Karen Fujii urges passion, energy
UW News Lab
To a group of journalism students gathered to listen, Karen Fujii delivered this message: Bring energy to your work. But also demand that your work inspires you.
Fujii relocated to Seattle after an extensive international career in television. She now runs Media Footprint, a media consultation business. She spoke to Karen Rathe’s News Lab class on May 24, bringing insights from her professional experience garnered both nationally and abroad.
Fujii took the students on a whirlwind tour of her history within the broadcast industry, illuminating a career path defined by drive and passion.
“I always knew I wanted to be in broadcast,” said Fujii, who had her eyes in that direction as early as high school.
At one point, a friend talked her into leaving a voice test tape for a local radio station in their hometown of Jacksonville, Fla.
The producer liked her voice and brought her on air, giving her a show where Fujii broadcasted under the pseudonym Michelle Kelly.
“I was 17. I didn’t want anyone to know who I was,” said Fujii. “I didn’t know who I was yet.”
That radio job, along with an internship at a local TV news station and job at a newspaper, gave Fujii a sound platform: a resume that boasted solid experience in print, radio and TV, all before the age of 21.
After completing a degree in communication from the University of North Florida, Fujii considered all her areas of experience and determined that her real passion was for television broadcasting. She took a job in Denmark, where she had spent time during a high school exchange. There she helped build the first commercial broadcast station in a country previously ruled by a single public channel.
It was the station’s third day on air when Fujii and two others who were working the evening shift were informed by a caller that the movie they had chosen for the late broadcast was out of order, that they had started with the second of the movie’s two film reels.
They had to stop the movie and switch the reel, on the air, said Fujii.
Callers rang the station after the switch, insisting that the first order had been right. Fujii and her coworkers paused the broadcast and changed the reels again as 1.1 million viewers in Copenhagen stared, confused, at their TV screens.
“In the States you would get fired in a flash for something like that,” she said, laughing.
But the station was so new that the mistake slid under the radar. Fujii stayed there for 10 years, through a period of rapid innovation.
Later she worked at a series of broadcast stations in London. She says that her attitude is one reason that she was able to secure so many broadcast jobs overseas.
“If you don’t have energy, how can you energize?” she said.
Fujii’s presentation resonated with News Lab students including Mwiza Kalisa, who said: “It was inspirational. A number of people are graduating this quarter. It was good to hear just be yourself, have good energy and attitude.”
Fujii returned to the States in 2005, working first at a Seattle nonprofit and then at KCTS, Channel 9. Now she relishes running her own business, which she founded. For Media Footprint, Fujii concentrates her years of communication experience on helping businesses improve their marketing and media strategies.
Fujii told students to be selective, to choose jobs that motivate and fulfill.
“We always hear about our parents holding a job for their whole lives,” said News Lab student Rachael Zachary. “It was interesting to hear from Fujii that it’s important to move around and to stay current.”
Fujii says that self-development is key.
“If something comes between you and your growth, it is time to move on.”
Allison Barrett is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.
