Christine Devine
Christine Devine is an American television news anchor based in Los Angeles. She has won 16 Emmys, including the prestigious Governors Award. Six Emmys were for Best Newscast. Devine is known for her “Wednesday’s Child” adoption segment. Since 1994 she has profiled foster children looking for adoptive homes, resulting in more than 500 adoptions. In 2009, she was honored in Washington, D.C., with a congressional award.
Interview by Phyllis King
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You were born in New York, and then your family moved to Arizona. What took your family south?
It began in Brazil. My mother was a Peace Corps volunteer in Rio, where she met my birth
father. Then, as the story goes, she returned to the United States to have me. I was born in North Boston, New York, outside of Buffalo. It’s a small town, and my family, the Seuferts, have early roots.
My birth father came to New York, but my parents did not stay together, and he returned to
Brazil. I’ve never met him, but finally, after all of these decades have made a recent attempt to reach out.
When I was three, my mother packed up the two of us and headed southwest. She’d attended the University of Arizona and loved the desert. She married Jack Devine, who’d been a Peace Corps volunteer in Tanzania, Africa. He adopted me when they married, and I took the name Devine.
You were valedictorian of your class in high school. Was excellence in education a family characteristic?
My mom was an elementary school teacher, and my father had teaching jobs until he became a high school principal. I was raised with education as a way of life. Both had a passion for teaching in the inner city or minority communities. For example, my mom taught in the Teacher Corps in inner-city Buffalo. My dad taught at Job Corps, and we lived on the Navajo reservation for a time.
I attended Arizona State University on a leadership scholarship. Through the advice of my mentor, Emily Card, I have returned to be on the Alumni Association and Board of Trustees to empower the next generation through education. The ASU motto is “It’s whom we include.”
What was the birth of your interest in journalism?
My parents would watch the nightly news around dinner time. At that time, there were only three network channels and no recording capabilities or online services.
I thought about being a school teacher like my parents, but then the idea hit me that being in the news industry would be a world of constant knowledge and study.
I was in a broadcasting class in high school and wrote for the school newspaper. I picked Broadcast Journalism as my major at Arizona State University, and the doors seemed to keep opening.
Among the many causes you support, you have advocated for children in foster care. You have been titled “Wednesday’s Child.” What does being “Wednesday’s Child” mean? How did this come to be? Why is foster care so important to you?
I’ll brag! Sixteen Emmys, including the prestigious Governors Award from the Television Academy. Bragging because nothing gets on the news without a team. From the producers to the assignment desk to the editor and photographer. Any award is an acknowledgment of the work day in and day out by my Fox 11 News co-workers!
Much of the recognition has come because of the Wednesday’s Child segment. Fox 11 picked it up in 1995 as a weekly segment showcasing children in foster care with the hopes of finding adoptive homes. We didn’t invent the concept. We made a long-term commitment and have done Wednesday’s Child for almost 30 years. Children that I met at eight years old are now young adults. One is my godson. Another is my dog groomer. We used to have an annual reunion at a theme park, allowing relationships and friendships to be built.
It started as a news assignment, but coincidently my parents were foster and adoptive parents. I have a late brother who was adopted, five foster siblings who came from Vietnam as refugees, and a sister.
I am a big advocate of prevention and early intervention. We will have better results in the community if we empower youth early on.
I was very moved when I met two brothers who were young adults and had been in foster care but not on our TV segment. They said they used to watch and said it was the first time they’d seen foster youth portrayed in a positive light.
Another time I met a woman who worked at a rehab facility and was being honored. When she met me, she started sobbing and said she had been in foster care and getting life before turning her life around. She said she had watched Wednesday’s Child and always wished she had been one.
While I understand most people will not foster or adopt, they see the segment as giving hope and truly caring for children and at-risk children in LA.
Do you have a perspective on why there is so much poverty in the world? And, of course, the bigger question is the solutions within our grasp.
World affairs are a complex issue. Unfortunately, there is not enough space in this article to cover all of the why’s. We are on a fascinating yet challenging planet, with each generation being called to preserve it and uplift our fellow man/woman/child.
It is overwhelming to think I could solve that problem alone. But we can all chip away at the crisis individually with our contributions to the planet.
I advocate for education and higher education, which leads to employment, better job opportunities, and higher wages.
I am active with my alma mater, Arizona State University, which has been voted “#1 in Innovation” by US News and World Report eight years in a row. We believe in access to a college education with the motto, “It’s not whom we exclude. It’s whom we include.”
As a member of the Board of Trustees, we are constantly being informed of unique opportunities to reach a population that may not think college could be for them, whether it is economical, generational, or life obligations that might get in the way of the traditional university concept. If we can empower people through economic opportunity, we chip away at generations of poverty.
I believe we are all in a place of contribution, whether it is empowering our children or the masses.
Are there any stories you have wanted to cover, still like to cover, and feel you need to?
News is a business that changes daily, by the minute. There is never an end to the stories we want to tell.
You have a golden career and achieved many awards like the Angels in Adoption award, the Gracie Allen Award, the Child Welfare League of America award, and the Arizona State University Alumni Hall of Fame, to name just a few to name. Do you feel you have reached what your heart calls of you?
Thank you for the reminder to be appreciative and humbled by the opportunities that have come before me.
My heart calls me to be inquisitive, to be curious about people and their journey/story. But I wonder if that ever ends, that desire to learn why people do what they do. My mission has always been to give voice to those who go unheard or unrecognized.
On a personal note, I have a passion project close to my heart, yet to be revealed. I also have a dream to design a high-fashion streetwear look, even if it is just for myself to wear!
What keeps you balanced and centered in your life? Do you meditate?
Striving for balance is important for everyone, but working in a field of trauma is perhaps even more so. Sadly, we see humanity at its worst in the news business with unthinkable suffering. Fox 11 has allowed me to do decades of stories on empowerment, encouragement, and hope. So my balance is in the stories that I personally cover.
As for balance in life, I recommend self-care that includes rest, friends and family, a mentor, exercise, healthy food choices, laughter, a little travel, moments of fun, a good book, a great hike, sunshine on your face, and church/meditation/prayer and positive teachings.
What can be an obstacle in your life?
Gosh, where do I start? Are we not our own worst enemies? Does the mind not have a funny way of launching into self-sabotage?
I find myself to be my biggest obstacle. Learning to be comfortable with the word “no” took a lot of self-work and introspection.
I don’t think I was a people pleaser; I just had trouble accepting that it’s OK to rest, balance my time, accept someone’s disappointment, or WANT to do something else; I’m still working on the theory of being the best “I” so that I can be the best “we.”
Another obstacle is wanting to do more than time in the day allows. There is a frustration of not getting to do it all or not having the energy to do it all.
I’ve been fortunate to have good health and an independent family. However, I can get tunnel vision or myopia in how I think life or people should be. Through a mentor, instead of getting sullen, sad, depressed, or angry, I’m working at changing the channel and operating at a different frequency. It’s like seeing things differently.
Not everyone has a platform or resources, but they want to help. What can the average person do to support a cause?
I’ll quote Maria Shriver, whom I adore! “What are you doing to change the world? Because we all are.”
Every day, we all make choices that can empower someone in some way. Even if it is a smile, opening the door for someone, or choosing not to honk your horn annoyingly.
The resource is yourself. Volunteering your time to a matter that speaks to you is an easy way to get involved, where action can often affect change in a big way. People often think I get paid to emcee an event, but no, it is all volunteer. It is the school teacher’s daughter in me that has me doing a lot of children’s matters.
What do you wish EDEN readers to take away from your life experience?
I remind friends in private talks that the chapters of their life stories are still being written each and every day. As we know, life will take those gut-wrenching turns and twists, testing us along the way.
My career goal never envisioned Los Angeles. It was a challenging opportunity that came my way, but not without its challenges and painful chapters. I continue to turn to official and unofficial mentors for example and inspiration. Read a good biography for a reality check!
Special Thank you to:
Christine Devine
Location:
Sue Wong Palazzo in Marrakesh
Photography:
JSquared Photography
@j2pix
Hair & Makeup:
Edward Hakopian
Stylist and Design:
Marika Soderlund
(myClub Shop)
Floral Lace Suit and Rings: Hakoda David @hakoda_david
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