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TIME
Few mediums in the U.S. put a person more in the public eye than
television. And few TV shows, especially among daytime audiences,
place someone more on view than
The View
.
But it’s on this very popular, very personal, and very interpersonal
stage that Paula Faris ’97 is letting her light shine with co-hosts, staff,
and millions of fans.
“Never in a million years did I ever think I would be working at
The View
,” Faris said. “Honestly, it’s so crazy. This isn’t something I
ever envisioned or imagined for myself, but it’s a testament to God.
He can do whatever He wants for you, as long as you’re a willing,
open vessel and you have a good attitude, even if you don’t feel
qualified or capable.”
LOW PROFILE
When Faris was a Cedarville University student, she imagined an
out-of-the-public-eye career editing and producing video, not a high-
profile, everybody-knows-me role on a national television show.
“Mr. Kragel and Mr. Leightenheimer would encourage me,
almost daily, to consider being an on-air journalist,” she said,
referring to Associate Professors of Communications Jim Kragel
and Jim Leightenheimer ’80. “I wasn’t comfortable in my own skin
at that point; I wasn’t confident in who I was. But their voices were
in the back of my mind.”
After graduation, she first went to work in video production,
then shifted to selling airtime for a radio station in Columbus. She
was doing quite well in radio sales, pulling down a lucrative salary,
“but it wasn’t as fulfilling as I thought it was going to be,” she related.
“I could hear their voices in the back of my mind — ‘You should
really consider this; you should really consider this.’”
And then 9/11 hit. “I’d been out of school four years at that point
and had gotten married,” Faris said. “After 9/11, I felt that tug that
God was calling me back into TV news. I felt really convicted.”
She walked away from the high-paying career in radio sales
and instead followed a dream she really didn’t have for herself. “But
other people had it for me,” Faris said. “It was a path I thought God
really wanted me to pursue.
“Sometimes it takes someone else seeing [a talent or ability] in
you before you see it in yourself,” she added. “I love what I do!”
CAN-DO SPIRIT
Faris applied for production assistant positions at every television
station in Dayton, finally landing a position with WKEF/WRGT,
channels 22 and 45. She assisted writers and producers, worked
on the assignment desk, and ran the teleprompter. “Anything they
needed me to do, I did,” she explained.
But she always had the end goal in mind: on-air reporting. So
she borrowed a camera and tripod and put together a résumé video.
She shot her own stand-ups — video of a reporter speaking to the
camera, adding a transition or some bit of information to move the
story along — and did her own interviews.
“I handed a cut résumé tape to a news director who had laughed
at me months before and said it would never happen, and he said, ‘I
actually like this,’” Faris said. “He knew I was proficient in producing
and editing frommy experience at Cedarville, so he knew he could
let me do my thing and he wouldn’t have to babysit me. He said, ‘I’m
going to give you a shot.’ So Dayton [Ohio] is where I broke into the
industry as a reporter.”
Faris worked in Dayton for a year, then moved to WCPO-TV in
Cincinnati for three years andWMAQ in Chicago for six years. She’s
spent the last four years with ABC in New York, first as co-anchor
of ABC News’
World News Now
and
America This Morning
, then as
weekend co-anchor of
Good Morning America
(GMA). And now,
while still holding down her GMA responsibilities, she’s a co-host
on
The View
, which entered its 19th season September 8.
BRIGHT LIGHT
“People ask me all the time, ‘Why would you want to work in
that type of environment?’” Faris said. “My response is always ‘to
be a light.’ The only way your light shines is when you’re in a dark
place, right? Aren’t we called to be light? You have to go into the dark
places; that is where your light is going to shine.
“God needs people in every area, not just in Christian vocations,”
she offered. “We need people in every single industry.”
She’s not afraid to express her Christian beliefs and often does
so while sitting at the Hot Topics Table, the semicircular desk where
co-hosts share their opinions, beliefs, and values, sometimes quite
heatedly.
Discussions about Christianity come up often. “Within the first
couple weeks [of the new season], one of our first discussions was
about what it means to be born again,” Faris said. “I feel like I’m very
bold in my faith, but I’m not going to push it down anyone’s throat.
I want people to know that I’m a Christian by the way I treat them.”
Faris’ Cedarville education prepared her to live and share her
faith, whether it’s on set, in a cab, or at home. “What I love about
Cedarville is they really encourage students to think critically,”
she said. “With the Bible minor and the plethora of Christian and
religion courses, it really prepares you. You have an answer for the
issues going on in the real world.”
From same-sex marriage to legalizing marijuana, no subject is
off limits for
The View
crew. Faris’ perspectives on these and other
topics don’t waver, but stay true to the unchanging Word of God.
“Everyone thinks, ‘Oh, the world changes, and culture changes, so
the Church has to change,’” she said. “I say ‘No.’ The Bible is not
going to change. It’s the same yesterday, today, and forever, and that’s
the beauty of it — it is the same.”
Faris also tries to witness by the way she interacts with others —
with sincerity, honesty, and kindness. “The Bible says they’ll know
you’re Christians by your love for one another,” she said. “What
good is it if I talk about being a Christian till I’m blue in the face
Cedarville Grad Paula Faris
Shines for Christ on
The View
Cedarville Magazine
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