“You do too many things; we don’t know what to do with you.”
That advice from a senior cable news executive never hit home with Katrina Szish, and for that fact, many Newsmax viewers are thankful.
Szish, the veteran television personality, announced last week that she has joined Newsmax TV as an afternoon anchor, pairing with Bob Sellers to host its daily 2 pm-4 pm program, American Agenda.
To say that Szish’s path to this high-profile position has been unconventional would be an understatement. Her career has included red carpet conversations, discussions about pop culture and entertainment, interviews with political figures, and four years of hosting on QVC.
While most media personalities narrow down and find their niche – or rather, get shoved into one, with or without their approval – Szish has taken chances and grasped opportunities available to her. With or without the approval of traditional media managers or bosses.
After graduating with honors from Harvard, Szish interned for CNN’s Political Investigation unit in Washington, DC, and CNN Style with Elsa Klensch in New York. She was a correspondent for CBS News’ The Early Show, an anchor, reporter, and writer for ABC News Now, a freelance correspondent for E!, a correspondent and writer for CNN.com, a co-host on the Food Network, a host and correspondent for TBS and the host of Cindy Crawford’s Meaningful Beauty television series. Just to name a few of her stops, as detailed on her website.
Szish even worked under Anna Wintour as a fashion writer at Vogue.
She has appeared with Barbara Walters and Larry King, Bill O’Reilly, and Neil Cavuto. Szish spent time as a brand ambassador for clients including Yahoo, Mercedes-Benz, Calvin Klein, and others, and she worked in local news in major markets, such as New York, Los Angeles, and Miami. She is a former fashion magazine Editor and hosted a weekly fashion and lifestyle show, The Szish List, on QVC.
So while many aspiring media professionals are content to fit in and let their career mold them, the 50-year-old Szish has chosen a different path, happy to take chances and build something unique. Her Twitter profile reads, “Truth-teller. Writer. Style Savant. Dog Mom.”
Correspondent Caroline John, writing for Earn the Necklace, called Katrina Szish “the ultimate style goddess” in her April 22nd piece announcing Szish’s departure from QVC, where she had been a premier fashion influencer since 2018. John wrote that Szish’s “fans are dejected” by her exit and that viewers have been “drawn to Szish’s engaging and entertaining persona as much as her style and recommendations.”
While many anchors would have trouble jumping from entertainment and fashion to news, current events, and politics, Szish has fit in well in her first week with Newsmax. Her Friday broadcast concluded with a spirited segment regarding a contentious segment on The View, which discussed Liberal animosity toward Black Republicans.
“I think we often see on The View any of their Republican hosts tend to get completely lambasted, where there’s not even an open discussion. It’s immediately dismissive.” Szish said during her program’s final segment last week. “That, to me, is so much of what we’re seeing. Whether it’s between former friends, whether it’s on-air, wherever it is. Is seeing something like this on-air, say with The View co-hosts, even make our society think, you know what, it’s O.K. to be dismissive if someone’s Republican, much less a Black Republican?”
Gone are the days of dishing on “party clothes.” She now opines on political parties.
Szish’s website says that another cable executive warned her, “You have to pick one thing — TV producers need to be able to put you in a bucket.”
Szish apparently took the advice to heart. She created an extra-large, multi-faceted, pliable bucket of her own making and jumped in to chart a distinctive path.
A path completely unique, personal, and successful.
Rick Schultz is a former Sports Director for WFUV Radio at Fordham University. He has coached and mentored hundreds of Sports Broadcasting students at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting, Marist College and privately. His media career experiences include working for the Hudson Valley Renegades, Army Sports at West Point, The Norwich Navigators, 1340/1390 ESPN Radio in Poughkeepsie, NY, Time Warner Cable TV, Scorephone NY, Metro Networks, NBC Sports, ABC Sports, Cumulus Media, Pamal Broadcasting and WATR. He has also authored a number of books including “A Renegade Championship Summer” and “Untold Tales From The Bush Leagues”. To get in touch, find him on Twitter @RickSchultzNY.
