Lisa Ling, known for her famed career as a journalist appearing on Channel One News (with fellow alum Anderson Cooper), The View, National Geographic’s Explorer, and about to launch her new show on the Oprah Winfrey Network, Our America, gave an excellent lecture at Tufts University this week.
Photo Courtesy of Meagan Maher, Tufts Daily
Before beginning her speech, Ling answered a few questions that she frequently gets asked:
1) Yes, Oprah is awesome. In fact, she is even better in person.
2) Her sister, Laura, just had a baby, and is doing great.
3) No, she was not in Charlie’s Angels. That would be Lucy Liu.
She then gave the audience insights into the multitude of captivating, and at times life-threatening, adventures she has experienced reporting global issues ranging from China’s Lost Girls to Colombian drug trafficking.
Toward the end of her speech when students asked what advice she would give to college students, she was quick to emphasize the significance of international education: “The best education I have ever received was through travel. You’ll become more conversant, poised, and smarter. You will be more appealing in the workforce because you will experience spending time outside of your comfort zone.”
Ling elaborated that the benefits of travel can also be applied domestically, and that it is essential to listen to the stories of the people around you.
“I like to encourage university students to travel to other countries, but you can constantly experience things that are so foreign even in America…and that’s why the series “Our America” is so profound and important to me. There is no need to over think things, just be a good listener. At the end of the day, I believe that everyone has a story to tell, and everyone wants to be heard. When I offer respect to people, that respect is often reciprocated. It can be as simple as just lending an ear, and spending time. Time is something that is so precious. Often we think that an organization and people always need money, but time just spent listening is actually quite underestimated.”
Be sure to check out the premiere of Our America on February 15th at 10/9c on the OWN network!
