Fifty Cups of Coffee #21: Marielena Balouris
Date: May 8, 2024
Location: Zoom
How we know each other
Marielena and I were introduced to each other through our mutual friend, Jeffrey Durosko. Jeffrey was my indirect boss at The Art Institutes!
What Marielena is doing now
Marielena currently lives in Norfolk, Virginia with her husband.
Three questions
During these Fifty Cups of Coffee chats, I ask each person the same three questions. The reasoning behind each is as follows:
Question 1 – Social media makes it easy for other people to think that they know us, when truthfully, we all only see a small sliver of someone’s life and who they really are. This is the interviewee’s chance to share something that is important to them that, for whatever reason, other people may not know.
Question 2 – We all have fears, no matter who are are or where we are in life. This helps connect us and show we are all more alike than we are different.
Question 3 – I believe the answer to this question helps show each person’s true values, passions, and their why in life.
There are no right or wrong answers to any of these. I’m including each person’s answers in first person. Their answers have been edited from my notes for length and clarity, but these are their words.
What is one thing you wish more people knew about you?
“I think I wish more people knew that the success I’ve had in my career, I have worked hard for. I think some people assume I’ve had a lot of good luck, which, I’ve had, but good luck happens when hard work meets opportunity.”
“I’m very fortunate: I’ve covered the Olympics and they’re really cool experiences, but people don’t see the 18 hour days and 35 live shots and the months of prep that have to lead up to that. Or the early mornings, late nights, and weekend hours we put in. I will do whatever it takes to get the story done and it’s not just Olympics but the years before now were a grind. My current job is a grind in a different way because of special projects I’m taking on. I’ve never worked harder for longer and have never pushed myself more. I wish people knew about the behind-the-scenes work. There’s a lot more that goes into the work that I do than what they see.”
What is your deepest fear?
“My deepest fear would be losing my husband or parents prematurely, and my brothers too. That has always been something as a kid and adult I’ve feared. I just hope we have long healthy lives together. All of my grandparents lived into their 90s. I have one remaining grandma who is 94. To have decades with them, to know them, understand them and hear their stories. My grandparents immigrated from Greece and came to this new country and had to build families from the ground up. My biggest fear is not having that family.”
If you had unlimited funds, what would you do with your life?
“I would pay off any debts that anyone in my family had. I don’t know where I’d live but I’d probably want multiple homes, maybe in Pittsburgh, DC – I love Washington. I want to travel and see the world, meet and help people, establish a nonprofit that would do work that really matters. What exactly that work is, I don’t know yet, but something that would help people and allow me to see the world. I’d like to make some sort of impact and help other people. I would still want to tell stories in some way.”
Lessons Learned
It was such a pleasure chatting with Marielena! Here are my biggest takeaways from our chat:
- There is no such thing as overnight success — At least not in the world most of us live in. I appreciate Marielena’s answer to the first question because I think that’s true of so many jobs nowadays. Thanks to social media, the internet, and a zillion streaming channels needing to fill time, we see the highlights reel of what everyone else is doing and it’s so easy to think someone else’s job looks easy and amazing. But the reality is, we’re all just out here grinding and doing the best we can — and the majority of the work still goes unseen. I love that quote: “good luck happens when hard work meets opportunity.”
- Family, above all else – Like so many of the people I’ve interviewed for this project, Marielena mentions the deep importance of family, and the fear of losing family. So often I feel like those family connections are the foundation for so much in our lives.
- Once a journalist, always a journalist – I like that if she had unlimited funds, Marielena would “still want to tell stories in some way.” The world will always need people to tell the stories, to share the parts of the world and the people that are untold, forgotten, or otherwise unknown.
Thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me for the 50 Cups of Coffee project, Marielena!
Learn more about Marielena
You can connect with Marielena on Instagram: @MarielenaBalouris
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Learn more about me at MarlynnSchotland.com.