By Caryn Sullivan
From the time she was 12 years old Roxane Battle dreamed of being on the television news. And she was, for 20 years. Then a confluence of circumstances led her to step away, with nothing else awaiting her.
Over the course of her career, Battle worked as an anchor and reporter, covering the full gamut of stories and winning awards. For 13 years, unbeknownst to many, she did so as a lonely single mom without a spare dollar. Optics were paramount, so she often smiled in front of the camera — then cried alone at night.
Over the years her reporting took her to Jay Leno’s Tonight Show, to an ostentatious private media event at Disney World and to London to interview the Spice Girls. But with the explosion of the Internet the industry she knew so well underwent dramatic and unnerving changes. No longer first with breaking news stories, stations lost advertising revenue. To compensate they had to innovate, cut staff and offer paid programming in slots previously dedicated to news programming.
“It was a difficult, scary, toxic and confusing time,” she told me recently.
Battle relished being the first one to report breaking news at 5 p.m. But the novelty had worn off, and her increasingly unpredictable work schedule took the bloom off the rose. The job she had loved was no longer fun for her.
Yearning to spend more time with her 13-year-old son, she made one of the hardest decisions of her life. When her contract was up for renewal in 2006, she walked away from what had grown to be a six-figure income, benefits package and celebrity status.
She was resolved, broken and lost. For months she took long naps, sloughing off the stress that had accumulated while being wound so tightly for so long. As social invitations dwindled she felt forgotten.
Eventually she discovered a book authored by former NBC News journalist Maria Shriver. Then wife of California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Shriver had been forced to leave her position with NBC News because of a potential conflict of interest. Reading “Just Who Will You Be?”, Battle began to feel less isolated as she learned about Shriver’s struggle to find her way without her professional identity.
No longer adrift, Battle has crafted a new life, utilizing the writing skills she worked hard to acquire. What began as a volunteer role at her church evolved into new professional opportunities — and a marriage to the church pastor. She’s traveled the world with her husband, writing and producing human-interest stories. She’s written scripts and songs, and gathered costumes for church Christmas productions that include dozens of cast members.
In 2007 she reached out to MinnPost and landed a blogging position with the online news organization that lasted five years and wrought a transformative experience. While in St. Paul to write about the 2008 Republican Convention she realized she was covering what at that moment was the biggest story in the country because she’d created a new opportunity for herself. Standing on Cathedral Hill surveying the hubbub in the town where she was born and raised, she realized she could be all that she wanted to be without a big news organization. Her realization was empowering.
She recognized that her strength lies in connecting the pieces. She can see both the big picture and the minutiae of a story. That discovery gave her the confidence to undertake her next professional endeavor.
Drawing upon years of stories she’d accumulated, she wrote what she expects to be the first in a series of books. “Pockets of Joy: Deciding to Be Happy, Choosing To Be Free” briefly recounts her divorce and her departure from KARE11, focusing largely on the next chapter of her life as a single mom. Rather than belaboring her heartache, Battle emphasizes the lessons she learned in unexpected venues, such as the bleachers on which she watched her son play basketball.
The joy begins with her. “I love everything about being an author,” she said. She relishes being on the other side of an interview, connecting with readers, and hearing how her words affect them. She now has a companion to “Pockets of Joy,” a journal in which readers can record their own thoughts and epiphanies, and then share them with her. She plans to incorporate others’ stories into her third work, “Pockets of Joy: Real Lives, True Stories,” to be published next year.
Battle has a contagious smile, big dreams and plenty of confidence in her ability to achieve them. Everything she’s done — working as a news reporter, anchor, and playwright — has factored into the new season of her life, she said. “I don’t believe I was imbued with gifts, talents and abilities to do nothing with them. I have to make something of them.”
A deeply spiritual person, Battle counts her belief that things would and could get better among the reasons she was able to move on. Her mission in life is to bring others joy. “I had my walk in the sun,” she said. “Now it’s my turn to bring people joy. And that’s what I’m going to do.” Noting she feels better than ever, she said, “I’m going to bundle it all up and see what will be.”
Caryn M. Sullivan of Eagan is a contributing columnist for the Pioneer Press and author of the book “Bitter or Better.” Her email address is caryn@carynmsullivan.com
