Meetin Evelyn Taft... Meteorologist Evelyn Taft grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area—Palo Alto to be exact. She moved Los Angeles to attend USC’s Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism. While she was working at the campus news station she was offered a position as Weather Anchor. She was hesitant at first but as soon as she took a stab at it she fell in love. Upon graduation Evelyn immediately pursued a degree in Meteorology while working at a local station as a weather anchor and news reporter. Her career is very different than most—She spent several years moving from city to city to make it to where she is now. Evelyn says, “In order to make it to a large market like Los Angeles you have to start small and that’s exactly what I did. I took my first job as a weather anchor and news reporter on California’s Central Coast in Santa Maria, California. I spent time working in Salinas, San Francisco and now Los Angeles.” There are a lot of people who would love to have her job or just “be on TV”. There are very few positions. Actually, there a fewer positions for Television Meteorologists than there are positions for actors, musicians, photographers, and a lot of other jobs. Given that only a handful of people will ever make it to superstar, local, national, or worldwide fame, what happens to everyone else? I ask Evelyn if people should just settle or should they continue to strive for the dream? “You should NEVER settle,” she says, “If you put your mind to it you will achieve it. I am an eternal optimist. Never say never…always strive for your dreams!” What have you learned in your field that you could easily apply to any other profession? If you are passionate about what you do it will come through in your work no matter what you do. A can-do attitude will take you a long way as well. When you started, did you have the vision in mind of where you are now? I sure did. I always wanted to return to LA one day. I think having a vision helped me achieve my goals and dreams. How much does social media play in your career? Social media is a huge part of what I do. I tweet my forecast on a daily basis—I think it’s an important way to get information to viewers when you’re not on the air. If we have a big weather event going on here at home or across the country it’s important to get people up to the minute information on it whether it be a Santa Ana wind event here at home or a hurricane in the Gulf. 9 Steps To Living Your Dream First and foremost, follow your dream. Set big goals. Set small goals. Be true to yourself. Make sacrifices. Take time to yourself. Be true to yourself. Achieve balance. Stay positive. CONCLUSION Never give up…envision your goal and GO FOR IT! I wouldn’t change a thing. I believe everything happens the way it is supposed to so I wouldn’t want to interfere with that.