Oprah: Up close and personal

Saturday, May 10, 2003, was a turning point in my career.

It all started over 10 years ago. I was given the opportunity to be an intern with ABC in Chicago. During my internship, I was to report to the newsroom everyday for assignments. By the second week, I was told that I would have to occasionally go down to floor eight to help out a newly syndicated talk show.

My first reaction was to grumble about not wanting to use my intern hours helping out a “fluffy” talk show but instead to use them on breaking news stories. I was told to report on floor eight whenever they called for me.

Little did I know that newly syndicated talk show “The Oprah Winfrey Show” would be in the history books by 2003. I left my internship and occasional visits to the eighth-floor talk show with education but no real thrill.

As the years passed by, I watched that talk show grow to a national and international phenomenon. I had no more connections to the show, so getting an interview with the host (Oprah) was a near impossibility, until Saturday, May 10, 2003.

I told my supervisor, Andre Holman, and my producer, Yolanda Curry, at City TV 10 that I was going to try and get an interview with Oprah when she came to town for her “Live Your Best Life” tour. I made several phone calls locally and got nowhere.

One day I sat quietly in my bedroom and prayed, “God, if you want me to have this interview, show me the way.” Within two days I was given a contact number in New York to O magazine. I spoke with a representative in the Public Relations Department.

“Ms. Winfrey is on a very tight schedule and can only do a few interviews. I am not sure if we can get you in,” she informed me.

I was told to sit tight while she checked around to find out if I could be one of the chosen few to get an interview with Oprah. I waited, prayed and anticipated. It seemed like the days and hours were months and years.

I knew I had no personal contacts with Oprah anymore, but I felt secure in knowing that if God wanted it for me, it would come to pass.

Cassandra and Oprah

The next thing I knew, my cameraman, Louis Neal, and I were first in line waiting for Oprah to arrive to the America Center for our interview. We were not only able to be the first journalists to interview her, but we were given free tickets to the show – tickets that cost $185 – and I sat in the front row.

One more twist to this story. Carol Daniel, fellow American columnist and radio host on KMOX told me her sister, Nicole, was coming to see the tour. Her sister is from Oklahoma, and within the last six months her husband was deployed to Kuwait, leaving her to raise their two small children alone. During this time, she was also working on her Masters degree. This same Saturday was her graduation, but she passed it up to go to Oprah’s tour. We were able to get that information to Oprah’s people minutes before Oprah arrived at the America Center.

Nicole was able to meet Oprah, and as I told Oprah her story, her eyes began to well up with emotion. Oprah hugged Nicole and let her know how special she thought she was for coming all this way under such circumstances.

When I asked Oprah about her show and how she felt it was going, she responded, “I have grown over the years with the audience. When I first started, I was a woman in progress and still am. I like to keep it real for myself and for the people watching.”

Oprah addressed the St. Louis crowd with enthusiasm and thank yous: “I’m glad to see you. … This is a very dressed up crowd. Thank you for taking the time. … You came through the rain, the tornado watches and the warnings – thank you! Thank you for doing that for me. … My heart is full that you would do that for me.”

The audience laughed and cried during the six-hour seminar as Oprah told stories of her childhood days all the way to her top-ranked position now as the No. 1 talk-show host in the world.

I asked Oprah what her passion was for doing the “Live Your Best Life” tour. She summed it up when she told the audience: “Since I was a little girl, I wanted to share with people. If I had a candy bar, I would want to share it with someone. I would hold on to it until I could get someone else to taste it. I would say, ‘This is so good you ought to have some of this.’ … So I am here today to share, to share myself with you.”

All I wanted was an interview, but I got so much more. This experience showed me that no matter what, you should go for your dreams. Even when others tell you that you will not make it, do it anyway. I wanted to interview Oprah and by God’s blessing I did, and it turned out to be better than I could have ever imagined.