You Had Me at Katie Couric

A few days ago Beth Blecherman, one of the incredible founders of Silicon Valley Moms Blog, which started out a few years back with a group of mom writers from the west coast and has expanded to Washington D.C., Chicago and New York City, called me with an incredible opportunity - the chance to go behind the scenes at the CBS Evening News and meet Katie Couric! OMG...what was I going to wear???

We all arrived early (looking great I might add) and chatted in the lobby for a while, until our incredibly young and affable guide (one of Katie's favorite digital geniuses) whisked us upstairs and gave us a tour of the studio and control room and took plenty of pictures of us with about 20 different cameras! While we were waiting in the newsroom, the woman of the hour breezed in and was ready for action. We immediately followed Katie into the studio where she recorded a few promos and a quick segment for her CBS radio show, took a picture of our group behind the news desk and when she had a little down time, she invited us into her office for a personal chat. They also shot some video of us with a Flip camera (must-have item for moms) that will wind up on Katie's YouTube page in a few days. Katie's behind the scenes videos are pretty funny - so check them out and get to know what she does when she's not delivering the news!

As we all gathered in her bright and inviting office - she's got pictures of powerful female leaders on her wall (gotta love her), Katie plopped down on the floor and started taking our questions. Right off the bat, one writer asked if Katie could call and surprise her mom and she immediately said yes and left the nicest message on her answering machine - I bet her mom will never erase that one! From there, we tackled tons of topics, from parenting, single motherhood, politics, American Idol, the power and dangers of the Internet and much much more. With every question we asked, I could sense that with Katie Couric, you get the real deal. An impassioned television journalist with the drive to accomplish anything she sets her heart out to achieve. She's got an engaging personality and an incredible sense of humor, and as she passed around a photo of her gorgeous girls, you could tell that at the heart of it, Katie Couric is a phenomenal mom who has always been there for her daughters and will continue to be a driving force in their lives (whether they want her to be or not :>) as they transition from their teenage years into adulthood.

I never thought that my journey away from CBS would one day lead me back through those doors again, but this time around, it was so nice to be on the other side as a writer who was given an amazing opportunity to meet a true Role Mommy. Major kudos to Jill Asher, Beth Blecherman and Tekla Nee, the founders of the Silicon Valley Moms Blog who invited me to become a part of the NYC Moms blog when it first launched a year ago. As I've attempted to reinvent my life and recapture my love for writing, I am so impressed to be in the company of the talented array of writers they've assembled on the site. From authors like Andi Silverman (Mama Knows Breast), Kelcey Kintner, a former television reporter and the gorgeous founder of Mama Bird Diaries, to television scribes Nancy Rabinowitz, to magazine writers like Amanda May and many, many more, at the heart of it, we're a group of mothers who are juggling our crazy schedules with our passion for writing, parenting, politics, entertainment, social commentary - you name it, it's on their site. With over 200 writers to date, Jill Asher, Beth Blecherman and Tekla Nee have managed to create a powerful community and voice for moms in five major cities (they've just added New Jersey too and one of my favorite authors Gwendolen Gross just joined that group too). At yesterday's Katie meeting, I got the chance to meet Devra from D.C., the author of Mommy Guilt and founder of Parentopia, plus Joanne, a lawyer who is best known for her incredible political commentary on Pundit Mom and Holli, who I had actually interviewed a few months back for MomLogic who by far had the best outfit and shoes in the crowd! Jill, Beth and Tekla should be incredibly proud of what they've accomplished so far. They have given a voice to intelligent, engaging and funny moms and for that, I'll be eternally grateful! So if you haven't paid a visit to their sites yet, then do it today...trust me you won't be disappointed Click Here to check out the NYC Moms blog.