Broadcast journalist Elizabeth Faublas sat down with students as part of the University’s Coffee with a Coach program, giving students professional advice about the media industry in a casual setting.
Faublas, an alumnus of the University, graduated in 1991 with a degree in communications and a minor in business. She said her main goal with the event was to help “arm” students by telling them about her experiences. “I love to mentor,” she said.
Faublas said she landed a job with Time Warner out of college, working in the master control department. She said she was responsible for making sure movies and programs started and ended on time, a job she admitted was not part of her ideal career path. She also briefly worked for NY1 in the master control department.
She then landed a job with Bloomberg News for 14 years, working as a writer-producer for the program “Bloomberg on the Money.” While there, she researched and wrote about business, politics and the economy and simplified business jargon so the public could understand what was being said.
Her last two years at Bloomberg were spent on the stock exchange floor, a setting she described as being a “man’s world.”
Faublas now works as a news anchor for the program, “Currents,” a program put on by the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn on its channel New Evangelization Television.
Faublas covers local and international news while weaving in a Catholic perspective. She recently traveled to Lebanon to cover the pope’s visit and attended the 2012 Al Smith Charity Dinner at the Waldorf Hotel where President Obama and Mitt Romney were present.
Although her main priority is working as an anchor, Faublas still does the work of a writer-producer, researching stories and editing her scripts. “Never be above your position,” she said to those present.
Faublas said her St. John’s education helped make her into the worker and person she is today. “It centered me,” she said. Faublas said the school also helped prepare her intellectually for her career.
Saridia Morgan, a senior public relations major, said she came away from the event learning a lot about being flexible in one’s career.
“What one may study may not always be the job they carry out in life,” Morgan said.
“No matter the amount of knowledge one has about a specific topic, always brush up on new things… it will only make you stronger.”
