Among actions Tracy Davidson stresses as she helps people attain confidence and proceed with intention is “take the next step.”
This summer, it was her turn to take that advice.
“My contract negotiations were pushed back while Channel 10 went through a change in management,” Tracy said by telephone from Syracuse, where she was visiting her family for Thanksgiving and looking at the winter wonderland created by a 17-inch snowfall.
“The new general manager (Joel Davis) was very encouraging. He said, ‘Love you, love you, love you’ and offered me a new three-year contract. It was attractive, but I kept thinking, ‘three more years, three more years …’
“I was already getting busier and busier in my off-camera life as a public speaker, helping people realize what they say they want, and as I thought more about ‘three more years’ and what I wanted, I also thought, ‘If you don’t jump now, jump to pursue my own intentions, three years from now may too late.’
“Confidence is knowing when to take risks and be brave. As much as I’m an information junkie who checks headlines and stories in multiple news outlets every day, I decided this was the time to work full-time at public speaking and in presenting and developing programs that help people build the resilience, confidence, and resolve to seek more fulfilling lives for themselves.
“I am unendingly grateful for my career in television and journalism, and grateful to NBC 10 and its viewers for almost 30 years on the air in Philadelphia. I love providing information that helps people understand their world, but I believe this was the time to move on.
“Information is still at the heart of what I’ll be doing, but rather than news, it’s information people can use to achieve more in their lives, including in their relationships and in their careers.
“I’ve been living in two worlds for a while, juggling one with the other. Channel 10 was understanding when those worlds intersected. They excused me from the 4 p.m. news if I had a 6 p.m. speaking engagement. It was time for me to move forward and concentrate on my life’s next chapter.”
Tracy turned the page on Nov. 25, when she said farewell to her Channel 10 colleagues and viewers. What she did not anticipate is how quickly that next chapter would go into effect.
“I was expecting a period in which I could relax a bit, adjust to a new routine, have some calm time, and be the guest on a podcast or two.
“That wasn’t to be. Already there’s a demand for me to do one or another of my programs. This is my career now, my livelihood, so I have to do what I tell others to do, meet the challenges and opportunities.
“I am getting some time with my family because of Thanksgiving, but I’m excited about speaking and excited in general about what’s ahead.”
Tracy’s core speeches are listed on her website, www.tracydavidson.com.
The opening page announces Tracy is “Here to Serve,” emphasizes three key points — resilience, empowerment and authenticity — and features another word Tracy uses quite often: focus.
The three talks featured about spiritual journey, pillars of success, and focus are the beginning of Tracy’s range and can be augmented.
In addition to speaking before groups, Tracy is the the first throes of conceiving an unnamed podcast to launch in 2026 and planning the next Personal Development Day for Women, an event she’s done bi-annually since 2018 with JenCroneberger.
“The Personal Development Day has been quite popular. It has a 43-to-45 percent return rate. For 2026, Jen and I will do a virtual version so more women can participate.”
Tracy says her interest in speaking derived from her wanting to help people.
“It’s the same interest that brought me to news. It’s all about information. I feel as it I have a track record of providing information that people need, information that leads to strategies for coping with and overcoming obstacles that may hold people back from getting what they want or having relationships that satisfy them.
“Stress, worry, lack of confidence, lack of intention, lack of focus all lead to standing in place or doing what is takes to get by. These traits do make for good relationships or careers.
“I see an increase in people seeking more positive ways to achieve what they say they want from life.
“Whatever I’ve done comes from a desire to serve people. I want to help them make better connections, human connections. I think sometimes of the way Adam Grant begins his podcasts. He says he tries to keep people’s workplaces from sucking less. He stresses gaining confidence, building connections, taking pride in what you do whether others acknowledge it or not, and learning from experience.
“The point is to help people live better and be happier.”
To prepare for her talks, Tracy draws on experience and strategies that have helped her, but she has also studied spirituality. She has educated herself so she understands all religions and has more language to talk to people about their concerns and how to get past them.
“In this time of digital proliferation, sometimes calm, a quieting of the mind is an answer. Quiet gives people the chance to focus and build resilience. It also gives them a chance to consider all they’re seeing and hearing.
“Just as a journalist has to find what is accurate and factual, a lot of people today have to work to determine what is true in all they hear and are told.
“That’s why I talk about focus, resilience, and leadership, all of which I think are pillars of success and building relationships. I also encourage storytelling and sharing experiences. These things give people the resources they need to move forward in their lives.
“Moving forward is important. One of the things I tell people is to keep going toward what they want. Setbacks may occur. Something might not work out as intended. But you keep working at the intention, and progress will be made.
“I also remind people of habits that take up time, like sitting at the computer and scrolling through numerous pages without real purpose. Before you know it, the time that could be used to focus on your stated objective is gone.
“Leisure is important. Scrolling may have its place in a routine. I advise people to make an appointment to scroll. Block out 15 minutes, a half-hour to spend browsing, then get back to your intention.”
Experience is everything, and Tracy is combining what she’s learned in the newsroom, classroom, and lecture hall to bring a positive perspective to people.
She will appear locally from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Wednesday, Dec. 10, as moderator of a program called “Women in Business” for Delaware Today, at the Chase Center on the Riverfront, 815 Justison Ave. in Wilmington.
Big changes at ‘MMR and ‘MGK
Two popular radio stations have announced changes that were precipitated by last month’s passing of WMMR (93.3 FM)’s beloved midday host Pierre Robert.
‘MMR is going with the familiar by bringing on Matt Cord, a fan favorite in own right to replace the late Robert in the station’s 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. slot. Cord begins Monday.
Cord has been entertaining Philadelphia radio audiences for more than 30 years.
He was most recently the morning host at classic rock rival, WMGK (102.9) but has frequently been part of 93.3’s team, including once as a midday host.
Cord’s voice is familiar to many as the arena announcer for Sixers’ games.
WMGK took little time naming Cord’s replacement in the morning.
It’s Paul Kelly, a trooper whose been heard in practically every time slot on 102.9 programs in the last six years, usually filling in for an absent host or taking a rogue shift.
There’s news with “Preston & Steve,” WMMR’s morning show as well.
One of its long-term participants, Nick McIlwain, has elected to leave his on-air spot on the market’s most popular morning program.
McIlwain spoke of the recent layoff of Kathy Romano, now the morning host at WBEB (101,1 FM), in September, and Pierre Robert’s death, being reasons for departing WMMR and seeking a change.
McIlwain’s place at the “Preston & Steve” mic will be taken by the show’s producer, Marisa Magnotta. Ryan Shuttleworth, who produced Robert’s show, moves to “P&S.”
Contreras, ‘Hadestown’ in town this week
Jose Contreras’s audition for Orpheus, the lead role in the musical, “Hadestown,” had the markings of an old Hollywood story.
The one is where a producer asks an actor if he can ride a horse, to which the actor mutters an immediate yes, then goes off for riding lessons hoping he gets enough of them to make his fib stick.
Contreras’s case didn’t involve a horse but a guitar. In the myth on which “Hadestown” is based, Orpheus gets what he wants by singing in an enchanting voice and accompanying himself on a guitar.
“I played a little,” Contreras says by telephone from Washington, where he appeared in “Hadestown” before bringing it to Philadelphia’s Forrest Theatre, for a week of performances from Dec. 2 to 7.
“But it had been years, and I had no callouses to hold the strings, and I had to master the chords. I was appearing in a tour of ‘Frozen’ and spent every hour I had, and three nights solid to learn enough guitar to compete against what I learned was 500 applicants for the Orpheus, a role I wanted since seeing ‘Hadestown’ in 2019.
“I sent by audition tape on Wednesday, I was told I’d hear by Thursday at the latest. I received no word on Thursday, so I went to perform in ‘Frozen’ a little downhearted. Everyone sympathized with me because I didn’t get the part.
“Then, on Friday, just before a performance, my agent called. I booked Orpheus. I burst out crying, and everyone knew.
“It’s my breakthrough role. I’ve worked constantly, but Orpheus is my first lead. Now, I’m ready to give Jordan Fisher a run for all the leads I want to play.
“Look out, Jordan, I’m coming for you,” Contreras quips.
Contreras got involved in musical theater when a friend of his older sister heard him singing around his boyhood home in San Juan, Puerto Rico, and took him to a school audition.
He was cast as a mouse in “Cinderella,” but the next year was Prince Eric in “The Little Mermaid.”
He first saw “Hadestown,” with its folk-blues score in New Orleans, where his parents now live.
Learning the guitar for “Hadestown” was a preamble to Contreras’s experience when he arrived at rehearsals.
“I learned all of the music in the show in one day,” Contreras said.
Contreras says he learned something important in college that serves him during his career.
“I knew I was talented but I was also humble,” he said. “I had to see an example of someone who was successful in getting parts and advancing in the theater before I realized I had to assert myself.
“Or at least stop doubting myself.
“A woman in my class showed me by example what I was doing wrong.
“My school booked master classes with several top professionals, all there to help us get better at our craft. Each time, the famous performer would ask who wanted to come up and perform.
“I never volunteered, but the woman I’m talking about raised her hand the fastest every time. She did not doubt herself. The result was she got personal advice from 20 people who were successful as actors while sat and watched.
“I began to think of all the first-hand knowledge she was gaining while I was too shy to come forward and had to learn by osmosis.
“Eventually I got the nerve to volunteer. Believing in yourself makes a difference. I’ve seen some highly talented classmates fail because they don’t push themselves while people with less potential got work because they figured they’d learn on the job.
“Different attitude, different outcome.”
Now Contreras can cite the roles he wants to do next in “Hamilton,” “Moulin Rouge,” and “The Outsiders.”
Look out, Jordan Fisher.
Source: Berkshire mont
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