Nneka Elliot : Wild Girl Fuh True Spotlight

Jul 23, 2010 by Guest Blogger    8 Comments    Posted under: Those Girls, Wild Folks Exposed

Photography by Shannon T. Boodram

Interview and article by TGAW Intern, Cassandra Juradinho

Although a native of Quebec, Nneka spent her formative years on the island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the Caribbean. If you recognize her face it is probably because you are amongst the millions who tune itno CP24 Toronto’s Breaking News where Nneka works as a Anchor/weather & traffic specialist. Landing a starring gig at one of the top stations in the country was no fluke, Nneka holds a degree in Radio and Television at Ryerson University and by the time she graduated, she had held such positions as Reporter, Audio Editor, and Anchor for CFRB Newstalk 1010 AM.

We are extremely proud to expose Nneka Elliot as the true wildly pasionate woman that she is and we also want to congratulate her for recently being named as one of Ryerson University’s top 30 Alumni under 30. For anyone who is interested in working in TV or if you simply need some inspiration in your life, then this piece is definitely for you. Please say hello to the lovely Ms. Nneka Elliot…

1. A wild person by our definition is humorous, determined and opinionated. Who is the ‘wildest’ person to you?

I know everyone says their mother, but she really is. She’s pretty wild. She’s a single mom, and she is one of the funniest people I know. She cracks me up all the time, that’s partly where I get my humour from.

I was born in Montreal, but my parents split up and we went back to St.Vincent in the Caribbean and that’s where I grew up for the most part. That’s where my mom is from, she was able to raise my brother and I and we had a very comfortable life just based on what she was able to do with her salary, what she was able to do on her own. She worked really hard but at the same time spent time with us, kept us entertained.

She’s a Leo first of all, they always say Leos are strong headed and opinionated and she certainly is. She’s been able to pass on a lot of her strength, her loyalty and her wisdom to me. I think she totally embodies being wild in that she’s wild, she’s crazy but she’s also opinionated and she’s also a very strong person.

She’s battled breast cancer, she’s now 59 and she just becomes more of a woman every day.She’s in toastmasters, travelling, she’s playing tennis again, and I’m like wow who are you? What’s going on? She’s into fashion. She’s just a really great person all around, not just a phenomenal woman.

Photos taken from NnekaElliot.com

2. Would you say there is there one women’s issue you’re particularly passionate about?

-I feel that a lot of issues with women come back to self-esteem and confidence, so that’s something that I’ve always rallied behind. It starts with girls, with young women and being able to build self-confidence. It’s definitely something I want to work towards, helping young girls see that they don’t have to follow the crowd.

It often happens that when they hit a certain age, girls start to get much more shy. At around the age 10, 11, 12 you definitely start to see a drop off in confidence and their ability to stand out and speak up. Its societal pressures and things you see in the media, it’s just so much crap. It just really is stupidness that we’re constantly bombarded with. A lot of times girls don’t have the positive role model so they don’t see it around them to reinforce the fact that you can be whatever you want to be, you are your own person. This affects their willingness to allow some guy mess up their head. If they don’t have the self-confidence and self-respect they will just allow people to do what they want to do to them. If you don’t stand for something, if you don’t believe in yourself, you’ll fall for anything. So that lack of self-confidence is the root of all other issues that tend to affect young women, women in general.

3. As a TV personality, have you ever struggled with insecurity in an industry that is so physically focused?

-The spot light is constantly on you and how you look. I guess we all have our little insecurities. I find myself going “I don’t want to wear this. This makes me look fat, or this makes me look this way or that way.”

Since I am the youngest person at Cp24 right now, I struggle with still appearing credible. On a regular day my hair’s pulled back and my glasses are on, and when I go to work like that everyone says I look so young. I know when I get older I’m going to be happy I have such a youthful face, but we all struggle with our little insecurities.

Really, a lot of times we are so caught up with what everybody else is thinking, and everybody else is just caught up with thinking about their own insecurities.

4. TGAW recently wrote a post titled “Do you care what people think about you?” How would you answer that question?

- That’s a tough one. You can’t care what others think in terms of what you do. You don’t always have to do the popular thing. The decisions you make in life should not necessarily be based on what people think you should be doing. But, I do care about physical appearance, I care about first impressions. You want to make a good first impression because before people meet you, they judge you based on what you look like, unfortunately that’s the society we live in. I make a conscience effort to dress for the position I want in life. I always say to myself, “You know what if I’m not in this position yet; I’m going to dress as though I am.” In that sense I guess that’s caring what people think about you because they perceive the way you dress to mean something. But at the end of the day, it’s all about you. You come into this world alone; you’re going to leave alone, so at the end of the day you have to be happy with you. You have to be happy with your decisions because you’re the one who’s going to have to live with them.

I care what my mom thinks. You want to please your parents, they’ve done so much for you, and you want to make them proud. I’m kind of a mommy’s girl in that aspect.

5. So, what advice would you give to a woman wanting to become successful in the television industry while maintaining personal integrity?

-It’s tough to be a woman in the industry. For me, I’m black, I’m a woman and I’m not hardcore Canadian, I have an accent. But it’s just so important to know exactly what you want. Sometimes you may not know exactly what you want, but you definitely know what you don’t want. So you just always have to have those beliefs and values that you hold true, and don’t stray from those beliefs and values that make you, you. The minute you stray from that and you lose your sense of self, you lose what’s valuable about yourself. People are looking to you for certain traits; they hire you because of who you are. You definitely have to be strong in this industry. Unfortunately, you have to be a little bit of a diva in order to get what you want. That’s something I’ve learned over time and that’s why sometimes women in media have that label of being a bit of a “B”. You have to say no a lot, you have to be a little bit egotistical. A lot of times, people in the industry are looking at the big picture, and how something is going to be perceived, whether it’s the station, the news story, whatever.

You always have to be looking out for yourself in the sense that you know exactly what make-up works for you, you know what hair works for you, you know what your outfit is, so you find yourself saying “I” a lot. It’s not because you’re self-centred, it’s just that you have to look out for yourself. You have to build up that self-confidence because you’re going to come to an industry where you’re constantly being criticized. Not just what you look like, but every word that comes out of your mouth is under a microscope. You have to know what you want, you have to have a strong sense of self, and you can’t be afraid of failing. That’s what I’ve been able to, and continue to do. You can’t be afraid of failure. You have to anticipate road blocks, you have to anticipate obstacles and don’t be surprised when they come because they’re just the process of growth. You have to constantly be stepping out of your box because if you’re doing the same thing over and over again you’re not growing. Always be willing to re-invent yourself and the way you do things, while at the same time staying true to your core beliefs and values.

Don’t lose touch of family and friends and the things that make you, you. Those are the things that remind you of what is important, that’s what keeps you human. People like to see personality; they like to be able to relate “She reminds me of my sister, she reminds me of my best friend.”So don’t lose touch with the things people identify with. But always look for opportunities for growth.

6. Speaking of growth, let’s do a little fill-in-the-blank. “Ideally, in 5 years, I will be _____”

-Well I’m 26, so in five years, I will own my own home, I will have more financial freedom to travel and do some of the things I love doing. I will also be in a better position in my job to reach out to young women and young people in general and empower them. I will have more of a platform, hopefully it will come from my female mentoring series that I want to set up. I just hope that I will be in a better position to impact lives, to empower people, and to continue to entertain while making people feel good about themselves.

Her WILD rise to local celeb status:

Nneka graduated from Ryerson’s Radio & Television Arts program in 2006, with previous radio experience in both Toronto and St. Vincent. Looking for a slight career change, Nneka decided to apply for local news stations. Having worked in radio, she didn’t have enough material to put together a sufficient demo reel, so she looked on Craig’s List and hired someone to film her for the day in fabricated scenarios around the city. “For example, I would say ‘We’re here outside such-and-such studios where so-and-so is getting her makeover,’” said Nneka.

She sent it out to multiple stations for six months before the Weather Network finally showed interest and signed her on a full-time contract. Two years at the Weather Network was ample for Nneka as she felt a need for change. She contacted the head of CTV News, Paul Rogers and convinced him to allow her to come in for a 10 minute conversation.

Rogers asserted that CTV was not looking for anyone, however Cp24 was. However, since she had spoken to Rogers, they allowed her to come in for the audition. Long story short, she went in, rocked it and the rest is HERstory.

Photography by Shannon T. Boodram

PERSONAL SIDEBAR BY CASSANDRA:
Ryerson journalism student life consists of making sure you stay on top of current events (considering your job will be to report on it). In effect, I spent much of my leisure time throughout the year watching the news and reading the Toronto Star; so I was familiar with Nneka as an on-air personality.

She was so sweet and down-to-earth! I’m used to interviewing these MP’s and government officials for my school articles and its always the same monotonous routine:

• Call
  Ask interview questions
  Get minimal word count responses
  Thank them for their time
  Hang up

So, after going through the formalities, asking her how she was doing and such, I was about to jump into the interview questions and got cut off (in the best way though). She’s like “Wait up, I want to know about you. What school do you go to?” I was thoroughly impressed, considering everyone’s fav. topic is themselves.

Not only did she show a genuine interest with what was happening in my life, she also displayed genuine interest in the interview. It would’ve been easy, and justified, for her to think about the work she had to get back to and provide short, sweet responses.This was definitely not the case: she was evidently offering in-depth replies, and even spoke with me shortly, after the interview.

Thanks so much to Nneka for being an open WILD GIRL FUH TRUE! I hope you guys got something from this post but if you need a lil more, hit up Nneka on Twitter or on her website.

For fun, here is a fan video made for Nneka

Next up is Naima, one of America’s Next Top Model winners!

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