Workplace tour turns into dream job

Story illustrates the power of mentoring

By California State University, Bakersfield

April 9^th, 2020

Norma Hernandez is helping cover the “story of a lifetime” at Bakersfield’s premiere news station, and it all started with a simple workplace tour arranged by her mentor.

Hernandez and mentor Janelle Capra were wrapping up their visit to KGET’s studios in downtown Bakersfield Feb. 21 when they ran into News Director Mike Trihey.

“You need to meet Norma,” Capra said she told Trihey, a longtime friend. “She’s going to be graduating soon and she’s interested in journalism. You need to connect.”

Right then and there, Trihey invited the pair into his office, described a producing job he was about to post, and asked Hernandez about her experience and ambitions.

Hernandez did, followed that up with a formal application and a couple more interviews, and on March 17 began working at KGET as a lifestyle producer.

She beat out more than 40 other people for the job.

“I was very fortunate, especially considering what’s going on right now,” Hernandez said, referring to the COVID-19 crisis. “And I’m really proud to work at this organization because I’ve seen the work that they do and how much they care about what they produce.

“It's also the perfect time to be a journalist. I wish I could do more for them.”

Hernandez and Capra, a marketing consultant and executive director of the Alzheimer’s Disease Association of Kern County, were matched up in September 2019 as part of the CSUB Alumni Association’s `Runner Alumni Mentor Program.

RAMP pairs CSUB juniors, seniors, graduate students and alumni of the last five years with CSUB graduates and other professionals who can help them transition from school to the workforce.

The fourth cycle of RAMP will conclude in May. Recruitment of mentors and mentees for the fifth cycle, covering the 2020-2021 academic year, will start this summer. (If you'd like to mentor, you can let us know now.)

Hernandez, who will graduate from CSUB in May with a bachelor’s degree in communications and minor in political science, joined RAMP because she’s a first-generation college student and hoped a mentor could offer insight and advice to prepare her for a career before she graduates. Capra is a 1996 CSUB communications grad who joined out of a desire to give back to her alma mater.

When they first sat down together, Capra suggested Hernandez come up with a list of goals for their mentoring relationship and offered to be her “media fairy godmother,” taking her on visits to media outlets and nonprofits with which she’s worked over the years as a PR professional.

They toured the Alzheimer’s Disease Association, American General Media, which owns radio stations, the Bakersfield Ronald McDonald House and KGET.

When the duo ran into Trihey, Capra seized the opportunity to get Hernandez an interview with him because, as she put it, “I learned in life you don’t get what you don’t ask for.”

Hernandez told Trihey about her background. The Delano native has been a features writer, opinions editor and digital managing editor for The `Runner, CSUB’s student newspaper and news website. Her digital experience includes podcasting, posting stories online and overseeing social media.

It was that experience, and the impression she made personally, that appealed to Trihey. It and the subsequent interviews catapulted her ahead of more than 40 other applicants, including many with more years in the business than she had, Trihey said.

“She’s got good common sense and I was impressed by her general overall determination to do a good job,” the veteran Bakersfield newsman said. “It seemed like she had the kind of work ethic that we require here at Channel 17.”

Trihey originally hired Hernandez to help produce a new 30-minute lifestyle show KGET plans to launch called Studio 17 Live. Hernandez will book guests, write introductions, clip segments of the broadcast and post those clips to various social media sites.

Studio 17 Live is on hold because of COVID-19, Trihey said, so Hernandez is working in the newsroom for now. She’s been cutting broadcast segments for the KGET news website and has written three stories, including COVID-19-related ones about teachers organizing a virtual parade for students and Adventist Health running a grocery store for employees.

“This is a story of a lifetime,” Trihey said of the pandemic, “and she gets it the first week of her career.”

Hernandez said she could see herself working for KGET for a long time, but long-term would love to produce a morning show like Today or documentaries.

“Visual storytelling is really important,” she said. “It captures more people’s attention to issues.”

No one is more thrilled that KGET hired Hernandez than Capra, who plans to continue mentoring through RAMP when the current cycle ends.

“I was so beyond excited the day Mike included me on the email to the staff (announcing Hernandez’s hiring),” Capra said. “It felt more exciting, I think, than if I had gotten the job.”