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Alumni Profile

Lie Shia Ong: BA, 2004

Lie Shia Ong is a News Producer at KHQ-6 News in Spokane, WA.

After graduating in June 2004, she attended the UNITY journalism convention in Washington, D.C. It was the largest gathering of journalists from all over the United States in U.S. history. Much to her excitement, she was able to meet and talk to Connie Chung, Lisa Ling and many other gifted journalists. She also attend the International Television and Radio Society Foundation (IRTS) Career Minority workshop in New York City. The annual workshop is held for select minority students from all across the country. Again, this opportunity gave her the opportunity to talk with many veteran reporters, including Dateline NBC's Hoda Kotb and CNN's Anderson Cooper. A few days after returning home to Seattle, MTV News called and was interested in hiring her for a news assistant position. After three rounds of interviews, she learned that she had not been selected for the job -- the other candidates were all in New York and could begin work sooner than her.

She interviewed with a sales company in Seattle and had even accepted their job offer, when Good Morning America called her. (she interned for the TV show EXTRA during her senior year at UW, and her internship supervisor was good friends with one of the hiring managers at Good Morning America. When she was in New York City for the IRTS convention, she met with Good Morning
America and was put into the freelancer's database). It was the fourth of July weekend and they wanted to know if she could freelance for them. The next day, Good Morning America sent her to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho to cover the Shasta Groene story.

Her assignment in Idaho lasted two weeks and, during that time, she was able to field produce for Good Morning America. In her spare time, she lined up meetings with news directors and executive producers of the local stations in Spokane, about thirty minutes away. By the end of her assignment in Idaho, she had two job offers at two different stations in Spokane.

Lie Shia has a message for students looking break into journalism: "To all the journalism students still at UW or those ready to graduate soon: Keep pursuing your dreams, work hard, make all the connections and take all the internships or jobs that you can. NEVER give up. It will all pay off in the end."