“Life is not so much what you accomplish as what you overcome.”

― Robin Roberts

“Robin Roberts Quotes (Author of Everybody’s Got Something).” Goodreads, Goodreads Inc., 2014, www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/103599.Robin_Roberts.

When I was a little girl, I always thought I was going to be either a princess or a marine biologist. I had high hopes embedded in fantasy back then, but when I got a little older, around the age of ten, there was a shift between fantasy and practicality in my dreams. Growing up, before I would go to school, my parents would always have the news playing on TV. Even now, when I go home, I always know when my dad’s awake because I can hear the morning broadcast from my room down the hall. It was something I never really thought about; it was just always there. When I was younger and I watched the morning news, I never paid to much attention to what they were saying. I just enjoyed the music, colors and quick videos they would play. It wasn’t until I was in about sixth or seventh grade that I really started to pay attention to the news and the stories I was being presented with. Once I started being more involved in what was being shown, I developed my own opinion and decided that my favorite channel to watch the morning news was Good Morning America. I remember waking up at six in the morning everyday and immediately turning on GMA. I even went as far as to bring my clothes into the living room so I could get ready while I watched. I was so fascinated by what was going on across the country and even all over the world. I loved everyone on GMA, I thought they were all really fun and incredible people, but there was no one I liked more than Robin Roberts.

Wikimedia Commons – President Barack Obama participates in an interview with Robin Roberts of ABC’s Good Morning America, in the Cabinet Room of the White House, May 9, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Here was this incredible, powerful woman doing all of these amazing things with herself and her career despite all odds and challenges. Robin Roberts has to be one of the toughest people in the industry with all she has going against her. She is a woman, a person of color, and she is a member of LGBTQ+ community. But despite all of that, she is a household name across the nation and most of the world. Not to mention, that with all of the challenges she has no doubt faced, she is an extremely bright, graceful and kind woman.

Wikimedia Commons – Carrie Underwood and Robin Roberts in Times Square

However, I was not really aware of how amazing she really was as a person until she made her V Foundation for Victory Over Cancer. One day, my mom came home from work and gave everyone in the family these tie-dye rubber bracelets. I had no idea what it was for but she said we all needed to wear it to show our support for Robin Roberts or “the smart lady on TV”. I still liked her a lot at this time, I simply lacked the knowledge that has made me appreciate her so much more now. So, in the next day or two I decided to ask my mom why we needed to wear these wristbands in support of Robin Roberts. That was when she told me that Robin had beat breast cancer and it was to raise awareness for cancer survivors and the things they had been through. That all made sense to me but I was a little confused as to why the bracelet was rainbow tie-dye. So I asked my mom again what the rainbows were for. My elementary school brain couldn’t comprehend why a bracelet for breast cancer would be rainbow instead of the traditional pink. She gave me the best response I think could have been given. She told me that just like my uncle Kevin liked boys, that Robin Roberts liked girls, and that the symbol for people like that is a rainbow to show their pride. Knowing that this really awesome, really incredible person liked girls didn’t phase me at all. If anything I thought it made her more “cool” because she was just all that more unique.

Wikimedia Commons – Robin Roberts in J. Crew Collection at The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection 2010

Now, I wouldn’t say that it was solely Robin Roberts who made me decide to become a journalist, but she definitely impacted my choice as a whole. Seeing how incredible the people in such as field can be made me want to be a part of that beauty. Watching the news and seeing other types of broadcast media made me want to do the same things that these spectacular people were doing. They made me want to be involved in informing the country and even the whole world. They made me want to share the truth, beauty, and sometimes horrors of the world we live in. My goal is still to become an incredible journalist, but if I never accomplish that, but are half of the person Robin Roberts is, then I would say I lived a successful life.