New “Today” show co-anchor Ann Curry sits down for a Q&A with Forbes as part of their “100 Most Powerful Women” issue. (Curry is 66th. Diane Sawyer is 47th)
“I didn’t aspire to be on the Today show; they offered me the job,” says Curry. “I didn’t ask to be the co-anchor of the Today show; they gave me the job.”
What is your least favorite stereotype about powerful women?
AdvertisementWhen I began I was told that I couldn’t be a news reporter because women had no news judgment. I was the first woman to be a news reporter in the first place I ever worked. I’ve heard a lot of stereotypes. What I hate more than any other is this idea that a woman can only be successful because she somehow connived or engineered her rise. That she could not rise simply because she was too good to be denied. That irks me.
Have you heard that said about you?
I feel that even now. People wonder, ‘Well, Ann, did you somehow force NBC to put you in this position? Was there some kind of backroom deal?’ I find it really annoying.
Curry will be interviewed Friday at the annual NLGJA conference in Philadelphia.