“Fox News@Night” host Shannon Bream discusses the power of being told “no,” her advice to interns, and what others might find surprising about her job to Trey Gowdy on “The Trey Gowdy Podcast.”
TREY GOWDY: Every part of that fascinated me, but the part that fascinated me the most [was] the guy who told you in Florida that you would never make it. Is that the same guy that recommended that we not buy Apple or Amazon stock or not start Michael Jordan on the high school basketball team?
SHANNON BREAM: Well, listen, you do remember Michael Jordan had some no’s in his life. I’m no Michael Jordan of broadcasting or basketball or anything else, but I do think it’s good. I always tell that story to our interns or when I speak at colleges or high schools because I want people to know, you know, listen, not everybody is going to get you. Not everybody’s going to see your potential. You’re going to get a lot of no’s. You’ll get many more no’s than you’ll get yes’s. But it’s okay.
If you have a passion — for me, as a person of faith, if you believe God is directing you to something, hang in there. There is purpose in getting knocked down. There’s purpose in being humbled. There’s purpose in feeling like you’re treading water — like you’re learning from all of those things, and it will only make you more sure about your dream and what you’re trying to pursue. All you need is that one person at each stage to say yes, I’m going to take a chance on you. I see something. And it’s okay to get fired. It’s okay.
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GOWDY: When my wife listens to this, she’s going to say that was so beautiful, that is such a Christ-like attitude. And what I’m thinking is, I hope you send a Christmas card to that guy in Florida every year to remind him of how bad his judgment was.
BREAM: Well, I mean, I think it’s just proof that it’s a subjective business. People will see you differently, and something that’s a perfect fit somewhere is not a great fit somewhere else, and you got to find your place, and you got to keep fighting.
I have so many friends along the way who say they left the business because they got tired of fighting to be recognized or to make it to that next promotion or make it to that next market. And they say to me now, like, gosh, I wish I wouldn’t have given up. And I think half of success in life in no matter what you do — as a mom or an astronaut or a lawyer or teacher, whatever it is — it’s just not giving up in the face of setbacks and adversity and people telling you no, it’s going to happen. No matter who you are, no matter how talented or not talented you think you are, you’re going to get [told] no. And so I think outlasting people is actually half the battle.
GOWDY: That is great advice. I hope young people take that to heart. Alright, I will switch gears with you a little bit. What is one part of your job, your current job, that people who don’t do that job would be surprised at or would not understand?
BREAM: You know, I do a ton, a ton, a ton of reading all day. Every day. I send out a big note to my team during the day. And it’s so funny because I remember one of [my husband] Sheldon’s aunts — who are lovely, wonderful people — they were like, well, so, does she go in at like, 10 o’clock at night, like, does she just, you know, go ahead and read the show, you know?
So I think sometimes people think that’s what we do. That is definitely part of the job, going in there and interacting with guests in interviews and doing the on-air part. I don’t think people realize how much that we prepare. I write a lot of the scripts. I have an amazing team that writes a lot of the scripts, but I do a ton of the research myself.
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I love to read and research. That’s one of those skills from being an attorney that definitely transferred into this. But I don’t think people realize I start that before lunch. I’m reading papers and websites from all across the spectrum. I think you need to know what’s going on, and getting that first editorial note out to my team — I try to do that by 1 or 2 o’clock the latest, and we’re off to the races.
So it’s an all-consuming job. And I don’t – hopefully, most people don’t think I just show up and read the prompter an hour before the show. But I can understand [that] if you don’t know the business, you might think that.
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Trey Gowdy currently hosts FOX News Channel’s (FNC) Sunday Night in America with Trey Gowdy (Sundays, 7PM/ET) and The Trey Gowdy Podcast on FOX News Audio. Mr. Gowdy joined the network as a contributor in January 2019.
