Jamie Yuccas
Jamie Yuccas is a double threat. I am fascinated by her for personal and professional reasons. Let me explain.
On the personal side many of you who follow my blogs may recall this past summer I went out one day, with my friend Ron, on a quest to walk 40,000 steps in a day. I actually walked over 60,000 steps on June 25. What you may not know is that the inspiration to do that came from Jamie Yuccas. No, the CBS correspondent did not call me and challenge me to do it. She simply posted a pic on Twitter of how she had accomplished over 32,000 steps at that given time in the day and I thought ‘I should try that’. For the next few weeks after seeing that post I went walking a lot more than I had recently done. I started ‘training’ for my big multi-step day. I reached out to Ms. Yuccas to let her know what we were up to and she offered up support. She wasn’t put off and she didn’t ignore us; instead she was very encouraging.
I have never had the pleasure of meeting her (though I would love to interview her like I did with Chantal Kreviazuk) but nonetheless she was very kind with me. As I have said before the world needs more kindness. And after accomplishing over 61,000 steps in a single day this year, next year we are going for 75,000. We will most likely reach out to Ms. Yuccas again for support and due to her infectious personality we will probably get it.
The fact that this woman was so kind and indirectly inspiring would be enough for her to make this list but as I said she is a double threat.
She also makes my list for professional reasons. Specifically she did something this year that isn’t easy to do. In the ridiculously talented stable of exceptional journalists on CBS News Ms. Yuccas found a way to carve out her own niche and stand out. CBS News, for those of you who don’t know, is one of my go to news agencies and they boast a lot of great on air talent. It’s unfair the amount of great journalists they have! To name a few: Charlie Rose, Gayle King, Margaret Brennan, Nancy Cordes, Major Garret, Bob Schieffer – and I can’t forget my celebrity crush Norah O’Donnell – and the list goes on and on.
What stood out in regards to Ms. Yuccas is how versatile she is. Usually you see someone either in the field or at the desk, but she does both and does both exceptionally well. Whether she was covering the end of an era in pop culture with the death of Prince, or tragic hard news like the shooting in Orlando, or something more upbeat like a football game she was always ready for the assignment. There is nothing about the way she covers a story that makes you think she doesn’t belong on this great team. Her presence there enhances it. And when she is in the studio she is just as great. Whether it’s on CBSN, the live news streaming service, or filling in on CBS This Morning, Ms. Yuccas is extremely adaptable.
I also love the fact that she uses social media either to connect with people regarding stories or just to show that she is enjoying life. Jamie Yuccas is a great journalist but there is absolutely nothing about her that makes you think she has an ego about it. She’s the type of person you’d want to go the game with, as you know she’d be a lot of fun – the type of person you could listen to talk for hours as her stories would be very interesting.
Jamie Yuccas is an extremely talented journalist. The good people who run CBS News are extremely fortunate to have her on their team. I’m not saying she’s the best journalist as I wouldn’t say that about anyone. What I am saying though is that I think she’s amazing at her job. When I know she’s covering a story or hosting a show I am tuning in. Her success isn’t a fluke and I cant wait to see her continue on her wonderful journey.
In a world where people are defined as celebrities for doing little to nothing Ms. Yuccas stands out to me as someone who is doing a lot of great things. This year she, indirectly, helped get my butt in gear and offered support on my walking challenge. She also showed that CBS News hit the lotto when they hired her. She stands out because she isn’t trying to be like everyone else. She doesn’t have to be. We need more people to be like her.
These are the reasons why I find Jamie Yuccas fascinating.
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