We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Mara Peverini a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Mara, appreciate you joining us today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

I think the biggest risk I took is deciding to pack my life at the age of 25, leave everything and everyone I knew in my country, Italy, and move to the United States. I have been dreaming of living in the States ever since I can remember. There are so many things to love in this country. One of them is the high diversity among the people living here. There is a place for everyone, it doesn’t matter what you look like, or the way you talk, or how different you can be… you have a place where you can feel yourself and where others embrace diversity, because they are different too.
But I also wanted to come here to experience the costumes, the culture, and to just be part of this beautiful country.
Although, the American dream can be quite a nightmare sometimes.
There have been many tough moments. When everything is different and you have no family around, you feel very lonely. You got to figure out everything by yourself, you are responsible for everything that is going on in your life. There have been many moments where I felt overwhelmed and insecure about my journey.
But so far, all the sacrifices, the tears and the sad moments have been rewarded by great accomplishments, and by a beautiful life that I am now building with my soon-to-be husband.

Mara, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Mara. I was born and raised in Rome.
At the age of 25 I left my country and relocated to the United States, I have been living ever since in Michigan. I currently live in Grand Rapids – it’s a great city, you should visit it if you haven’t yet!
I am a news producer at WOOD TV 8. I produce the morning show. It can be quite challenging to work a third shift, but being able to put together a show full of stories that can feature the work of members of the community, their stories, or simply something that it’s happening in town is rewarding!
As a producer a huge part of my job is news judgement – understanding what viewers could find interesting; creativity – make sure that the stories that go on TV are engaging; and working under pressure – news change constantly, you have to be on top of everything and make changes even if the show is already going.
I like my job a lot. I do very well under pressure, I kind of like it, because it gives me a lot of adrenaline. That is an aspect I like a lot about my job… every day is different! Steady jobs are not my jam.
I have always wanted to work in the TV industry. I have been fascinated by American TV shows and newscasts since I was a teenager, something huge for me was definitely getting behind the creating aspect of a show, getting to decide what goes on tv or not.
I did do a lot of extra-curricula activities throughout my bachelor and mostly throughout my two masters degree. Most of them involved some kind of work related to radio of TV.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The feeling I get when I see my final product on air. I feel accomplished and rewarded. The vision I had, the hard work I put in is there, I can see it, and it looks great. This kind of satisfaction drives me in other aspects of my life.
Regardless of how my day goes, I try not to bring stress at home. I try to keep work and my private life separate in a sense, to keep always the positivity around, even if I had a bad day.
But when I accomplish something good I feel more full of energy, I want to do more and come up with more ideas.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

That it doesn’t matter how hard you try, sometimes it is not enough. That should never be seen as not being able to do your job or to accomplish something, but a motivation to push forward and do better. There isn’t a specific story that comes to mind, but multiple situations in life when I feel that way. It is not true that if that’s the best you gave you can’t do more. You always can do more and improve in every aspect of your life.

Contact Info:

• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/marapeverini/
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmAYHTVgFnOE92sAl4jOV_Q