Interview Date: February 16, 2017
Stephanos says when she was a young girl
growing up in Massachusetts, when legendary singer Elvis Presley died.
She remembers seeing her parents consume the news, which made her think,
“This is incredible!” She was fascinated by how a medium such as TV could deliver “urgent and immediate” news and impact someone so much, and from that
moment she knew this was what she wanted to do when she grew up.
Stephanos says that before she
was a journalist, she used to work as a waitress at the iconic Cheers
Restaurant, and said, “[it was] the best training I’ve ever had for this job”.
At Cheers, she had to walk up to people, charm them, remember customers’
names, memorizes orders, and try to get them to give her big tips. She said
this experience “was the best training I could ever have for this job as a
Reporter/Anchor.” Stephanos said that many people “that fill these halls
went to Emerson,” such as her co-anchor Ed Harding and his son, her colleague
investigative reporter Mike Beaudebt, and her own daughter. She said, “it’s
such a great network of people, it makes a huge difference” adding, “it’s
really who you know in this business and most people I know are from Emerson.”
She feels really proud to be an Emerson graduate.
Stephanos says that the reason
she left Fox25 after being there for more than 18 years, was because she was at
a point in her life that she wanted to do something new and take a risk. She
grew up watching WCVB5 and she felt that she was fortunate enough that a lot of
people were interested in her. Choosing WCVB5 was the best decision she ever
made.
In balancing her professional
and personal life, she says that she feels the phone helped so much. She would
FaceTime with her kids, helping them with homework, all while working at the
studio at night. She also found a way to cook all the meals, clean all the
laundry be a parent, a wife, and News Anchor/Reporter simultaneously.
“I can crochet a blanket, cook
like a crazy lady on the weekends, I can’t sing, I have the worst voice you’ve
ever heard in your life.” says Stephanos but she says she’s very open to share
anything. She enjoys the interaction with her viewers and how she gets to know
them and vice versa.
As Stephanos’ career evolved,
she became more sensitive to people’s tragedies because she sees how hard it is
for people when horrible things happen. She covered both the horrific events of
9/11 in 2001 and the 2013 Boston Marathon Bombings. For 9/11, she was in the
newsroom and knew something was going on but couldn’t comprehend that planes
were hitting the towers and coming from Logan International Airport. Since all
planes were grounded across the country, Stephanos and a photographer were
assigned to drive to Washington DC, and according to Stephanos she said, “it
was the most quiet, eeriest ride I ever had in my life.” When she got to
the nation’s capital, she saw “armed guards everywhere, AK47’s everywhere” and
she knew the world would never be the same. When she came back from
covering events in Washington DC, she went to the home of Cindy McGinty whose
husband Mike was in one of the towers. She came to Cindy’s house and told her,
“I don’t have my camera with me, it’s back in the car. I would like to talk to
you about Mike.” Cindy said, “Bring your camera in and let’s talk.” Sixteen
years later both Stephanos and Cindy are great friends. Every year Stephanos
helps through an event for Cindy in Foxborough called Family Fun Day. She made
sure that Cindy was a part of her life and has enjoyed watching Cindy’s sons
grow up. This is how Maria was able to cope with the tragic events of 9/11.
She was able to see it first hand through the eyes of an individual who
lost her spouse and was able to be with her, and to Stephanos this was very
meaningful.
Stephanos’
husband was a participant in the 2013 Boston Marathon. His legs locked up,
which resulted in him being an hour late to finishing the race. Once her husband
crossed the finish line, and gathered with their children the first bomb went
off right near them and then the second bomb went off shortly after that.
Stephanos took her kids and her husband and starting running from the
massacre unfolding. Once she had her family safely in the car, she tried
calling the station but couldn’t get through. She eventually was able to let
them know that “bombs went off at the finish line. I’m at the marathon.”
As she was talking to the
station about everything she was seeing. She saw some EMTs and asked them
what was happening and they told her “Maria, there are limbs everywhere, there
are body parts everywhere it’s bad.” From this point on, she knew it was bad
and recounted the information as she was heading back to Foxborough. She didn’t
stay at the marathon finish line because “I had two children with me, they were
younger and I didn’t want to turn my back on my kids. So I picked being a
mother over being a reporter first.” When she got back to her home, she dropped
off her husband and kids, changed all while talking to the studio about what
was going on. She went back into her car, drove to the studio while they were
live on the air. As soon as she arrived at the studio, she recounted the
story again and went into reporter mode. However, it was hard for her because
“my kids were there and I was there and my husband was there and you knew
something horrifying just happened.”
Though she has been through a
lot, she’s been able to cover it all through journalism. She offers inspiring
advice to future journalists “You love it. That’s it, it is as simple as that,
you have to love it and if you love it, the rest will come. I believe that as I
breathe. You don’t have to look a certain way, you don’t have to sound a
certain way, you just have to really love it
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