“There are a lot of times where you have to take chances and bet on yourself. If you’re a hard worker, it’s usually a pretty good bet.” - Hannah Storm

Checkout this week's new episode of #NoLimits featuring ESPN's Hannah Storm:

On today's episode, she's the former heavy metal DJ who went on to become the first woman in American TV history to host a broadcast network sports series, anchoring pre-game coverage of the MLB games. So how did this pioneer pave the way for women in sports broadcasting? You're about to find out.

R: Hannah Storm. Welcome to no limits!

H: It's so fun being here. Thanks for having me!

R: I'm thrilled to have you here. I've been an admirer of your career for some time now. You were at The Early Show at CBS.

H: Yes.

R: So I got to CBS just after.

H: I know you, were on weekends.

R:Yes. You did the 5 years there. But most of your career has been in the field of sports journalism and you Sports Center, host of Sports Center. You're an author, you are a producer, you have your own production company. You have a foundation that's very near and dear that we're going to get to about your life and helping children. And you were the first woman to ever solo host. This is crazy to me. What year was this?

H: I mean I was at a tenure at NBC where Dick Ebersol who ran NBC Sports just. I mean he was fantastic. We had almost every sports property out there and I was the first woman I think you're going to say to solo host a major sports broadcast, so I solo hosted World Series, NBA playoffs, NBA Finals, Olympics. I mean it was you know the list went on and on. But it was the real glory days certainly. And NBC Sports now obviously had they just had the Super Bowl, they have the Olympics. But back in the day they they pretty much had everything. So it was an incredible decade to be there and we definitely broke a lot of ground particularly at the network-level for a woman.

R: Absolutely.

H: Hosting, hosting major sporting events.

R: That is that is definitely a part of your story and I want to get to some of the other elements in all of that. When it comes to your story your dad was already really into the sports industry. Your mom was in real estate?

H: Yeah, my dad was like this hot shot young sports executive when I was growing up, so we lived all around the country which is why my mother got into real estate because we bought and sold so many houses.

R: So did you always think that you wanted to be in the sports industry yourself?

H: I knew that I really was into acting when I was in high school, and I loved performing and I was even my school mascot.

R: What was your school mascot?

H: I was a wildcat.

R: Was there a head covering to be a wildcat?

H: I did not have a head covering but I must say that I did…I went to Notre Dame, but I got into Duke and I must say that I actually received calls at my house would you please come and be a Blue Devil.

R: Oh my gosh!

H: So apparently, I had a pretty good reputation as a mascot. I think that’s kind of funny.

R: That’s really funny.

H: But I was always a ham. And you know when I was growing up and it wasn't a school night, we went to sporting events usually basketball games. Most of his career was spent in the EBA and NBA. So I remember going to these games and how fun it was and I really did want to go into broadcasting when I was at Notre Dame. And my immediate thought went to sports because it was part of my DNA, and something that we enjoyed and I associated it with something fun. And I just thought well it might be more fun than sitting in a city council meeting or something like that. And I was right at the time didn't quite grasp how daunting a prospect it would be to do that as a woman. But at the same time that really made me all the more determined to do it.

R: Yeah. Tell tell me I can't do something. That's when I want it more than ever.

H: Exactly.

R: When you were in school then, were you studying communications was that the path?

H: I was a double major in communications and international government.

R: Did you ever think maybe politics was the path?

H: I did think about that, and I've always one of the great things about being a government major is you do write quite a bit. And so I always give young people advice that want to go into broadcasting and I say first and foremost you've got to be a good writer.

R: Yes.

H: No matter what it is, you have to be able to write. You have to be able to formulate thoughts. And also you know all of that relates to storytelling.

R: Yeah.

H: So it's really fundamental and really important and I think that sometimes not everyone realizes that. So that was that was a very specific skill that I got out of that and really working at CBS working in news. I loved it. And I did a lot of our, you know big political interviews. I was on Capitol Hill some and at the White House and I absolutely loved it. It was incredible.

R: How did you get the first journalism jobs?

H: This is pretty good, because there was no internet at the time.

R: Right.

H: So I got some trade publications Radio and Records was one at the time and then there was actually an old magazine called Broadcasting Inc. And I answered want ads. So if there was a want ad for this job or that I I made a tape. You know I sent my tapes everywhere, I got hundreds and hundreds of rejections I mean really nobody wanted a woman sportscaster. People said you know, I’ll hire a woman over my dead body, or my audience won't accept a woman my my lead sportscaster. He doesn't want to work with a woman. So it wasn't exactly PC back in the day. And so my father and I were going on a little jog, and we used to go running together. And he said you know, there are a lot more radio stations in the world than television stations. So let's think about that. I was like you’re right dad and. And then he was like. And basically how about just doing anything on the air, and you love music. I was like absolutely. So what I did is I went to a studio I basically manufactured a like a DJ tape and so I had two tapes one from college because I had extensively worked in TV and radio all my four years at Notre Dame. So I already had some tape there so I made a I just kind of made up like a music like a DJ DJ tape. And lo and behold I got two job offers the one to do news in San Angelo, Texas which was kind of remote and then one to be a heavy metal DJ in Corpus Christi, Texas. So I mean what are you going to do.

R: You were a heavy metal DJ?

H: Of course which is where I got my name Hannah Storm. Hannah is my given name but Storm is not my last. My last name was Storen when I was born, so I was Hannah Storm at C-101 by the sea.

R: Were you into heavy metal music?

H: I was into rock, all forms of music which is really funny because my daughter is now in the music industry which is but you know I've always loved music so I you know it was a head banger era of heavy metal music it was like the glory days of The Scorpions, and Quiet Riot, Def Leppard, Hagar Schon Aaronson Shrieve, Van Halen and we would play all those back to back to back. So my shift was 10 at night to 2 in the morning and we were actually licensed in Sinton, Texas so we were, the actual studio was in the middle of farm country and so I had a CB radio in my car and I would drive there very late at night and it was. There were farms all around where our station was located. Our entire station was about the size of the room that you and I were sitting in now and I would have to get out of my car and chase all the cows away from the gate that were wandering around the neighborhood and really quickly open the gate drive my car through get out and shut the gate before any cows got on the property of the radio station. So literally every night.

R: This is definitely the makings of a movie, by the way. 

H: Yeah and cows do not scare easily. I don't know if you know that fact, I know you learn a lot of things on the show but I just want you to know if you ever have to scare a cow. Almost impossible. So yeah and the generator would go down and I would like crank it up by hand. So funny. It was… It was a great job and then I got more tape, and then I got hired at well. I saw another job offer through another want ad for an ABC station in Houston called KSRR and '97 rock and so I took my old tape and I really still wanted to do sports and I saw that it was spinning records on the weekends and morning and afternoon drive sports. So, I took my resume and my tape and I drove to Houston and I waited in the lobby and I asked the receptionist to let me know what the program director looked like when he when he walked out at the end of the day.

R: So smart.

H: And so he did and…So I just popped up out of my seat and stuck my hand out and gave him my resume and my tape and just said hey I hope you get a chance to look at it. And sure enough, like a week later I got a call and I went and interviewed. So after about eight months in Corpus Christi I ended up going going to Houston to work in radio and radio radio such an incredible background for television, and virtually every great sportscaster of my era. 100% of them started in radio and I still love radio. To this day.

R: Your story reminds me of the women who created The Skimm, the newsletter. They they they gave this advice about being a stalker but be a limited stalker, so you standing outside waiting for the program director. That's your limited stalker move. And my producer Taylor Dunn got her job here at ABC News by waiting for, initially many years ago by waiting outside of the door of somebody else's office and found her way into… So it still can work now.

H: You have to be tenacious without being obnoxious.

R: Right. It's a balancing act. Were you at the time, were you doubting yourself - were you thinking I'm making the right steps, were you feeling like oh how did I end up in Corpus Christi what was going through your head?

H: No. I just was, I'm very big on visualizations, so I had seen on television The Olympics and the really the only women who were doing prominent who had any kind of prominent sports role were at The Olympics. That's the only place that you would see it. And usually it was women from the morning shows. It was either Kathleen Sullivan who doing The Olympics with CBS or or Jane Pauley when they were at ABC. So I mean at NBC excuse me so those were my role models. All the other sportscasters were men. So it was really hard to find a woman to identify with, so my goals my really tangible goals out of college where I want to host The Olympics, and I want to host a network morning show. And so I remember distinctly even being a lot of what we had to do after hours where we would go to events and just nightclubs and stuff like that for when you’re a radio DJ. That's the kind of thing you do right. You have a corporate appearance at or corporate’s even too big a word!

R: Please, welcome…

H: Oh yeah so you go introduce a band or have some contests or whatever and I remember sitting there thinking I'm in Corpus Christi graduated from college when I was 20 so I'm like 20 or 20 years old, I'm in Corpus Christi and I'm thinking but I am going to do those things. Like this is, I don't know what the path is because the path isn't spelled out for somebody who wants to do what I want to do especially because no women have ever done this but I could see it in my mind and literally clearly kept that vision in my mind.

R: That's awesome.

H: Yeah. And it took a lot of risk along the way. My first full time TV job I went to Charlotte, North Carolina where 80% of what I talked about was NASCAR. That was terrifying. I had no idea what NASCAR was. But I always figured you know, with enough hard work you can figure anything out. And people will respect you and I guess it is you.

R: As long as you learn it, as long as you take it on yourself. You know you figure out how to get the interview done.

H: Sure.

R: So you get through that and then you get there and then you put your head down you absolutely figure out what you need to know.

H: Which is what I did. And I remember all the drivers because they were at that time, that’s where it was completely corporately driven. So it was all about what tire you have, you know what company you're driving for. And so the drivers in NASCAR were hyper aware of the fact that they needed coverage and so they were incredible. They would sit and explain basics to you about this that, it was in their best interest and they really understood that. And at the time it was even a smaller sport than it is now. And I mean I've never never experienced anything like that time in Charlotte where the actual athletes are people who were competing or almost partners with the people who were covering the sport. And it was again you know something that they wanted you to understand they were willing to go to whatever lengths they had to explain it was really cool time.

R: That is really cool and really interesting too because I think when you're coming in as an outsider into anything and I felt this way early on in my career it was this balancing act of who you can trust to ask the simple questions of versus who it's going to backfire on you. You don't want to look like you don't know what you're doing but you need to. You need to find allies and people that you can ask the simple questions of.

H: And the smartest people will understand that someone who ask questions is confident.

R: Yeah.

H: Because it's really because of insecurity that we don't get ask questions.

R: Such a good point.

H: And so the people who are who are going to get it are the people that you want to align yourself with.

R: When you ultimately did get into sports journalism you were talking earlier about some of the sexism you faced the fact that not only were program directors worried about the viewers but the actual person sitting next to you on set. Was oftentimes an issue. How did you handle that?

H: That was you know I had a lot of incidents along the way not just with that but sometimes with when you're dealing with sports franchises you know when we get to NBC you know certain teams depending on who the general manager was, who the owner was, who the coach was. You know they weren't comfortable having women around. There were some franchises that they would say well you know you can't interview my players before a game you know we'll let your male counterparts do it but you can't.

R: Because, what was their reasoning behind that?

H: Distracting.

R: Wow.

H: You know, they are distracting or we just don't want you know where…

R: He can’t focus on the game because he spoke to a woman before the game?

H: Like it was really funny yeah. And then I had also situations that I didn't really care for particularly so. I remember when I was in Houston and I'm kind of jumping around your question. But sometimes storytelling is the best way.

R: You're a great storyteller.

H: So yeah thank you. So there were a couple of situations in Houston so one with The Astros. There was a pitcher named Bob Knepper and the Astros were very good at the time. They ended up you know playing The Mets in the NLCS. I mean they were they were contenders. He was extremely conservative. And he felt like it was very inappropriate or went against his beliefs to have a woman in the locker room. The best thing to do I found and I thought in that situation was absolutely to respect him and his beliefs because he said that he wouldn't do an interview with anyone if I was in the locker room. So then that put me in a position where I was going to put my colleagues in a tough spot. So I said well would you mind if we on the night say you pitch could we just meet at a neutral spot and do our interview and he said that's because I didn't I didn't really like going in locker rooms either. I felt like that was just uncomfortable for everybody. They're dirty nasty smelly gross places and really no one should have to go in one and all my male counterparts hated going in too. So we all did. But this was a situation where it was various gender specific. And you know what was so great is we ended up first of all I got all these one on one interviews with this guy. Every time he pitched you know and then we develop I guess because I was so respectful of him, he was respectful of me and then the whole team followed suit. It was really you know you have to approach people sometimes as individuals and sometimes you know you have to understand that relationships are paramount. It's not always your way or the highway that you're not always just going to be the proverbial bull in a china shop.

R: Have you always inherently known that or was there a turning point along the way that made you realize that?

H: Honestly I think my dad being in the business I understood that the business that the sports business is about people in the end and that it's about people from the front office to the people playing the game. And so I got that. And and by the same token the Houston Oilers had the first starting black quarterback in the NFL. This guy Warren Moon who had come from the Edmonton Oilers who now he's obviously a household name. But but Warren Moon was a trailblazer in his own right in the NFL. I NFL locker rooms are there. There are a lot of people in there. There are a lot of men. I was very young and it was just something I didn't want to do. I didn't want to go in the locker room. He we very much related to each other as I was you know young woman breaking into.

R: Two outsiders.

H: Entirely male business. And he on his part which I have always admired. He came outside of the locker room and conducted all his interviews outside the locker room so that I wouldn't be I wouldn't stand out and be ostracized in any way. So that was a cool experience. So all the media interviewed him outside the locker room. So there were just a lot of different ways to go about it. And it was situational. You know one thing with the Oilers, The Gamblers you know whatever the team was whatever the situation was I just tried to work it out.

R: 2010. ESPN suspended one of your colleagues at the time the Pardon the Interruption host.

H: Tony Kornheiser. Yeah.

R: This is now eight years ago so you probably you've moved on from it.

H: It's so funny to think about, because I had come to ESPN from as you mentioned from The Early Show from CBS, so at the time and styles I think had to do with an outfit that I had on. And he made a really inappropriate remark about about an outfit that I was wearing. The funny thing is it was an outfit that I had worn on The Early Show multiple times. So it was Stuart Weitzman boots, a plaid skirt, and like a Dolce & Gabbana like a red sweater.

R: Can I just stop you there for one second. Here's what. This is what makes me sad what makes me sad is even after all of this. Even after your career and everything that you’ve accomplished, you still not feel this but your explaining to our viewer what the outfit was so that everybody is aware that you weren't crossing any lines that you weren't doing but like the fact of the matter is that you feel. And I don't want to put feelings on you but if but it's like you still to this day have to defend the outfit because of what this this other person had to say.

H: It's really sad because obviously you know any any time things like this happen it it comes from a place of some form of ignorance. About about you know and judgment.

R: Yeah.

H: And you know we live now in an extraordinarily judgmental society which is unfortunate. But back then you know he made this you know completely inappropriate comment. And and it's just funny to think about because A) there’s obviously there's you know no sense of fashion there. But but you know when I think about the way that sort of fashion evolved and the way that that you know women on TV are perceived and what we should wear shouldn't wear. I remember when I was at NBC I always wore suits because I kind of like looked like one of the guys suits and jackets and then you know morning television’s always kind of led the way in that regard so things became like more dresses, more feminine. And then when I went back into sports I would say that I dressed probably on the more more like a morning show host would and I brought that sensibility I think to ESPN, and now the funny thing is that now that that's gone way way past me because now I'm definitely still one of the more conservative… I dress probably more. More on the quote on quote conservative side because that whole that whole fashion train you know has kept going you know in a way that women really feel and rightly so, empowered to wear whatever the heck they want, and whatever they feel good in whatever that makes them feel confident when they go on television. Because confidence is key when you're on TV.

R: Right.

H: Or you know doing anything where you're like sort of putting yourself out there and I really respect the fact that you know people are more and more now especially women feeling like they can be individuals and express themselves in not only in their opinions but in what they wear. And in every way that they have every right to. So to have somebody sort of pass judgment on me on that on that kind of really superficial level. That wasn't a good time. That was that was unpleasant. And you know what it did. It really doesn't come down to the individual that's said that, it comes down to the fact that when you say something like that about someone else and particularly about a colleague in the business, you open the door for haters. You give you implicitly when you criticize someone you give other people permission to do the same. You're opening the floodgates and you're empowering other people to say wow if this man who I really respect and I watch all the time if he thinks this about her I'm going to pile on.

R: Yeah.

H: You know and that's where you don't understand the damage that's done. And that's why I think you have to be very very careful what you say about other people other public figures other people in the business. You just, you just can't go there because you are you're encouraging other people to do the same. And that's just the sad reality. And they have access to you. So the amount of hate that I got because of that comment, that was much worse than just a colleague having the bad judgment to make a comment like that. It was that it exploded into you know a world of hate that that was wrong that I didn't. Obviously no one ever deserves that. But but that's where we all have to understand and remember every time you're tweeting or talking or you're asked about someone, you have to really understand that the implications are that the way that media and social media are working now are far reaching. So we all it's just it's a great reminder.

R: Especially I would imagine the frustration of someone who has worked as hard as you have. And when you see people in roles like the roles that you have held you don't get there because you wear a certain outfit. You get there because you work around the clock. You make tradeoffs in your own life. You make choices that are not the easy fun choices sometimes to be there so to be questioned on that level and to be targeted on that level. That's where I feel like if I was in your shoes that's where I would feel the most anger because it's a matter of you don't understand what I have done. Like how hard I have worked in my lifetime, what I have given up in order to be in this role and you just smear it and take it all down like that and to your point. Also in this day and age when there's Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and millions of other social media outlets for people, it's so easy to say nasty things which isn't a revelation but in our role. How do you think about that in a world that is sort of pushing constantly for more opinion, more editorialization of what you’re seeing as a journalist?

H: I think that there is a big distinction between personal attacks, and which I don't think there's ever any place for. And if you have something either supportive or or constructive or something that you need to get off your chest. Obviously a one on one conversation is always best. I had this conversation. In fact it was almost an argument I had with my daughter so I have two college age daughters and they wanted me to publicly stand up for something that happened to one of my colleagues and they felt like if I didn't publicly stand up for it if I didn't go on Twitter and rant and rave about it that that implicitly I was agreeing with what had happened to this person. And I said No, here's what I do. I pick up the phone and I talk one on one with this person. Right. Like that's like that's a real that's that's a real relationship.

R: Yeah.

H: But what we do now is we see people playing out relationships and sitting on the sides of issues on Twitter or Facebook or wherever and what that's really doing is accomplishing nothing. You know you might get you might stand on on one side of a person or the other. And so you know half the people are going to like you have the people are going to disagree with you but what are you really accomplishing. Are you really doing anything. Do you really even have a relationship with that person or are you really servicing them in any way are you being a true friend? No.

R: It's almost more self-serving than being a real friend.

H: It’s about your followers.

R: Right.

H: It's about your likes. It has nothing to do with a real relationship with that person. I'm a relationship person. And that's just the way I that is just the way I deal with it. So you will never see me unless it's something complimentary where I thought and I don't know Carson Wentz from Adam. OK. The quarterback that got injured with Philly that was incredibly classy that stood by and all he did was make positive comments about Nick Foles his back up and it was so great for the team. So I might say something like boy, I so admire the way this person handled that situation. How great was that for the team. I will say something like that, you would never hear me ever deride or or get on any individual you know that I felt like I wouldn't call up the telephone and speak to personally one on one. Issues? That's a whole other thing. You know, institutions need to be accountable. Absolutely. You know those kinds of things. A hundred and ten percent you know if it's USA gymnastics or the NFL or whoever it is, of course those are opinions that are valued those are stories that need to be pushed. Those are things that we need to talk about. It's incumbent upon us to do so as journalists - individuals not so much.

R: How do you think about the fact that so many sports maybe maybe it's a totally inaccurate thing to say that sports have become more politicized. What do you think of that?

H: Everything has.

R: OK so that's what I was going to say that I believe sports have become more politicized.

H: Everything has, because it’s intertwined. So everything has once once political figures bring sports into the conversation, it immediately becomes a sports story. Right. So you know once. I mean that's that's the line if you're if you're trying to draw the line between like where should we talk about politics when you know as as a sports entity, it's when sports stories become political -  when they are when they are brought by the political community into into the conversation. So, in other words the national anthem. Standing for the national anthem. That's that's a completely legitimate sports story to talk about. It intertwines with politics and personal beliefs and you know a whole another large spectrum of issues in our society. And so that becomes part of the sports conversation, that becomes part of and it's incumbent upon you to cover that and the breadth of that. And that's you know sports intersects with and has intersected in recent years with a lot of very important issues - social issues and there are usually stories that drive that like a Penn State or like Michael Sam or like what happened with the owner of the L.A. Clippers. You know where we're talking about issues in sports like domestic violence or sexuality or sexual orientation or racism, bigotry in all its forms. Those are things that we used to never talk about in sports because sports was considered the quote unquote escape. It was like well back on the field. You know all about X's and O's and all these subjects and frankly these important journalistic voices were not heard from in sports. And then all of these really important issues were discussed in sports because sports was the escape. But now things have happened where that has opened up the breadth of what we talk about in sports. I I I think it's great because sports is a microcosm of life. And you know it's intertwined with everything else so it's the cool thing too is it's really expanded what we think about as a sports journalist.

R: It's a more interesting job for you.

H: Well, there's more opportunity for others is really where I was going. From the traditional sports journalism, what we used to see is now the face of sports journalism is much much more diverse than it used to be. And all of these important voices are weighing in on issues that affect and are critical to the sports world. So I think it's really opened up the job market so to speak for you know who is a sportscaster and what does a sportscaster look like and sound like and what's their perspective. Now it's so much broader than it used to be.

R: What was the impetus for starting your production company. This is about a decade ago now.

H: I left CBS News and I had always wanted to just have control over some level of content. So when I was in news I always have had this really strong creative sense. I wrote a couple of books because you can do that when you're when you're in news, but you know what you don't always have the chance to create your own programming. And so when I left CBS and I wasn't sure where I was going to go next I wanted to grandfather that into wherever I went. So, I started that out of my daughter's bedroom. I was like you’re gone. You go to sleep with your sister. I'm starting my little production company and I simultaneously started a production company and a foundation like like really at the same time because wherever I went next and I'm really happy I did it this way, I wanted to grandfather both of those into whatever contracts or wherever I went next. I had always worked for big huge huge companies and I thought I want to have my own, I want ownership of something. I want to be able to to be my own boss. In a sense you know I might not make the large part of my income that way but it will feed my creative sense and and you know feed my soul.

R: That's a great business decision on your part.

H: I think it really has been and I also with the foundation you know when you're in news necessarily, you can't put your name on it on a foundation and all the doctors that I had spoken to really wanted my name on my foundation because the medical condition that we deal with is very specific and very it bears a little bit of explanation. And so they had they had advised me they said could you please make it the Hannah Storm Foundation because your name has a high recognition level and we can take care of explaining the medical part that can be part 2. But Part 1 we need. We need people to just kind of sit up and take notice because it has your name on it so that was another very practical practical decision that I made.

R: And the foundation is very personal to you. Talk about a little bit about first of all what it does, what you do and what happened in your lifetime?

H: So I was born with a port wine stain which you probably have seen someone that almost looks like the way it got its name is it looks like someone took a glass of red wine and just spilled it all over your face and it's permanent. And so mine covered my left eye and underneath my eye. When I was born and then my parents back in the day the technology, laser technology wasn't there to really take care of it the way that it is now but they just I went to a series of doctors and surgeries all growing up because it is right there on your face and it really always looked like someone just like socked me in the eye I looked like a shiner all the time. And so it's not covered by plastic surgery these kinds of surgeries aren’t covered by insurance because they're considered plastic surgery which is such a misnomer because they are completely disfiguring, they can affect your vision. Sometimes a birthmark is on the brain and sometimes it can even be deadly so it's the technical term is a vascular anomaly and it comes in a lot of forms and a child can be born. It's something that can escalate quickly, a doctor might not know what they're looking at, and then all of a sudden this child is just looking completely disfigured and it can affect everything from your breathing to your eyesight. As I mentioned so many things. So what I wanted to do was start a foundation for education and then, so that people and doctors and dermatologists could understand actually wanted to start dealing with some of the CPT, the insurance codes which we've got a couple of those changed so that certain things can be covered by insurance which is huge. And we're going to go back and do more of that. And then actually just paying for surgeries. So we paid for surgeries for kids around the world and the surgeries are all done either here in New York or in Berlin and they're all done by the same surgeon and he is the premier surgeon in the world. He's a South African doctor who has an institute at Lenox Hill, a birthmark institute. But he is literally the best doctor in the world. So he does all our surgeries.

R: I'm certain there are many families all over the world who are so appreciative.

H: They find us. You know, it's great. I mean that's a great thing about the Internet right. If somebody can find you somebody from Belarus or a small town in China can find you and you know write you, and get in touch with you. You know we just got a packet a couple of weeks ago from a mother in India. And that and those stories are are super heartbreaking because you know nobody really knows where to turn. I mean my parents didn't. And they just don’t know where to go for help or how they could possibly afford it because it's very expensive and most kids need 10 around 10 surgeries.

R: Is that did you have how many surgeries did you end up having?

H: I had probably seven or eight and then I just gave up because it looks better but luckily I work in an industry where I wear a lot of makeup.

R: Well I would never know.

H: I'm really good at covering it up. Like if I, if we were sitting here and I didn't have makeup on you'd probably say that you know somebody hit me in the face.

R: Wow.

H: Yeah yeah.

R: So one of our viewers actually wrote in and you're a mother. Three girls. And this viewer wrote in and and she wrote in that she loves the show. But one of her issues as we never ask who picks up the kids.

H: Oh right.

R: Who does the grocery shopping? All of that right. So your daughters are mostly grown up?

H: I have 2 in college, and one in high school.

R: So along the way. Who is doing that in your home?

H: You know, it was just kind of changed through the times. What I did is I always figured out what my kids sort of school schedule were, where were we in our life. And then I only looked at jobs that I felt where the hours worked best. So which is pretty interesting. So when they were really little I was at NBC and I worked on weekends. They didn't know but I was home all week and the sports all worked on weekends. Then when I went to CBS I started this long long about 15 years of working only morning and early shows like I never looked at anything else because I thought if I can get up in the morning super super early at like 4:00 o'clock in the morning and then be home when they come home from school that's my money. That's like the max time.

R: Yeah.

H: You know and be off on weekends. So it's really changed through the years and obviously there’s some travel involved. My husband is also in broadcasting and so we managed to through the years not both be gone at the same time almost ever. And that worked out really well and there were a couple of Olympics where we both had to go and grandparents came in. But I'm a big big cook. So, I cook like crazy.

R: What's your favorite thing to cook?

H: I cook I literally cook everything like we could do an entire hour on food.

R: Let's do that because I have a big food fan. I like to eat.

H: I love to cook. I cook all the time and it's sort of my passion, you know creative people. A lot of the times you'll find that they like to cook. So I love that and I have friends over all the time my house is kind of the go to. And so I would say I do a lot of that stuff. I do all that. You know all the pickups, go to all the games. And I would say that it was pretty much dominated though by if I had to give any advice to like a working mom it's so hard because it's hard to really have choices sometimes right. Your job is what it is. But the thing that I always did was like OK where are they are they you know in preschool and then I want to be around. You know I just tried to maximize like look at the time of day that was really important to be around which I think when they come home, dinner, sporting events later when they play you know you want to try to be there for as much of that as possible and just you know you just grab your time with them you know because they don't talk half the time especially when they're teenagers so you kind of got to hang around in case somebody wants to say something. And driving in the car is a good one.

R: Yeah my parents would joke that we weren't allowed to speak to me in the mornings before school when I was a teenager. What's been along the way the toughest lesson for you?

H: I think patience. I think patience is really hard. I think when you're the kind of person that's just go go go all the time. And you're driven, and you’re focused, and you're so serious and you want your show to be so good and you know you're just you're just you know pushing yourself pushing everybody else you know and you just you know you just I just think patience is just hard. You know if there was like one virtue that I would say that I'm sure that impatience has really really served me well in a lot of ways but at the same time if there's one thing that I always have to remind myself of and that if I could even go back and just say I wish I was a little more this. It would be patience.

R: Patience I think to your point. Impatience serves you well professionally it helps you get ahead in some cases in a lot of them, having patience internally. It serves you well internally. You feel better you feel happier you actually enjoy the journey and the moments along the way more when you have that. But I'm the same way I'm impatient and I want everything. You know I want to work and see the results of that work right.

H: Right.

R: Worst advice you've received along the way.

H: Oh my gosh. That is such a good question! Oh my gosh no one has ever asked me that. I think it was. Yes. Good job Rebecca.

R: I love the questions no one's ever asked before.

H: I would say it was in my first job when I was at that radio station, when I was in I got it. I got the job offer to go to the big city and go to Houston I was seeing there Corpus Christi my boss was like you're just going to go and get eaten alive like I would really advise you I would just advise you to not go. You know, you're just going to go and you could fail and blah blah blah. That's all I needed. And I'm like I'm so out of here. But I would say that was the worst piece of advice I ever got.

R: It's funny you say that because I remember sitting at a dinner table. I was like some of my parents friends had invited us to this dinner. And there was a woman at the dinner that my parents didn't know that was a friend of them. And I was you know in either junior high or high school and they asked me what I wanted to do and I said I want to move to New York. And she looked at me and she said she was from New York. She's like you will be eaten alive in New York.

H: An eaten alive phrase again!

R: And I actually to be honest I I looked at it as well this lady has been in New York so maybe she knows something that I don't know. It didn't ever keep me from going to New York. It made me want to be a stronger person, and actually what I thought when she said it was do I come across as somebody who's not that strong. Like what. Anyway I don't I don't think that that was the case. I think it's just like something that someone would say.

H: Well they want to keep you somewhere too, they’ll say that.

R: Yeah totally.

H: But you know always it just comes down to betting on yourself right. So I mean you asked about my production company. I I've set aside a portion of my paycheck ever since that day to go to that company and bet on myself and bet that it would work and bet that I could do it. That takes a lot of discipline, and self-belief and you know really just old fashioned nose to the grindstone. But there are a lot of times where you have to take chances and bet on yourself. And you know if you're a hard worker it's usually a pretty good bet.

R: I would bet on you any day. Hannah Storm thank you so much for joining me. 

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