How does a high school graduation prank turn into a career in radio? Serendipity
On May 12, WFAE reporter Nick de la Canal told a room of 325+ creatives that the best way to experience serendipity was to work really hard to be prepared to spot it when it comes.
That’s after he shared what serendipity — a word many of us think we know how to define, but don’t — really is: The phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for. He also shared the word “zemblanity,” the antonym of serendipity — the inevitable discovery of what we’d rather not know.
During his talk, de la Canal told two stories of how serendipity led to incredible discovery. He also revealed that his own career was set in motion thanks, in part, to an act of serendipity.
After being removed from his high school graduation for a stunt pulled while getting his diploma (which involved tear-away pants and boxer shorts), de la Canal was interviewed on WFAE. During that interview, the news director saw something in him and encouraged de la Canal to become an intern at the station and consider a career in broadcast journalism.
Today, as a journalist and storyteller, de la Canal is working hard behind the microphone every day, honing his skills so that when an incredible news story presents itself, he can identify it and act on it. And it’s paying off.
At 25, de la Canal has already worked with NPR’s “All Things Considered,” “Latino USA” and other national programs, as well as helped the Charlotte public radio station win an Edward R. Murrow Award for its coverage of the Keith Scott shooting and subsequent protests in 2016.
If you were not in the room (or even if you were and just want to relive it), here are two ways you can experience de la Canal’s inspiring perspectives. The first is a video of the de la Canal’s entire talk, courtesy of Charlotte Star Room.
The second is the latest episode of the #CharlotteIsCreative podcast, recorded immediately following his talk, in which Tim Miner and Matt Olin chat with de la Canal about his drive to tell Charlotte’s stories.
Have another Creative Morning June 2 at Warehouse 242.
The next meeting of CreativeMornings/Charlotte starts at 8:30 a.m. Friday, June 24, at Warehouse 242, and features Charlotte artist and owner of Dupp and SWAT Davita Galloway speaking on the global theme of “Survival.”
No matter where we are on the spectrum, CreativeMornings believes that everyone is creative. Everyone is pulled by their own creative instincts. Some choose to ignore that instinct. Others pursue it as a hobby. Still others see that pursuit as a life’s calling. But, in a world that rewards success in business or on an athletic field with large salaries, how hard is it for an artist to survive so they can live to create another day?
A Winston-Salem native and graduate of Parsons School of Design in New York, Galloway will address the role that artistic expression has played in surviving and processing several challenging events in her life, as well as the very real fight she faces to keep Dupp & SWAT open so other artists struggling to express themselves have a place to showcase their work in Charlotte.
Photos: Heather Liebler
This story was originally published May 21, 2017 at 9:54 PM with the headline "How does a high school graduation prank turn into a career in radio? Serendipity."