Most people usually don’t have a clue when it comes to the career path they want to take before entering college, but that wasn’t the case for Rockford, Michigan native Elliot Grandia. Grandia had his head and heart set on taking the journalism journey as early as high school. After Grandia gave a speech in his TV studio class, his teacher commended his confident presence and unique delivery.

“My teacher, Mrs. Pearson, is the one who initially gave me the confidence to pursue broadcast journalism,” said Grandia. “She was like, ‘You should be on TV!’”

With that, Grandia began his professional career during his sophomore year of high school by shadowing WOOD-TV’s local multimedia journalist Laurie Cook. While some people don’t prefer the fast-paced environment, Grandia said he thrived in it.

“It was super cool how my day was jam-packed with meeting people and hearing their stories,” Grandia said. “Whether it was holding camera equipment or interviewing people, I was happy to get involved anyway I could.”

At the beginning of Grandia’s college career at Michigan State University, not everyone was supportive of his choice to pursue journalism. After being told constantly that the field was too “low paying,” Grandia decided to give public relations a try. His initial foray didn’t go well.

Following his first PR class, Grandia chafed at stock pitches because felt like he couldn’t fully access his creative storytelling side. He decided to go with his gut and become a broadcast journalism major. Because of Grandia’s positive experience with WOOD-TV, he decided to work another summer for the newscast in conjunction with his summer job as a pool attendant.

Grandia said there was no such thing as sleep during round two of working for WOOD-TV. From being on-call during the night shifts to getting out of bed to report breaking news at the midnight hour, it was always “go, go, go” for Grandia.

“That summer, there was a mass shooting in Grand Rapids and the death of our former U.S. President Gerald Ford’s wife, Betty Ford,” said Grandia. “I was able to cover those very intense events and interview people who had the craziest stories.”

Post-graduation proved challenging when it came to hunkering down and finding a job. After applying and applying, an opportunity in Rockford, Illinois landed in Grandia’s lap when a TV director offered him a position as a multimedia journalist. While working as a morning show anchor, Grandia acquired some spirited fans.

“I got a call from a woman who explained to me that her and her mother watched me every morning and I put a smile on their face whenever I was on,” Grandia said. “I loved being able to show off my personality.”

Grandia had an itch to move to Chicago and when scanning job boards online, Mainland instantly stuck out to him.

“I saw that Mainland’s main focus was storytelling and I was super passionate about the idea of telling real stories about real people,” Grandia said. “I’ve been on the media side and I hated getting fed borning PR crap for years. I knew what these media outlets were looking for and was confident I could bring my previous knowledge to Mainland.”

Many PR firms put the brand first, but Grandia’s firmly believes in Mainland’s mission to put the people first.

“I loved the idea of pitching the people to the media instead of the brand,” Grandia said.

The skills and expertise Grandia gained from being a news anchor made for a smooth transition as he entered the world of pitching. Because he’s been on both sides of the media, Grandia knows what makes for a compelling story and what doesn’t. Grandia heard several media pitches in his time as a news anchor, which gave him a competitive advantage when it came time for him to begin pitching at Mainland.

“I look at pitches through the eyes of a reporter and I do my best to create an interesting story that people will actually want to read or see covered on TV,” Grandia said.

While Grandia can’t put his finger on one thing he loves most about working for Mainland, he says there’s nothing better than scoring press coverage for his clients.

“It’s a lot of hard work, but the job is a fun challenge,” Grandia said.