For the past 4 months, 11 students from three local universities, NC Central University, Shaw and St. Augustine’s, have been interning in Capitol Broadcasting divisions through the second year of the Emerging Leaders Program. A partnership between CBC and Leadership Triangle, the program combines hands on learning in departments aligned to their interests along with workshops led by LT coaches. The program will culminate with a graduation ceremony on December 13. In the final weeks leading up to that conclusion, CapCom is profiling several of these outstanding students.
Tillia Leary is interning at WRAL-TV in the Sales Department. She is a junior as what she describes as “the prestigious St. Augustine’s University. Leary is pursuing a double major in accounting and business and plans to graduate in 2025.
FOX 50 National Sales Manager Sam Little is serving as her CBC mentor in advertising and sales.
Tillia applied for the Emerging Leaders Program because she wanted to “develop leadership skills and offer guidance in being in leadership role.”
Emerging Leaders Intern Tillia Leary
She told CapCom, “In today’s world challenges can arise at any time, and to be an effective leader you need to be able to respond to those challenges with intelligence, strategy, and expertise. That is why I apply to this program, to understand more about the importance of being a leader. Business success requires agile leaders who can skillfully lead through change, drive performance, and cultivate a people-first culture of engagement and accountability and that is what I’ve been taught here at this leadership program.”
Excited to be selected for the program, Leary said she could not believe her eyes when she saw the congratulations email.
She is discovering many things through her internship.
“Some key things I’ve learned at WRAL-TV is respect for one another, responsibility, being quick on your feet, stepping outside of the box and accountability,” said Leary.
“Training them is important because we all learn and grow from each other, and understanding how a younger generation thinks, will help us to align with what future employees will be aiming for, but also it allows for them to understand and experience what working in a corporation is like, and what is expected from our workforce.”
FOX 50 National Sales Manager Sam Little about training Emerging Leaders interns
Little says mentoring Leary has been an opportunity for him to learn as well.
“It has been an interesting experience, my first time leading an intern in a program so this has been an excellent experience in learning and improving my won leadership skills, while also understanding how to set Tillia up in a position to succeed,” he said.
He has honed in on guiding Leary in focusing on a key concept.
“The main thing I’ve tried to teach is to work to her strengths, but also to try not and burn yourself out,” he said. “She does a ton of different things through school and in her life, finding balance to succeed is key to putting your best foot forward and improving your skills.”
Leary would definitely recommend the Emerging Leaders Program to others for multiple reasons including, “that there’s a lot of networking opportunities and a lot of hands-on experience.”
Little also believes in the value of the Emerging Leaders experience.
“I think the program is important because it gives us insight into the workforce of the future,” he said. “What are these students thinking about, what technologies or skills they have the can be used to not only help them succeed, but our team to learn from.”
Thanks to Tillia Leary for this CapCom photo.
Check out the previous Emerging Leaders Profiles:
