Fil-Am TV Personality Competes to Become Reality Show Host
- Getting fired from TV job got her fired up to pursue her true passion: hosting her own travel show
- She's asking kababayans to vote for her entry, See Jane Run, a contender for Oprah Winfrey Network's contest for aspiring TV show hosts. To vote for her: http://myown.oprah.com/audition/index.html?request=video_details&response_id=10268&promo_id=1
By Yong Chavez
www.FilipinOnline.com
Los Angeles, CA-- Jane Monreal, 39, was laughing while apologizing for a technical glitch during an interview.
She was just talking about her show, which she proudly dubbed "high-tech," when the snafu occurred. "Ugh, forget high-tech now," she laughs.
But she quickly recovers, gathers her thoughts, and completes her story. She's good with recovering, a master adjuster who can quickly make the most out of every situation. Naturally she's in entertainment.
Monreal's family moved from the Philippines to the U.S. when she was 7. Her engineer-dad pursued good work opportunities where he could find them so the Monreals moved a lot. This, Monreal says, instilled in her a love for traveling. For her, the adventures and the people she gets to meet at each place make any travel inconvenience worthwhile.
This willingness and capacity to embrace change helped her when, a year ago, she was let go by KABC-TV Eyewitness News. Monreal became one of the casualties of the U.S. recession and the changing media landscape, now a far cry from the traditional broadcast journalism world where she came from. Her departure came as a shock to her and to fans, especially Filipino-Americans, who used to tune in to ABC-7 to see her traffic and features reports everyday.
She admits that she broke down and grieved for the job loss, "for a day, I think."
"I thought, 'This moment is making me; it's not breaking me.'"
The next day, she made plans to launch her new venture, enCompass Entertainment, LLC, which "specializes in the creation, development, production and packaging of original content for multimedia distribution, including network, cable, syndication, radio, and online media." In effect, she was embracing the emerging media world that cost her her job.
"I think a healthy amount of grieving was necessary, but I was really pragmatic about it. I said, 'Let's go, let's do something else.' Life moves on. Someone gave me an analogy, and it made me go, 'That's what happened to me,'" she says. "When you're coming up the stairs, you always have one foot ready to take the next step. Sometimes, that bottom step needs to be taken away so you can literally step it up. I needed to step it up."
So for her next employer, she decided to dream big.
How big? Try the biggest: Oprah.
When Monreal learned that the Oprah Winfrey Network (OWN) has launched "Your OWN Show Reality Competition", she submitted her 30-minute show, See Jane Run.
See Jane Run is currently an online show self-produced by Monreal and her enCompass team. Its tag-line, "Passport to Life," aptly describes what it is: "all about life’s adventures: the joy of being a passenger, pedestrian and voyager," and making cultural connections, using social media to encourage their participation in each journey. As its website declares: "This is Eat, Pray, Love – in Jane’s high-tech world."
Monreal has big hopes but she remains realistic. Going after your dreams is never easy, she says.
"The shoots can be grueling... I use a skeleton crew, and I'm currently using my own funds to finance the show, and let me tell you, it's becoming more and more challenging as the days go by," she says, momentarily sounding pensive. But she quickly recovers her verve. "But I am doing what I love!"
For See Jane Run, she travels to places, local and international, and features interesting stories and people. "I don't think there's a place I won't go. Or something I won't do. Oh! I won't jump out of a plane! Or eat a snake. That's Fear Factor. That's something I won't do, for sure."
To celebrate her Oprah bid, Monreal shares the other things she knows for sure.
5 Things JANE MONREAL Knows For Sure
1. There is nothing more powerful in human life than faith. Faith guides our decisions in all things from business to matters of the heart. Faith enables us to openly receive and give love. And faith keeps us focused and on our feet when life throws us a curve ball.
2. In time, people always show their true colors. They may not show you who they are right away, but the truth will eventually emerge.
3. Something I’ve learned through my yoga practice: Clarity is a very good thing. If we can tune out the noise and find clarity in our lives, we will make wiser choices.
4. We don’t have to travel 10,000 miles or spend a ton of money to experience the world. We can discover, learn and live an adventure in our own backyards, simply by stepping out of our comfort zone and trying something new.
5. We have only this one, short life on earth. We must make the most of it!
To VOTE FOR JANE, follow the link below. DEADLINE is JULY 3. Five participants with the highest number of votes will become finalists to be considered for the program.
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