I recently visited our local NBC studio for The 10! Show. I went to accompany Tina Meier, founder of the Megan Meier Foundation and the spokesperson for Verizon’s Cybersafe Philly program. As part of the program, Tina visited local schools to talk to parents and students about the dangers of cyberbullying and the importance of taking steps to keep kids cybersafe.
Tina appeared on NBC to talk about the issue of cyberbullying, to discuss the Cybersafe Philly program, and to let viewers know about her upcoming cybersafety summits.
As the publicist, my job was to make sure Tina got there ready and prepared, ensure the producers had all the details they needed on the program and then watch the taping ... from the green room (also known as a waiting room for guests "behind the scenes.")
Green rooms can be interesting places -- you never know who is going to be there. I had a good feeling about this green room initially, because the high school-age intern who led us there finally made me feel like I wasn’t the youngest-looking person in a given professional setting. When we got to the room, Tina quickly ran to the restroom to change, after realizing she was wearing the same tops she’d worn last time she had been on TV in Philadelphia. While she was gone, one of the network personalities came in and approached me with a big smile and outstretched hand.
“Tina?” she asked. I assure her I wasn’t Tina, but Tina would be back soon. She retracted her hand and left the room.
When Tina went on-set to film the segment, I started eyeing the tray of bagels and muffins on the coffee table. I hadn’t eaten breakfast, and I rarely meet a baked good I don’t like. The problem was that the green room was occupied by myself and three chefs from local restaurants who were doing cooking segments that day. The internal struggle between wanting to eat something off the tray and not wanting the chefs to judge my choice of fare was a battle. Lucky for me, the segment was quick and before I could make a final decision, Tina was back and we were ready to go.
While the green room experience that day had its ups and downs for me, the segment Tina filmed was top notch, so in the end it didn’t really matter that people weren’t interested in meeting me or that I went without a blueberry muffin.
While we don’t have footage of me awkwardly sitting on a sofa in the green room, we can show you the segment from the show, where Tina shares her moving story and information about the great program we were lucky enough to work on with her and Verizon.