I am here to tell you, TV is not dead. Rather, it is constantly evolving as we are. My view is that we are in the next Golden Age of content. If AOL, Google, Netflix, Amazon, and Yahoo felt TV was dying, they would not be so eager to play in our sandbox. It is, after all, TV content that's driving their business.
My interests were more extracurricular, more external, and more social than they were academic. My birthday is also in December, so I was one of the older kids. That meant I learned social leadership early on. I was always just much better in a team and work environment than I was in a classroom environment.
We were an entertainment brand, and if we were going to compete in an era of incredible growth in the cable industry, I felt we actually needed to be entertaining.
You had a generation of women, of which I'm part, where it was a stigma to be associated with feminism; there was a backlash. Now you have a generation that is clearly embracing feminism because, at the end of the day, the definition of feminism is just equality.
Veterans' issues have always spoken to me.
Lifetime never had any unscripted shows, really. It just had 'Project Runway,' which was a bit of an island.
Owning content and original content has been our lifeblood - we've never been a suite of brands that's been reliant on a movie library or on rented series from other networks.
I think it's important for History to keep experimenting with their shows. The more documentary-driven, the returning series, are the bottom of the iceberg under the ocean that keeps it moving, and then it's important to take those swings and see if we can ignite a spark with new audiences.
You can have whatever platform you want, but without great content, you don't have anything.
I grew up in Bristol, R.I. I had grandparents and great-grandparents nearby, and because I was the only grandchild until I was 12, I was the center of a lot of adult attention.
A+E has always looked in places where others didn't want to look. There's a service in that.
It's easy for the board to say, 'Well, add makeover shows.' The No. 1 show for women in the United States is 'The Walking Dead.' That's not a makeover show.
My heart has always been in programming and marketing.
I run a creative company, and the best way to support creatives is to make them fearless and willing to take big swings. That is an important part of our culture at A&E Networks.
Historically, we've had to think in increments of 30 or 60 minutes. And now we have to think in increments of six seconds to six hours and everything in between.
The best advice I give to young people starting out is choose your boss. Regardless of gender, I think it is important to have someone who supports you and lets you take risks without fear of failure.
From Abby Lee Miller's intensity and her students' incredible performances to their devoted moms and its high drama, 'Dance Moms' has become one of the most compelling shows on television.
So much of our audience is on mobile and online platforms, but there's something special, unique, and unexpected about engaging with such great content at the street level.
I would love to see more swings in areas that we haven't explored. I can't necessarily tell you what that is - I think you know it when you see it - but I think we've had a lot of the same-themed shows in broadcast, but those shows are still performing.
To effect meaningful change, you have to look at who's in the boardrooms, who has the financial control of businesses, and who has the greenlighting power.
