"It's A New Dawn, It's A New Day, It's A New Life For Me

By Debbie Mitchell

....and I'm feeling good." I LOVE this song.  I listen to Nina Simone's version of "Feeling Good" every morning but most people recognize Jennifer Hudson's version from the WeightWatchers commercial. That's fine too since, it is all about the words.  This month the song has an extra special meaning for me. May marks  my 2nd anniversary of leaving my life as a television producer for CBS News. It  has been a crazy ride and the last 24 months have been filled with more peaks and valleys, lessons, and personal growth than I could have ever imagined.

My departure from the network was sudden and I knew it could have and should have been handled better.  But it wasn't. My 10 year run was over and I was thrown into a whole new world of communicating.  Communicating in a language, social/digital media, that I didn't understand or need to understand or so I thought.

The first I thing I did in my newly unemployed life was take a break and tried to catch up on a decade worth of sleep and restart my yoga practice. Once I was rested and ready to make a career move I tried to go back to what I knew, television production. But this time was different.  Ninety nine percent of the time I follow my gut instinct and something was nagging at me.  I felt like it was time for a change, a time to create a life that was manageable where I could still use my talents and have a life.  Television news is a lot of things and manageable is not one of them. Your life is not your own.

I used the down time to re-connect with personal and professional friends, some who helped with my job hunt.  Although I didn't love the limited job options (start- up talks shows and other morning programs, been there done that) I interviewed anyway.  Alas nothing stuck.  A chance conversation with a former CBS producer, Jessica,  reconnected me to former Early Show anchor turned blogger @goodenufmother, Rene Syler.  Jessica was scheduled to meet Rene for a lesson in social media and I was invited to the session. We all met at an Upper West Side Starbucks in April 2011.  Rene remembers that first meeting, " I guess there are two things. I remember Debbie had this look on her face, you know the one when you’re concentrating real hard in an effort to grasp something?  She had that look on her face for a long time. And the other thing was she kept asking, “ How do you make money.” LOL . She no longer has either of those things." 

Yes it is true, I asked about money a lot. I had just spent 25 years working in an industry where I worked very hard and was paid very well.  So yes, my mantra was "how do you make money?" Even though Rene couldn't show me the big money in social media I was intrigued by it.  So once the Starbucks session was over, I tossed my PC, bought an Apple laptop, chatted with Rene 24/7, got a social media tutor @theeventOasis and signed up for a webinar @SMA4women .  Jessica didn't stick with it but Rene had a convert in me.

 In September 2011 I attended the SheStreams conference my first mom blogger event. It was a social media boot camp for veteran and newbie mom bloggers.  The lineup of speakers and topics were top notch, covering everything from how to shoot better video for your blog to monetizing your twitter.  I was impressed with the power  and drive of these women.   Most of the panelists I would have booked for a television segment in a heartbeat.  I went to as many sessions as I could, met moms who were juggling motherhood, working outside the home, traveling to conferences all while producing content for their social media brand.   I later admitted to the ladies that I could not keep up with their energy and enthusiasm.  By the end of each day I was exhausted and they were ready to dance the night away! But I did have an Aha! moment at the conference.   Mom bloggers @banteringblonde and @mommycosm saw it too and were the first ones to tell me how my producing skills could have a future in the world of social media.  I have been forward ever since.

Me, Ted Rubin, Rene Syler at Blogalicious Conference 2011

Rene says she knew the moment it all clicked for me. "It happened at that conference (SheStreams) and the days following it. Debbie understood that social media wasn’t a totally different beast than television; it was just it’s younger, faster sibling. In other words, at its core, it’s still about communication only now it’s crowd driven. Debbie needed to understand (as all of traditional media do) that we are all consumers and producers of content; it’s that simple. And that is what is bringing about this monumental shift in media. And Debbie."

Next stop for me was the #Shiftnyc conference in October hosted by @keyinfluencer James Andrews where several of social media's top creative minds gathered to discuss the future of social media.  While I was there, I kept thinking,  I would have missed  this "new" social media world if I were still working in the "old" world of traditional television.

I have always loved television, watching it, producing it, coming up with the ideas, following a concept from beginning to end while meeting new and interesting people.  However in the last 2 years I learned that it is the producing process I love not the TV medium.  Television is good but it turns out social media is GREAT!  It allows you to be your authentic self,  gives you the chance to reach a much wider audience and it's growing so fast. I have attended several social media seminars including ones by social media evangelist Sree Sreenivasan( @sree) since September 2011. I just got back from the Disney Social Media Moms Celebration in Florida, their third annual conference for top influencer mom bloggers and their families. Again this year's speakers were noted social media personalities including Peter Shankman (HARO), Chris Brogan and AmyJo Martin. Last year Rene was one of the speakers and moms say she brought the room to their feet after her presentation.  Disney knows their brand and understands the power of social media. I saw it at this conference and on their social media preview cruise for the Disney Fantasy in March.

A magazine editor asked me at lunch yesterday if I thought social media is a fad that will go away. I laughed and said with certainty "NO",  it's here to stay so she should get on board.

Now, I am completely on board. Over the years I have produced several television segments on personal and professional reinvention.  But there is nothing quite like experiencing it first hand and it is actually harder than it sounds.  I won't lie to you.  As traditional television journalists Rene I talk about how social media has forced us to grow in ways we could never have imagined.  Everyday hasn't been easy but during those days in the valley she reminds me of two things when it comes to reinvention:

 #1- Never give up. People don’t succeed because they quit too soon.  If you keep at it, you’ll make it happen. 

#2- It has to be your passion. It’s not about making money; the goal needs to be bigger than that, though that’s important (to some) too.  Identify why you do what you do.

Well,  I think I have found my "why" and I have the passion.  My transition from traditional television producer to social media producer is going to the next level this week with the launch of The Blogger Connection (TBC), http://TheBloggerConnection.com a blogger outreach network.  Along with my business partner, Co-Founder Rachel Ferrucci , we plan to connect a variety of bloggers (fashion, beauty food, travel, moms) with the brands they love.  Rachel, a blogger @rachelferrucci, is a pioneer in the world of  social media.  We met at an event for social media and women. During my extensive television career  I had the opportunity to work with some really great PR folks and brands and I hope to continue that relationship as they embrace the social media space http://www.thebloggerconnection.com/blog/

I have never given birth, but if it is anything like launching a company than I bow to all the moms out there.  Today Rachel and I will put the finishing touches on The Blogger Connection launch Twitter Party tonight. If you are around join us @9pm ET-@BlogRConnection #FamilyGetaway http://bit.ly/IMWBLH it should be fun.

And finally, I want to thank all the folks who are following me on Twitter, have friended me on Facebook and linked up with me on LinkedIn!   I promise to be authentic, interesting and hopefully fun.  I am still a work in progress, but hey aren't we all!

Here's a toast to the next chapter. "It's a new dawn, it's a new day, it's a new life for me and I'm feeling good."...Nina Simone

TV/Social Media Producer Debbie Mitchell is an Emmy nominated producer who is a member of the Producers Guild of America (PGA).  If you are blogger or brand interested in blogger outreach campaigns or a personality interested in television placement follow Debbie Mitchell @TVProducerDeb or contact http://TheBloggerConnection.com.

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