Personality profile SYLVIA WINTERLING
Julie Carey
A
Keeping an eye on Northern Virginia
ccording to a recent Harris poll, only onethird of Americans state that they are content or satisfied with their lives. That means there must be a lot of unhappy people in this country. And yet in the three years I’ve been interviewing people for the Personality Profile for this publication all have consistently claimed they are content, content with their jobs, content with their families, with their mates, and content with their community and neighbors. Last month in talking to Tim Geary, president of Sampson & Clarke, when I asked him about the negatives of living and working in Old Town, after a long pause the best he could come up with is that it’s hard to find a parking place in Alexandria. The month before when I asked Rob Kaufman, owner of PMA Properties, the same question he couldn’t think of any negatives in his life. Which brings me to Julie Carey, the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief for NBC News 4, and the October profile, who says she is so content with her life that she’s boring. Growing up in Iowa, Julie experienced a childhood that many Americans idealize, small communities in which everyone knows everyone else. Kids grow up basically untouched by drugs, spending most of their time either playing or watching some sport. Her father worked in real estate and her mother was the traditional stayat-home mother. Julie’s activities centered around high school sports and student council and the rite of passage for most young people in Iowa, the de-tasseling of corn in the local fields. Although her community was mostly white and mostly Christian, her parents instilled in her and her siblings, respect for everyone, and a passion for understanding current events, especially political events. Their dinner conversations must have been inspiring as two of the four children are journalists today. The values she learned in Iowa have sustained her today; the ethic of working hard, having a strong moral compass, being grounded, caring
photos: Robin Fader/NBC4
about her community, respecting people she meets and above all else, imposing high standards and expectations on herself. Julie always knew she wanted to be a journalist. She loved writing and was a reporter for her high school newspaper. She chose to attend Indiana University in Bloomington because it had a strong tradition of a great student newspaper and she graduated with a degree in journalism.
4 | October 2013
Her first job was working as a reporter in Cedar Rapids, Iowa and she also worked in Indianapolis and St. Louis before coming to NBC 4 in 1992. By the time she came to DC, she had met her husband, Mike Tackett, managing editor of Bloomberg, LP, and they had a son. After the birth of her daughter, she negotiated a flexible contract with management at NBC allowing her to work four days a week. This has given her the freedom to attend
the school and sport activities of her children. She says it was also a blessing being married to a fellow journalist who understood the pressure of tight deadlines and the need to sometimes work long hours. Whether Julie is standing kneedeep in a snow bank in Tyson’s Corner dressed in a hooded parka reporting on road conditions during a blizzard or in front of a courthouse in 90 plus degree heat reporting on a prominent trial, she always manages to look cool and put together. She appears unflappable. After twentyone years with NBC 4, she currently is the Northern Virginia Bureau Chief, reporting mostly on the evening news programs. She works with fellow reporter, David Culver, and photographer, Sean Casey, on a daily basis determining which stories to cover. David gives Julie high praise; “No one knows northern Virginia better than Julie Carey. Her knowledge, passion and love for this community are evident in the stories she tells each day. As a fellow northern Virginia reporter, I look up to Julie for her approach with sources and contacts. She doesn’t look at them as just numbers and emails saved on her phone; she knows and genuinely cares about each of them. In return, they trust her to share their stories.” People trusting Julie is evidenced by a story that Wendy Reiger, who co-anchors News4 at 5, relates; “Julie is the only person who has made me cry on the air. She did a wonderful story on a young man who had suffered some brain damage at birth. His parents refused to treat him delicately and pushed him into a full life. He became a beloved and central character at his high school in Maryland. The field house went wild when he walked on stage to get his diploma. Julie captured the pure joy and exuberance of this amazing young man and his impact on the student body on that unforgettable day. It was more than I could bear and I just wept my way into the commercial break. “ Julie agrees that this is one of her most PERSONALITY PROFILE > PAGE 5
Old Town Crier