Breaking into the highly competitive, male-dominated industry of news reporting forty years ago wasn’t easy for former NBC News correspondent Ann Curry.
“I had honestly twice as many stories assigned to me,” Curry said, “And there were all kinds of ways I was supposed to stumble.” The aspiring reporter and photojournalist often reminded herself, “I will do as much as the men, but I will not do more, unless I want.”
“And often I did want,” she added.
Not easily discouraged, Curry said she felt sorry for the people who didn’t recognize her worth. “But they all came around,” she recalled. “Sometimes people don’t see what you can do.”
During the Texas Women’s Foundation (TXWF) 39th annual Luncheon on Nov. 1, the Emmy-Award-winning journalist, known for her national and international reporting, reflected on how long women have been fighting to break down barriers.
The luncheon’s theme, “Catalysts for Change,” recognized the role the foundation has had in creating more equitable communities for Texas women and girls.
Curry was interviewed by Krys Boyd, host and managing editor of Think, a national talk radio program produced by KERA. TXWF board alumna Effie Dennison served as co-chair of the luncheon. As executive vice president for Texas Capital Bank, Dennison leads community development and corporate responsibility.
Addressing the audience, which included groups of students from surrounding schools, Curry encouraged the young women to take risks. “It’s difficult to advance without taking risks,” she said. “If I had not taken risks, I might’ve only been confined to work others thought I could do.”
At some point when I felt very alone in it, I stopped myself and I thought ‘they’re coming, women are coming’ … and I needed to make space,” said Curry.
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