About Me...

I thought that I should post a little something about myself to give everyone some back ground information on who I am and where I come from. So here goes.

My name is Kendra Rudder and I am born and raised in Knoxville, TN. This is lucky for me because, as I am sure you all know, Knoxville is the home of Scripps Networks. Scripps Networks includes HGTV, Food Network, DIY Network, Fine Living, GAC, HGTV HD and Food Network HD.

I started working for Scripps six years ago in the Traffic department. Since Traffic is the last stop before going to air, I was able to learn all about what it takes to make a cable television network work. During my time in Traffic, I had the opportunity to work on several of our networks, mainly HGTV. I was also able to work with a variety of departments including Ad Sales, Programming and Creative Services just to name a few.

It was my relationship with Creative Services that led me to my current position. I now work in the Creative Services Department for the HGTV Brand. My official title is Manager - On-Air Strategy and Planning HGTV. I have been in my current position for almost seven months now and have loved every minute of it.

In January, my Director, Paige Hardwick and I joined the WICT Atlanta Chapter. Paige was formerly a member of WICT when she worked for Turner Broadcasting in Atlanta. She and I both felt that through WICT we could learn valuable management skills that would be beneficial to us both at a personal level and a professional one.

When I learned of the WICT Leadership Conference I immediately wanted to go. However, initially I was not going to be able to attend. Then I got the e-mail about the scholarship that WICT was offering. So, I decided to give it a shot and I sent in my application. Although I didn't think there was any way I'd win in a million years, I thought - what the heck - it never hurts to try, right?

Well, taking the chance totally paid off this time. I found out just last week that I was in fact the winner of the 2007 WICT Leadership Conference Scholarship. Few times in my life have I been more excited about something than I was that day when I found out I won. I am still super excited. There are so many reasons why I cannot wait to attend this conference. I will post more on that later.

For now, I want to once again express my sincere appreciation to WICT for giving me this opportunity. I also want to throw a shout out to Paige and thank her for always challenging, inspiring and motivating me towards new heights.