A Kidnapped Heiress and a Security Guard Changed My Life

In less than two years, my career had skyrocketed. The distance between my Atlanta birthplace and San Francisco was not just 3,000 miles. It was a leap from the 18th television market to the 5th. It was a 100 percent increase in base salary, not counting extra pay every time you appear on camera. And thanks to that abducted heiress, I was on camera a lot. By this time, I knew how to write for TV news. I knew how to move, talk, and dress for it too. And how to keep eye-contact with the camera even when there was no teleprompter, a device I hated. Although I am Black, the literary character that best describes the persona I’d created was Jay Gatsby. “If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him.” <h2>Don’t get me wrong</h2> I did not think I was good looking. In fact, as the person in my family with the darkest complexion, I had grown up believing the color of my skin made me unattractive. But I had a decent mind and a love of language, which I was able to turn into a salable commodity — one that was in demand during those years when few African Americans were on the air. I suppose you could say I had good game. And I enjoyed racking up the names of movers and shakers I’d met. The football star who sent a bottle of wine to my table at a Nob Hill restaurant.  <a href="https://humanparts.medium.com/a-kidnapped-heiress-and-a-security-guard-changed-my-life-8e550a815da8">Read More</a>