immigrant from Beijing, china, and she grew up with like there's no Google over there. Things were very censored, especially back in the day, and, as we know, the government there looks very different than what we have here. There's no freedom of speech or freedom of press, so to speak. Right, so from a young age traveling back and forth to China, like I realized very early on that we are able to hop on Google or go to a public library and basically have the right to find out whatever information we want, for better, for worse, and that just wasn't a thing there, right?
Speaker 3:Like my cousin, I remember one time he almost jokingly, but I knew there was some seriousness to it of like are blue eyes actually real or are they all AI generated? And like, wow, that was the extent, cause he had never seen blue eyes actually real, or are they all AI generated? And like, wow, that was the extent, because he had never seen blue eyes in person, like truly. And I was like, yeah, that's nuts. And so those were the types of conversations I was having from a young age, and so I always knew that I liked to read and write, terrible at math and science and so naturally I got into journalism and I.
Speaker 3:It's a way for me to pay respects to the things that my family have have gone through Um, so that's why I started, because I knew how important it was. It's the only job in America that's written into the constitution, so like it's the only job that people do that is, like, explicitly said to be important in the constitution. Freedom of press, freedom of press.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, okay, so, so cool, okay. So. Did you always know you wanted to get into journalism? When did that happen?
Speaker 3:No, it didn't happen. Until probably my last couple of years of high school, I thought I wanted to go into law because I was just simply interested in like the law and all of these things of like.
Speaker 1:I could see you being an attorney.
Speaker 3:I just have to say like, oh my gosh my mom says the same thing and it gives me the itch to like want to entertain law school, but right now it's just not in the cards and I was fine with that. I was like I don't really want to be in school for that long, but if it comes up, maybe later down the line, who knows, midlife crisis type of thing but yeah, that's what I initially wanted to go into. And then I was entertaining media law specifically and then I was like why don't I just do the actual thing first? So that's when I fell into journalism.
Speaker 3:I took my first J201 class that you have to get a certain grade on in order to even apply to the journalism school in UW. So once I did that class I was like done, sold, had an awesome professor. The first thing he said to me, or said to the class when he first walked on stage it was very poetic and I still use this quote to this day but he was. He said I don't care who you are, but I want you to know why you are the way that you are, and that's what this whole class is going to be surrounded about.
Speaker 1:And I was like okay, oh, that sounds similar to how we approach things in Fearlessly Authentic.
Speaker 3:Yeah, oh, that's so cool, I know. So I carried that with me for years and it's been like six, seven years since that class and okay, so then um.
Speaker 1:so you went to university of Wisconsin Madison. Yes, thank you.
Speaker 3:I feel like running a mile. And then you graduated. I graduated in technically in 2022 of December. I was done with courses. I didn't actually walk until May of that year because I wanted to not be in the snow and to be with my friends. That was the only reason, but I was technically done December of 2022.
Speaker 1:You had two years of seeing what was going on in the media revolving the coronavirus pandemic and seeing what it was doing to people with any kind of Asian descent or ancestry. So can you talk about what?
Speaker 3:Yeah, or just the way that the media portrayed this to people in general like, aside from Asian American hate, that was happening it just the way that it affected people and how things were being talked about was huge. So a lot of the last two and a half years of my education so I was only really in school for three and a half years got into the journalism school after a year, which is tooting my own horn a little bit, but the earliest that you could possibly get in and apparently it sometimes takes people a few tries. So I was really proud of that. Good to go, thanks, finished early. So the last two and a half years of my education was really like Asian American related projects when it came to portrayal in the media.
Speaker 3:Through COVID I talked with Chinese and Asian business owners throughout that time and how their experience was. It was cool because I got to use my Chinese too and I would translate it for my projects and that was really fun. Yeah, so largely was a student during all of the craziness of when people started talking about like media and distrust in the media. So that was nuts. And then immediately from there I became produce, an associate producer on the backend work of the news. A few months after or no, yeah, a few months after December, so it was like February, march of after graduating became an associate producer, worked there for a few months, became Miss Wisconsin and then, while I was Miss Wisconsin, educating about all of this which I had already done for a couple of years, was then became like an on-air personality reporter, multimedia, journalist, whatever you want to call it and then I was at the station for a total of like almost two years, a year and a half maybe, and now I'm here. So yeah, yeah, okay.
Speaker 1:So let's dive in to your media literacy training.
Speaker 1:Essentially, this is kind of a skeleton of what you would talk about in a workshop or even with clients to help them understand really how to navigate what's going on in the news, what's going on in the world, like where to get that information and like how to process it, what to avoid.
Speaker 1:That kind of thing, I think, especially just with like okay, so I have a client that I was recently talking to um about the attempted assassination on former president Donald Trump first, that's what we were talking about first and she said I honestly like I don't really know a ton about it because for my own mental health I'm kind of trying to avoid like watching the news and all of that stuff. And I was like, look, you got to protect your peace, that's for sure. But you also do when you're putting yourself in a position of a leadership opportunity, such as a local, state or national title, you do need to know what is going on in the world and have an opinion about it, just as a citizen of this earth. But there are ways to do that without causing emotional stress on yourself, and so I'm hoping that we can dive into that a lot today too, so take it away.
Speaker 3:What's point?
Speaker 1:one Lila.
Speaker 3:I have three main points today that, like you said, is kind of the skeleton of what I talk about. Number one national news is not the best place to get your news from. It's what we see the most often and so it's easiest to click on or to tune on to. But here's the thing National news is 24-7 on TV. So when you see your parents or grandparents or uncle sitting there watching Fox or CNN 24-7, it's heightened and it can be controversial, or at least the people talking can be extreme and controversial, because it's 24-7. So, if you think about it, they need viewers to be watching all the time. How do you keep viewers watching? Well, you need something that's going to be heightened and entertaining. So that's a huge part of it.
Speaker 3:Then, in turn, go to your local sources and I'm not just saying the local sources in your own community, because obviously, like the Madison, reporters are going to be less able to cover something in Pittsburgh. Go to the local stations in Pittsburgh or in California, san Francisco or wherever, in Miami for the storms or whatever it is like, specifically because they, local journalists, dedicate their whole work and craft to the relationships that they're able to build in their community and they're able to provide value with sources locally that are going to be able to say exactly what they experienced, right. So instead of sitting on national TV constantly that's going to be heightened and controversial Just go to that specific area that that thing is happening and see what the local journalists are doing and then also just like support your local journalists, because we work really hard for like not that much. So really just like support them and it's going to be less overwhelming because it's not 24 seven. There is a time cap to our broadcasts, which then makes us really condense the information in a way that's only showing you what's really important.
Speaker 3:That's my number one. In a nutshell, spitballing. Just go to the local source and then, if you really can't find anything, national news does have a place and a time. It's nice when things are happening right immediately, right away. But again, just don't sit there for six hours watching the same national news station, because it's going to be, it's going to be stressful.
Speaker 1:I want to stick on this point for a little bit. Really quickly, though, can you tell us point two and point three?
Speaker 3:Yeah, who are your sources and why, or why not, are you seeing certain sources? And then number three is social media. Ok, all right. Why, or why not, are you seeing certain?
Speaker 1:sources. And then number three is social media. Okay, All right, so let's stick with national news versus local news sources for a second. My first question is why do they operate this way? Why does national? I know you said that they're 24-7, so they need viewers all the time. They're looking to bring all this exciting stuff. Like is there a purpose behind that? Like what, what need does that serve for the viewers to have that ongoing broadcast?
Speaker 3:Great question. I think it is important because we always want news as quickly as possible as viewers and that's a value that all journalists have is, how quickly can we do things? And we want to be the first to have things out there. And so national news can be really good, for that is, you can constantly have the news that you need when you turn on the TV or whatever it is at that point in time, and you're not waiting for, say, a newspaper to come out two days later, right, so it's really that immediate information that you're getting. And two, I have always thought it was beneficial to have different viewpoints, and so if you do want to hear the most extreme end of one thing versus another, you can get that.
Speaker 3:And so there is a time and place, and not all national news is this controversial. I'm going to give you sources later in this episode specifically of places that you can go instead of, say, fox News or CNN. Those are really the ones that I'm talking about, that people tend to move towards. But, yeah, so there is a time and place. Our world would not be the same without national news. They're quick, they're on top of it. A lot of the times they provide some information that they can to the local stations, and so, again, there is a time and place for them. The only problem is when you're sitting there 24-7 watching the same national station and you don't turn it off and you don't see anything else. That's when it can be problematic and then in turn.
Speaker 1:Then, when it comes to the stress of it all, national news watching national news is just going to be more stressful for the average citizen than watching your 30 minute or one hour broadcast locally about President Biden stepping out of the presidential race and him endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris. And we turned on CNN first. I'm not sure why he had CNN on first. We tend to flip through different stations. We had CNN on first and we were listening to that for a while and they were bringing in representatives to speak and share their viewpoints and that was kind of interesting.
Speaker 1:And then all of a sudden I was like let's switch to Fox and see what they're saying about it, just out of curiosity, wanted to know what the rhetoric was there and how it was different. So we switched over to Fox completely different. It was so fascinating and I just started thinking man, when someone chooses to watch one particular program over another consistently, they're getting a lot of very targeted rhetoric, and we know that right. We've heard that CNN tends to be more liberal, fox News tends to be more conservative. It's probably gotten worse over the last decade especially. But can you touch on that a little bit? Just for like, is there value in that and what disservice is that if we are only watching one source?
Speaker 3:The concept is called echo chamber. I'm digging up all of my school scholarly knowledge from I don't want to say back in the day, but it's been a few years and this is actually really fun for me. So it's called an echo chamber and it's actually one of the worst things that we as citizens and as journalists can fall into. So it's this concept and this idea psychologically, that we will always gravitate towards the information that supports our idea the most. And it's difficult right To listen to people that disagree with you or to listen to something that proves you wrong in any type of way, but it's essential when it comes to us being able to hold journalists accountable too.
Speaker 3:So a big reason why you're hearing something so different on Fox versus so different from CNN is because they want to keep their viewers and their audience. The news station is nothing if they don't have viewers. So if they know and this has been established for years and probably decades, so I don't really know how it got to this point historically but obviously now we know Fox News is very right-leaning versus CNN being very left-leaning, and they know that and they know their viewer base. We study that as a news station of what percentage of our viewers are X, y, z, and so we want to cater to those viewers and we want to keep those viewers happy and watching. Again, the views are everything, especially nationally.
Speaker 1:And so why are the views everything? Let's just say it.
Speaker 3:It brings in money, it brings in ads, it pays for the station, right? So the viewers are everything, because everything is money driven, obviously, in this world. But obviously you got to pay your journalists, you got to pay for the like, ads and X Y, z. So you already know that your audience is either right-leaning or left-leaning and you're going to continue catering to them because you always like, especially locally. You know somebody will do a story that's a little bit more lighthearted and they're talking about social awareness issues, and then you get somebody that's right-leaning, commenting locally and being like you just lost a viewer because you talked about XYZ and we don't like that. So, yeah, you're going to cater to the audience if they know specifically that this is who, the type of people are Okay.
Speaker 1:So if you're preparing for a competition interview, you're just like trying to better understand what's going on in the world. The least productive way to do that is to sit there and binge watch a national news broadcast for hours, just kind of go around in circles, kind of around the same topic, whatever is of highest interest at that time. You're just not going to get the basic facts and information that you need. You're just going to hear a lot of rhetoric and back and forth and that's going to be a lot of opinion based and entertaining, so to speak, for the viewers of that particular channel. So I think that leads us then into number two does it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, okay, this is specifically what you see in the actual stories that you're talking to. So we try and get as many sources as possible for stories, and the longer stories are going to have more sources, and by sources I mean people that you're talking to and interviewing. We always in a perfect world, in the perfect case scenario, a journalist would have a story with an expert on the subject, a person who has experienced it from one perspective, and then the person that experienced it from the opposite perspective. So that's like in a perfect world. Every story would have these three sources.
Speaker 3:It's what I tell people to look for, but the caveat for that is that it is really difficult sometimes when you're in a time crunch which, if you don't know what a journalist that day or very like, you get confirmation that day. You have a few hours to make phone calls to follow up on things, get interviews in, and then a few hours after that you're editing, you're shooting the story and then you're on air, like that same day. So, like everything for the most part happens in one day constantly, and things don't get confirmed until that day, and sometimes, if there's breaking news, that's different. So it's always a time crunch every single day in journalism, especially in TV news, because you're not waiting for a one-week edition of something and you have all this time. So everything is fast and you can't always depend on people to see it and respond and do an interview in a matter of a couple hours. Some people are really good at it. Some organizations and institutions know that you're going to be reaching out Fire departments are always really good at this, police officers, whatever it is but people that run nonprofit organizations or just citizens in general aren't expecting journalists and reporters to be reaching out to them and need an interview in a matter of a couple hours.
Speaker 3:So I always tell people to see how many sources are in an article. The more sources, the better. What are their perspectives? And then my biggest reminder is that, especially local news outlets, we can only use the people that are choosing to talk to us Like. We cannot insinuate or assume somebody's other perspective without getting confirmation from a source. We're not able to put our own mind or what's the word common sense into a story of what we think it is from the other side. That's a big misconception. That people think about journalists is that we can write for the other side if we don't have one perspective. We can't.
Speaker 3:It's totally untouchable unless we have confirmation from a source, and that includes this is the example that I like to use, and this comes from one of my coworkers. I think she's like you could call the station as a viewer and say there's a fire happening next to my house, why aren't you reporting on it? Well, we haven't gotten confirmation from, say, the police department, with like photos or the fact that they responded for us to actually say anything, because then anybody could call and say anything happened and we would no longer be trustworthy news. So that's a big reason why people get upset with the news too.
Speaker 3:But yeah, we can only use the people that choose to talk to us, and a lot of the times we will say this person didn't get back to us or this person didn't want to make a comment. That's important for you to know, not when it comes to the news part, but maybe why this organization, institution or person didn't respond. Again, you can't always use that, because maybe they just didn't see it. Everything is up to perspective. But again, if it's like we reached out to them and they didn't want to comment, that tells you something too as a viewer. That's my spiel. I'm just going off.
Speaker 1:I love it, I love that you're going off and I, of course, knowing me, like I'm just over here like scratching little notes, of things that I want to ask you more about. And the one that I really want to hear more about is ethics as a journalist, because you kind of touched on how you are not really allowed to speak, even like through your own, like conscious ideas or like critical thinking skills of what may or may not be taking place, like you have to rely on the sources, thinking skills of what may or may not be taking place, like you have to rely on the sources. So what, what training do you undergo? Like what, what practices do you have to make sure you're maintaining ethically?
Speaker 3:speaking as a journalist. Yeah, I remember in school this was really drilled into our heads, and especially at UW, because they're so research-based. There's like nine pillars of journalism. I wish I could list them off the top of my head. I can't book a consult with me and I'll help you with that and there's like clear, concise, all of those different things, but there's like nine pillar values that we're always following.
Speaker 3:When it comes to ethics, it's really just basic, being good, human things Like well, I mean, we don't use AI. We can't use AI, obviously, to write any of our things. At least at my station we couldn't and we had a whole training on that when AI started to come out. And then it's really like you're not again, you're not flubbing what anybody's saying, you're taking straight words that they're using. If you'll notice, on TV or in a written article, every journalist should and is taught to say like this person said this, that person said this, this is from this organization, in like every paragraph, every sentence that we say and we don't use words like they exclaimed, like in a book or like they were like. We never say they were disappointed or they felt disappointed. It's like they said they were disappointed and it's a very like specific way to narrate what's happening and obviously, like we're not, you know, actively endorsing our political views online it's it's just constantly keeping up with the fact that, like we are simply the witnesses of things and the first count to history and I mean it's just being a good person at the end of the day too, right, not like, just don't.
Speaker 3:Like you can't be a slimy journalist and make your boss happy, like we don't. Like nobody likes that around here. Um, and a lot of like the slimy journalism that you'll find are with pretty non-credible news sources, because you just can't do that in in our contracts and things like we would get in so much trouble and people just think that we're like awful and loving things and like purposefully leaving stuff out and it's like. No, it's like stories just are timely and things need to be out for the broadcast and some people just don't respond to us and like it just is what it is. Sometimes you don't even have enough reporters in the newsroom. Sometimes there's 10 stories that we want to do and we have three people to do them, so like it all just depends.
Speaker 1:There's a lot of like responsibility and onus on the viewers and on the readers that are receiving this information as well, and that's, I think, why there's so much frustration, because we want the information easily at our fingertips and don't expect or feel that we should have to do any additional digging and additional research.
Speaker 1:Going to talk about, like some some tips and tricks, so to speak, for really diving in and getting the information that you need without falling into the weeds Because I understand, believe me, that like this feels really overwhelming, and I'm listening to Lila like, oh my God, I don't have time for all of this additional research and like knowing all these things. But here's the thing Like I think it's really great, lila, that you're giving us like an overview, understanding of what's actually going on in the newsroom and what we as viewers and like receivers of this information should be doing. But the next point, number three oh, such a good segue into social media, because here again in lies our responsibility to vet the resources and information that we're actually receiving. Not to say like, because I think this can happen too is like I just don't like this information, so I just don't think it's valid. Like well, that's not what we're saying.
Speaker 3:That's echo chamber. That's the concept, exactly.
Speaker 3:We don't get that, yep so number three number three is I just wrote down stop getting your news off social media or friend circles. And here's the thing they can be supportive because you get a chance to hear other viewpoints, what other people in your community are saying, what people have experienced. I get that. But again, when it comes to stress and preparing for something like a pageant interview, when you're talking about subjects in the news, it's going to stress you out to be on social media, because there's another theory that I don't know the name to, but it's essentially like the most passionate people will always be the loudest and all of the moderate people in the middle are rarely heard. So, like the ones that feel the most certain type of way about one political candidate on either end is going to be really loud on social media and you're going to feel like that's the only people that like exist in the context of this problem or these opinions. But the ones that are probably similar to you in the way that you're trying to navigate and figure it out and kind of like be neutral about some things, are not going to be the ones that you're seeing on social media. So it can become really stressful when your TikTok page is just full of people talking. Facebook is a big one. Just get off Facebook when it comes to any sort of information, again, like talking with your friends and getting different perspectives always important and like I will always endorse that but it's just too much sometimes on social media when we've made it really too much. So I guess this leads me into like where should we be getting our things from? Because everybody says like well, it's so easy for me to get information on here, like I don't have time to be going to other places.
Speaker 3:My thing is like, for the time that you're scrolling on social media and seeing all this, you could listen to a podcast episode that goes through like the subjects of the day. So one that I really liked, that I used when I was competing or preparing to compete, was the skim, and they have like a daily up-to-date explanation too on the things that are happening, and I really like it because it gives you like a real person example or like opinion on what somebody might be thinking Like they break it down as if a family or a friend was talking to you who was very educated. So and then, if you just want straight, hard facts, news nationally to AP news is going to be the best place that you can go from what I found and experienced and worked with. Those are my two big things. And then, obviously, like I said, your local stations, and not just your community local stations, but specifically where something is happening local station.
Speaker 1:I also like PolitiFact.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's a good one, and then NPR is also pretty good, but again, it's up to you as the viewer and your discretion as to what you feel like is nonpartisan, you know? Yeah, so those are my like. I feel like I just ran.
Speaker 1:But yeah, that was a marathon.
Speaker 3:Thank you and my like actual Breaking Down Breaking News presentations are like an hour an hour and a half long, so there's a lot more and it's really fun when people start asking questions and I forget how much I loved it when I got into it in the first place. So this was fun. But anything before we move on to like interview now as a competitor.
Speaker 1:No, I think that's exactly where we need to get to. Now that we have kind of this, I feel like we're at the place of like okay, got all of that, but now what? Like you know, my solution focused brain is like okay, what, but what do I do with all of this information? And again, like in such a fast moving world world, especially if I remember when I was 17 and I first started competing and I was told that I needed to start reading the newspaper, I was so lost.
Speaker 1:I did not grow up in a family where we talked about current events at the dinner table, really didn't watch the news with my family, and I wasn't interested in politics or government or history or anything in high school. I'm a little bit more intrigued by it now, but back then it was just not my forte. So having to dive in from ground zero of no foundational information at all was really really difficult. So I think it's a good place to go to. Next, how do we get started and just get that baseline of information so that we can just kind of keep regularly keeping up with it without overdoing it and overwhelming ourselves with all of this negative input from worldly affairs?
Speaker 3:I guess I want to ask you where have you started with clients before? And then, does any of this information change or has changed?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and does any of this information change or has changed? Yeah, well, from a coaching perspective, my first piece of advice is don't feel like you need to read through everything and know all the little nitty gritty details of everything. I want you to have a good understanding of the overarching details of what's going on in the world, and one of the best ways that I have found to do that is just skimming through headlines. Maybe you have a news app that has multiple different sources in it. Oftentimes, like the Apple News app or even Google News, they all kind of compile the same topic and you can click on different articles and different sources within that topic, but you get a pretty good understanding of what's going on today. You can also go into more specified types of news, like depending on your initiative, for example, or what you're going to school for. That's something to keep an eye on for yourself is, if you've got something in your paperwork or something that you're interested in, you're more likely to get asked questions that are related to that. Like Lila was saying earlier, as a journalist you got a lot more of those hard hitting questions about media, media literacy, journalism, right wing and left wing media sources, like all the things that have to do with that. So you had to be more prepared for those types of questions. So, depending on what your personal interests are that are on your paperwork, you want to do a little more digging into, like kind of what the daily ins and outs are and the trends are in those areas, so that you don't get some kind of a question that comes out of left field.
Speaker 1:For example, my initiative was Tyler's Legacy, the impact of substance abuse on the family. So, knowing what was going on in the heroin epidemic or in new treatment opportunities or in health insurance as it relates to accessing treatment, those type of things were things that I needed to pay a lot more attention to in the media. So you kind of have to cater to what your own interests are, but overall, skimming the headlines and if there's something that's popping up for you that you are interested in, that you want to know more about or that you recognize you don't know enough about, then dive into that article. But then that's where I have actually started coaching more on what you talk about, lila, with the media literacy and what are you looking for within those articles and what to kind of stay away from in media sources when it comes to just information that is going to cause you to go into some kind of a doom scroll, that's going to affect your mental health in a negative way.
Speaker 3:And I always like to insert this reminder is that judges are not expecting you to be this all-knowing being and an expert in every single current event. They're not either. So knowing that and remembering that the reason why they're asking you these questions is if you were the title holder, how would you handle these questions in day to day? So obviously, they knew that if I said I was a journalist and a reporter at appearances, like people might come up to me and ask controversial things or wonder things about XYZ, and I could probably expect that if I became the next title holder. And so, remembering that they're asking you because they want to see how you would handle the question, which means you don't need to be an all knowing every single fact that you ever heard about this thing. You don't need the flashcards, you don't need that.
Speaker 3:It's what is your opinion, like what you probably, what you think should be done or shouldn't be done. That's probably something along the lines of what they're gonna ask you and have one or two pieces of information to back it up. And again, it could be like for me, a lot of the times it was experiences that I've had with my family or my mom. Immigrating is why I felt this way about something, or the way that I grew up or experiences I've had in college. Your own personal experiences can be your backing of your opinion. You don't have to be the all-knowing, every fact, every stat in the book for you to have a good answer that's true to you, right? So that's the most important thing is again knowing who you are and then why you are the way that you are.
Speaker 3:That's why we want to hear that, so it all comes full circle.
Speaker 1:Yes, coming back to that Absolutely, I have a couple of points to follow up on that. Number one I think so much of anxiety going into interview comes from this mindset that interview is supposed to. It feels like an exam. You're being quizzed on this information. So if they ask you something about what's going on in the world, somehow you have this anxiety that you're supposed to know like Lila said, be all knowing of all of these issues. But instead, if you get a political-based question or a current event question or something that might be controversial, it is an opportunity for you to showcase your character and your personality. So what the judges get from your response is an insight into who you are, not like what you know or your level of intellect on that particular topic. It's not an exam. So if we can steer our mindset away from that idea of, like, there are right or wrong answers in interview and go from this perspective of knowing who you are and expressing that through your answers, staying true to yourself, that's a much more enjoyable experience, not only for you but also for the judges. It's just a lot more comfortable for everyone involved. So that was my first point. The second point is it can be really easy to fall into the comparison game of looking at other contestants or other title holders that know a lot more about certain topics.
Speaker 1:For example, in the FAM this last year I had a former law student and she was kind of our go-to person for talking about all the things that were going on with anything legal in the media. So on Wednesday mornings we would talk about, like, what in the world's going on in the world, and so we'd all just kind of have some conversations about that and get to share our personal experiences with it and our opinions, and oftentimes she was the one that we would go to with like can you explain how, like the legal system works with this? Or like what we should be expecting with the elections this year, with all this stuff that's happening with the ballots and blah, blah, blah, blah blah. But what I didn't want to happen and part of the reason that I exposed the rest of my clients to this was I didn't want anyone to feel intimidated by her knowledge and understanding. The thing is is that's the path she took because that's what she was interested in. She went to law school and knew all this stuff about politics and law because she was interested in it. That's great. She didn't go into other pathways that maybe you did.
Speaker 1:So a big part of your preparation for interview, when it comes to the media and what's going on in the world, is learning to understand for yourself and from your own perspective and whatever journey and path you've decided to take, and not compare yourself to somebody that might know a heck of a lot more about something than you do. I don't know really much of anything about immigration and how it feels to be the child of an immigrant in this country, because I didn't experience that, but it would not be great for me if I just got mad at myself for that. When it's something that I can't control, what I can do is applaud Lila's ability to articulate what she has been through, what she understands about it, and be intrigued and listen and learn. That's really all that we can do. I mean, there's a reason that we all have different interests and different backgrounds and different experiences in this world, so lean into that and enjoy that process of life.
Speaker 3:And that's the beauty of group calls. I always loved that. I think girls get scared of group calls because they think that all of their struggles are going to be aired out. Sometimes it is, and you'll find that a lot of other people struggle with the same thing when you connect. But two like yeah, I remember feeling really good when I was able to provide knowledge to all these other girls competing about what they should be looking for in the media. Like at my core, I loved doing that anyways and that was really cool and I'm glad that was helpful for people when we collaborated.
Speaker 3:And yeah, like it was cool to hear from somebody who had a lot of political knowledge on something, because I didn't really have that. I didn't have that legal experience, and so being able to network and listen to other people is a huge skill. You know what it's a big skill as a title holder too. All you do half the time is listen to people when you're out at appearances and be a good listener. That's something that I said. Actually, they they asked me a question in my Miss Wisconsin interview the year that I had won and I said something about as much as we talk and hear ourselves talk. I want to be a better listener as a title holder, and that was really important to me. So, as you're preparing, we always want to do the mock interviews and we always want to be the like, practicing our skills, but sometimes listening and having candid conversation with just people is the best, and so that's why I really appreciated your approach to group calls and I'm excited to host some of my own, I know.
Speaker 1:Well, it's so crazy because I started off just doing one-on-ones and I had a coach that was encouraging me to do groups because of like so much value that could be provided and I was like gosh, I just don't think my clients would want to do that. And now it's one of my favorite things to do is these group calls and to see the relationships that are built. You've seen it now too, lila is like on social media when members of the fam from different States like get to run into each other at things and like the relationships that were formed. Just so cool, but yeah.
Speaker 3:I think sorry, I was going to say it's like when you run into, if you're in a sorority, I see girls like this, like any generation, and you're like part of this specific group and you just immediately have this connection. Because of it, it's like, it's kind of like that. But yeah, well, I mean.
Speaker 1:That's why we call it the fam. It's like a family, like it's a fearlessly authentic mastermind, but it's a fam, so love it. That's really good and I'm glad that you saw the benefit too. I think it's really empowering that you get to share your own unique perspectives and relate, but then also see the new understanding and enlightenment that happens with the other people on that call. So it's another way of immersing yourself in practicing, avoiding that criticism and learning how to lean into yourself and to your own strengths, rather than, um, you know, when you get to competition and you're feeling intimidated because you know you haven't really had that practice, you haven't forced yourself to really just lean into yourself. So, yeah, I think it's really beneficial, but I'm glad and having those conversations, like you said, is incredibly important.
Speaker 1:That was the best prep that I had. I had a uh, I had a director that said no more mock interviews for you. You would risk becoming overly rehearsed and a little too pageant, patty, and we don't want that to happen. The way I want you to prep for an interview right now is through casual conversations with people about topics that are going on in the world, about your initiative, about what you want to do. As Miss Wisconsin, that's the best way that you're going to prep and, from our perspective, with Fearlessly Authentic. If our goal is to have a conversation in that interview room, then yeah, practice having conversations, not doing mock interviews where you're getting a whole bunch of random feedback from your mock panel. That may be helpful but oftentimes really just throws you off track and is more detrimental to your success than anything.
Speaker 3:I'll notice sometimes with calls with clients, when I'm just kind of like asking them open-ended questions in the beginning, like sometimes I'll be like okay, I do wanna have like this designated time for you to be asking me specific interview questions, absolutely, totally. So we'll have that time out in our call. But a lot of the times, like I'll notice them while I'm asking just open end questions about their life or whatever's going on in the world, and then you can almost tell that they're like trying to race to the finish line for you to start asking them questions and you're like no, like you don't realize that this is the prep right now too, like you're getting this prep unconsciously that I'm doing with you before we get to like the um, what's the word? Like the structured interview part where you practice your intro and then whatever it is so and the skills, the speaking skills that go along with it.
Speaker 1:Like you have to have that baseline of understanding. Oh, oh, back to the theme understanding who you are and why you are that way. And oftentimes you're on a coaching call with me or with Lila. That truly is what we're going to be doing. If I'm in the middle of a mock practice with you and it's just not going well because you just seem like you're a little bit off, that day I will literally stop it in the middle and be like all right, scratch that, that's not working today.
Speaker 1:Let's go into some other approach. And that's when we'll start just having more of a conversation where I will stay on the same topic and I'll ask more follow-up questions so that you can get a deeper dive into who you are. And we especially do that with things that are going on in the world, because those are so anxiety-inducing those types of questions can be when you're in an interview. So isn't it just more helpful to like actually have the conversation with someone and have a better understanding of why you feel the way that you do before you get thrown into an interview where they're asking and you just have to have, like a perfect answer?
Speaker 3:And it's so much less stressful to do it with somebody you appreciate and respect, and not on social media, not on Facebook. Yes, exactly, it turns you off from it completely.
Speaker 1:Well, that's the fun too for me as a coach. Like the challenge can be I could have a completely opposite political opinion from my clients. I could have completely opposite religious perspectives, but all I want to do is to empower them. Like all I want to do is help them have a better understanding of themselves and why they feel that way. I'm not interested in changing anyone's morals or values or opinions about things. I am interested in helping them be more well-rounded. But I learn a ton, a ton from my clients too. So it's just so fun. It's so fun, it's so good and that's all.
Speaker 3:I feel so it's just so fun, it's so fun, it's so good, and that's all.
Speaker 1:I feel like that's all I got. Yeah, I mean, we, we ironed that out pretty well. So okay, recap really quick the three points of media literacy. Go for it.
Speaker 3:Go to the local news stations, yep, look at who the sources are, who they talk to, who they couldn't talk to, all of that, and stop getting news off social media and we will have the sources that Lila mentioned, um, in the episode description.
Speaker 1:So go ahead and look at that, but can you just remind us again what those were?
Speaker 3:Yes, there's a podcast called the Skim. Usually it's short episodes of what's going on that day and explanation of how it affects you, basically, and then national news online it's called AP News and we'll have that linked. Those are the ones that I use specifically. There's a lot of good ones out there, oh and NPR. There's a lot of good ones out there, oh and NPR. There's a lot of good ones out there, obviously. But those are some good places to get started that are pretty like low level stress, I would say.
Speaker 1:The one that I like that is nonpartisan, is PolitiFact. It's just PolitiFactcom it has. I mean you can go in and do fact checking of different leaders, representatives, different industries, different topics in particular, so like, let's say that Israel is some of the more basic understanding of it, and then you can kind of start deeper diving into some of the stuff that you're more confused about or want to see what the differing opinions are. So that's one that I like. Actually, after the presidential debate a few weeks ago between President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, the next morning, that was the first thing that I did, because we did watch the whole debate. It was very entertaining, to say the least. But then the next day I was like I really got to know, like, what was true and what was false and like. So that was one thing that I did was like a fact check. It was really interesting because it broke things down and helped me have a better understanding.
Speaker 3:Yeah yeah, fact-checking is important.
Speaker 1:Lila, thank you so much for all of your insight about this. I'm sure we'll talk about it more. I know that we can do a deeper dive into a lot of these concepts in future episodes, but just given the landscape of what everyone is seeing right now across the United States and the world, I think I mean I'm hoping this is really helpful.
Speaker 3:Yeah, thanks for giving me the space to be nerdy and scholarly. I love it. Yeah, it's fun. Fun for me, really fun for me.
Speaker 1:My takeaways today from this podcast uh, the echo chamber. I think that was really, really fascinating to me and I'm going to like that's what I'm going to think about now every time I turn on the national news and just keep hearing them like have roundtable discussions about things.
Speaker 3:Like. The biggest reason why I picked this for my initiative was because I realized that there are so many people that don't get journalism 101 if you're not a student, which is crazy to me, I don't know why it's not a gen ed. I think they're starting to implement it more in high schools, which is nice, as like just courses that you can take, but more. We need more of it.
Speaker 1:We do need more. Yeah, that and financial literacy and intelligence. So much, so many things never used. That's what we need to bring on board next for, like, a future episode. Here is someone that um can talk about. Financial literacy. That would be really, really fun for us to talk about. Yeah, ah, so good, all right, cool. Well, we shall let you all go for now. We'll talk to you again next week. Be sure to check out the app, where you can find more exclusive podcast episodes. We have been having a lot of fun inviting guests and talking with a lot of you on our Get Coached Live exclusive episodes. So so much more for us to learn from all of you and for you to share with our community as well. So we love you all. Thanks for listening. Take care of yourselves.
Speaker 3:And I can put us on socials. We'll see you there. Bye.
Speaker 1:Bye. If you aspire to be as confident and accomplished as the women we talked to on this show, then this exclusive opportunity is tailor-made for you. I'm offering a complimentary, fearlessly authentic coaching consultation designed specifically for women like yourself. Have you ever compared yourself to others or worried you're not good enough? Do you get nervous about public speaking and always second-guess the things you've said? I've been there myself and have helped countless women conquer their private interview and onstage question, feel confident on and off stage, showcase their authenticity and purpose and ultimately win the title of their dreams.
Speaker 1:In the Fearlessly Authentic Coaching Program, you will develop award-winning interview skills, transform your platform, become a public speaking expert, overcome self-doubt, comparison and imposter syndrome, and be 100% prepared to not only win, but to succeed with your dream title, whether that's local, state, national or even global. Don't let doubt or hesitation hold you back any longer. Take the first step toward your success and sign up for your complimentary, no obligation coaching consultation today. Simply visit fearlesslyauthenticoachcom. Slash consultation and reserve your spot. Remember, your journey to greatness begins with a single decision Join the ranks of empowered women who dare to be fearlessly authentic. Thank you so much for listening, and here's to the confident, unstoppable you.
.png)