Maintaining A Work/Life Balance With FOX5 Reporter Chernéy Amhara

Chernéy Amhara is an award winning TV reporter and multimedia journalist for FOX5 Las Vegas. She spent her childhood in Kingston, Jamaica and Sacramento, California before moving to Los Angeles, California for college. After receiving her Bachelors of Arts in Journalism from California State University of Northridge, she took a leap to work in TV markets of Anchorage, Alaska and Charlottesville, Virginia. Check out a quick Q&A with Chernéy on how she maintains a work/life balance, her go-to makeup products, and more!

Jasmin: What does women empowerment mean to you?

Chernéy: Women empowerment means just women reaching out to each other. I think mentorship is a big thing, you know, paying it forward, and going back and reaching back to women and uplifting other women. Just kind of sending out vibes to one another.

Jasmin: What advice do you give to young girls living in this age with all that we see on social media?

Chernéy: Your digital footprint is something that doesn’t go away, so no matter what you put out there, it's important to know that it can always stay there. Everything that you tweet or everything that you put on Facebook, social media, whatever it may be, that's something that is a part of your brand, when you think about it, so you just have to be very mindful when you post something. Also, social media is a double edged story. It has its negative parts, but great benefits as well. It's a great way to, kind of what we talked about earlier, women empowerment and positive vibes, it's a great way to do that, it's a great way to network. It's a great way to, if you want to start your own business or something like that. It's a great way to just put yourself out there at the same time so just be mindful and pay attention when you’re online.

Jasmin: How do you define sisterhood?

Chernéy: Sisterhood is that bond between each other. If you have certain similarities, you bond with one another. For me, sisterhood is a long term bond. Whether it's women coming together sharing similar tastes in music, or food, or whatever it may be, it has to be something that bonds you together.

Jasmin: What inspired you to become a journalist?

Chernéy: When I start thinking back, I think back to when I was a kid. For me, watching the news at home was a pretty big routine being from Sacramento. My parents are immigrants, they’re from the islands, and we came, I was born here, but they weren’t. So I came back to the United States when I was around 7 years old, so I remember, that we would watch the news all of the time. I remember it was 10 o’clock Fox 40, 11 o'clock KCRA, and for my parents, it was kind of a way for them to navigate through this new environment to learn more, it was very informational. You know, we would watch and find out about festivals and things going on. It was crazy to go to these festivals. I remember there was an event sponsored by KCRA. I met Edie Lambert there, and I always idolized her. I reached out to her and she actually brought me into her station, and I did a tour of the station, and stuff like that so for me, seeing these people who were kind of like rockstars, I wanted to be a part of that. As I grew older and older, I kind of drifted a little away from that. I was originally pre-dental in college. I then took an internship, and I fell back in love with it. And I decided to give it a shot, so I kind of fell into it. I moved to LA and went to college there. I started interning and working hard, and really wanted to make something of this, reaching out to people in the similar field, and that's really how I got my way in. I went from small markets, to now I’m in a medium size market in Las Vegas.

Jasmin: How do you a maintain a work/life balance?

Chernéy: For a long time I wouldn’t say that I had a work/life balance especially my first job, I was pretty much on the go, go, go. And after work, I would come home and watch like Vice News, or Land of Thousand Stories. I was very much into...that was my grind. Now, I met another reporter, she’s from Sacramento too. And she has actually worked for ABC World News and even sometimes I was telling her, sometimes you do get burnt out as a reporter. It's really important to find something outside of work, completely separated from that, where you do that all the time. And it could play into your job too. For me, I started working out. I think that's a good release and a good balance that I started. I just really started getting into it. I started hiking and really trying to explore my area, so that's something that I do quite often. But just trying to make sure that I don’t overwhelm myself. And sometimes it's important to take a break. It's okay to take a break because you want to stay healthy mentally, as well as physically.

Jasmin: What do you think is the biggest issue women are facing in the workforce?

Chernéy: I think, not being heard. I know that I recently was at a National Association of Hispanic Journalists conference, and we’re going around the room talking about how each of us got our start. Someone from the executive board for the Radio Television Digital News Association was saying how it was as a struggle for her to be the first female on the board, and how, it's kind of like a boys club where there was traditionally men in news and radio, and it was a struggle for her to find her voice, and she felt intimidated. I think this is something that women deal with, whether it's women in the boardroom or women who are, or there's certain rules when you think of occupations that are traditionally seen as something men would have. You may still earn your position there, but you may feel like you don’t belong there...and finding your voice and making sure that you are heard.

Jasmin: What are some of your go-to make-up products?

Chernéy: Mine vary because I do have to have stuff that lasts longer throughout the day. I definitely use MAC makeup; it's more costume makeup so it's thicker and stays on longer. But there are products that I think are super go-to. I watch makeup Youtubers. Haha. So I found the L.A. Girl highlighter, but it also makes a great concealer. And then banana powder is God sent. You can get that at any costume or jewelry type makeup place. I also use this spritzer that's suppose to make it last longer.