With a smile on her face, Val, as she is most often called, remembers where she was when she got the call from the station’s general manager that she’d been selected for the job.
“It was February 14, 2011,” she recalls. “I was driving home from work eating a burrito in the car. I will never forget.”
Val says she cries at almost everything so, of course, she cried. She also thanked God, called her mom and sister, and was relieved that a decision had been made, but sometimes she says the feeling’s unreal.
“Sometimes I pinch myself because I’m like, ‘this is real, this is really happening to me.’ Other times I’m super excited. Other times I feel the pressure, I feel the nerves,” says Val. “I’ll be driving and just random moments, it’ll really hit me that this is me and this is happening to me.”
Val says her emotions are all over the place.
“I’m really honored. I’m humbled. I’m excited. Nervous. I think every possible emotion you could have to think about filling the time slot that was once held by the Queen of Talk―I have it,” says Val.
As the co-host of Windy City LIVE, Chicago's new morning talk and entertainment show airing weekdays at 9 a.m., Val wears many hats.
Val is a “power woman.” Because her voice is heard by so many people, there’s a sense of power that comes, says Val. But being a power woman also means staying grounded and not letting that sense of power take over who she is as a person.
The biggest hat Val wears is being a mom to her two children, Zoe and Max.
When the show premiered May 26, 2011, viewers were introduced to some of the most important people in Val’s life and got to see Val in action with her kids. She says her family’s support helps her in maintaining a smooth balance between her role as a mother and career woman.
“Whether mommy’s not there they get the same love from grandma and auntie, so it’s just like having mommy at home,” she says.
And as far as being a career woman, it started with a three-year internship in San Diego, Calif., where she did everything an intern could possibly do.
When her mother considered the competitive industry, she told Val to think about a plan B. Val’s reaction was simply no.
“This was what I wanted to do and that’s it,” says Val.
As an African American woman who has made her dream an amazing reality, she’s a symbol and inspiration to others.
“I’m honored to be in this position because I know a lot of other women look up to me. I’m representing a segment out of the population that you don’t see too many of us on TV in a position like this,” says Val. “So, just to know that I have all those people rooting and cheering for me, and the support has been overwhelming, that just makes me feel so good. And I appreciate it, I’m grateful for it.”
Val says it’s very possible to stick with one plan, plan A, and make it. But it has to follow with hard work and a little something extra.
“I always use this phrase with my daughter: hard work dedication, hard work determination,” says Val.
To learn more about Val Warner and Windy City LIVE, visit www.windycitylive.com and http://www.facebook.com/WindyCityLIVE.
