Making Connections at AAJA: Advice from a Seasoned ABC Journalist
As a young girl growing up in the Hudson Valley of New York, Pauline distinctly remembers watching Connie Chung anchoring the news on television. “She was someone who looked like me and was on the national stage,” she recalls, “I was inspired to follow her path.”
But Pauline’s path to a journalism career was not a straight line. In fact, she graduated from Yale University with a degree in history. In one of her history seminars, the professor arranged for each student to interview a Holocaust survivor as part of an assignment. The interview Pauline conducted lasted two hours, but it left a lifelong impression. “I could have talked to him for ten more hours,” she explains, “In that moment, I knew I wanted to be a journalist – listening and telling people’s stories.”
Today Pauline is the Senior Manager of News Operations at WABC-TV in New York City, where she supervises a large team of photojournalists, editors, media managers and transmission operators covering local New York City news.
Before coming to ABC, Pauline spent two decades as a reporter. “I know what it's like in the trenches covering news. Nothing ever really goes exactly as planned!” she says. This extensive experience in news makes her very effective behind the scenes as an operations manager. “I know what the crews are going through and can react quickly.”
Pauline is also a proud member of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA). The connections she made through the association helped her land her role at ABC, and last year she even had the chance to represent ABC and ESPN at the job fair during AAJA’s annual conference.
At the conference, she was able to reconnect with several old friends and mentors from past AAJA conferences. She describes it as, “a wonderful reunion of sorts.”
“It's important to be part of the discussion in elevating the craft of storytelling, which is at the heart of Disney."
She’s also proud of Disney’s presence at conferences like AAJA. “It's important to be part of the discussion in elevating the craft of storytelling, which is at the heart of Disney,” she explains, “The conferences are a way to identify, encourage and support talented journalists.
Will you be attending AAJA this year? Whether you’re looking to start your Disney career or are already at the company, Pauline shares advice on how to make the most of your time at the conference.
“Come meet our amazing talent recruiters to see where the opportunities are. I love the recruiters I've worked with. They have great insight and energy. If you're already at ABC/Disney, start building relationships across departments by listening to and meeting colleagues in person. Relationships are the key to getting things done.”
You can connect with representatives from ABC News and ESPN at AAJA 2025 from July 30 - Aug. 3 in Seattle, WA.