From NBC News to Lonely Planet: An Interview with Travel Host Dayvee Sutton

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Everyone has a story to tell. We connect and relate to one another when we share our stories. My name is Amelia Old, and I am your host of Voices of Inspiration. Join me as I share stories of friends, family, and strangers through my everyday life and travels. You will laugh, possibly cry, but walk away feeling connected more than ever to those around you and ready to be the change our world needs. Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Welcome to Voices of Inspiration. I am your host, Amelia Old. Today's guest is an award-winning journalist covering travel adventure, culture, the environment, and a number of lifestyle topics for television and digital media. She started her broadcast career in radio, working weekends as a producer for the number one station in Atlanta, then quickly moved to TV as a features reporter and producer for Falcons Vision and Comcast Sports. Over the years, she has built credentials doing work for ESPN, CNN Atlanta, CNN London, Turner Sports, where she earned two national sports Emmys. She's co-hosted a daily talk show for four years at NBC Charlotte and was the only female sports anchor and reporter in Atlanta while at the CBS affiliate. She has been a national contributor to numerous news sites, and through her production company Dream Network Media, she produces original content for TV networks, news outlets, online platforms, and mobile applications. She's also produced the emotional documentary What We Told Our Sons: Four Families React to the Trayvon Martin verdict, and the video podcast interview series, Conversations with Regular Folk. You can now watch her on air as the go-to travel expert for several national programs, including NBC News, CNN, The Weather Channel, and Dr. Oz. She also hosts the adventure travel show Beyond the Usual and produces cinematic storytelling film on YouTube. Welcome to the show, Davy Sutton. Wow, thanks for the intro, Amelia.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Thank you so much for joining me. I'm really excited that you're with us today, and I like to share with my listeners how I'm connected to each guest because these are really personal stories for me. And you are pretty special in my eyes, probably more so than you know. I began blogging like 10 years ago. And a year after I began blogging about beauty and fashion, I started writing for a website that Tyra Banks had launched at the time. And I had an article that I'd submitted and it was rejected. It was about lipsticks. And instead of letting it go to waste, I just put it on my blog, Pretty in the Queen City. And you saw it, and you reached out to me and you invited me on the show you co-hosted at the time, Charlotte Today, and the rest is history. Oh my goodness. You gave me my first opportunity on live television. And for that I'm really thankful. Years later, we've obviously have reconnected with travel writing and things like that. But I don't think you know without you, it may have taken me much longer to get where I am now.

SPEAKER_02 3:11

Here's the thing you also shared the story of like not letting those stalk you, which is also a key ingredient to making dreams happen, right? Like we definitely need, I you know, when I was a kid, when we when Oprah was on her daily show, and one of the things she always had all of these things to say, but one of the things that stuck with me, and I still uh remember it and apply it to this day, is that she said preparation plus opportunity equals success. And I always remember that. You have to do the work, and you did the work, and but I think the other factor in that is not like you're gonna get no's because a lot of times when we have our big dreams, it's a saturated marketplace. So you're there's there's a lot of growth that happens, there's a lot of you know, introspective introspections, we have to fight the imposter syndrome, all of these challenges, but uh you had that no, and even as as minor, as just you know, putting yourself out there to start a blog, putting yourself out there to write for somebody else's site, and then it was rejected, and and then saying, Hey, no, I think there's some value here, and what I what I thought of and putting it out there led to somebody like me finding it. And I I don't remember exactly what year it was, but like I'm not from Charlotte, so uh you know, you moving to a new city, you find all of these resources, and so I didn't know who you were. I remember just looking for stories, and and you you had that means you had good SEO, you had a a niche, the you know, you did all the things and our paths met together, and that's what the preparation plus opportunity equals that one success for you, that one win.

SPEAKER_01 4:56

Absolutely. Thank you so much again. I really appreciate that. Can you just start back like when you were a child? Did you always know that you wanted to be a journalist and reporter?

SPEAKER_02 5:06

So it's so funny because I unearthed some VHS test tapes of my childhood and digitized it and saw that I uh would my dad used to take us on these trips every summer on an RV. It's hashtag van life way before the new trend of it. We did that from every summer because we grew up in Los Angeles and our family was on the East Coast. So I got to go to almost every state in the continental US as a child. So that kind of also birthed the love for travel and then exploring. And there's one tape, there's bits of me at 11 years old on tape reporting what I saw. I have it, I put a little bit of a clip out on my Instagram, but I I want to kind of do a whole montage of us at the Grand Canyon, of me grabbing the camera and saying, Daddy, can I take a picture of this rock? Um, he was like, Well, I took my dad says I took a picture of that petrified rock. But I was like, but I want to take a picture. And every stop, I was I saw something, I learned something, and then I wanted to explain to the camera what I saw. So that was there, but I had the journey of life and college. I remember in college, I really didn't know what I wanted to do, which was I feel like a missed opportunity because I went to UCLA, so I was like right there in Hollywood. I could have got some great internships, but you know, your journey is your journey, and you take the path that you you take so you you can stop, embrace that, and then move forward instead of stopping and sulking and being stuck. Right. But that's another, you know, little golden nugget that I had to learn. But when I finally ended up in this path that I am now, you read my bio at the beginning, and it was a journey through sports and then news and and lifestyle television to now covering full-time travel experiences, culture, the environment, all of those things. When I first pivoted five years ago to this path, my mom said I used to always watch the travel channel and Samantha Brown and say, Wow, she has the best job. So that stuff didn't connect until a full-grown adult. So that's a long answer to say, Did I know that I wanted to be it? No, but it was I destined to. I think the evidence we want to sound like it.

SPEAKER_01 7:33

You graduated from UCLA. Was that your dream school, or was that just kind of like the next step? You know, it was local, that's where you lived, kind of expected.

SPEAKER_02 7:43

So here's the thing for me, high school was extremely easy, and every university that I applied for, which included also our rival USC, I got into. But I decided between UCLA and then it was down to UCLA and USC. And I did it just for financial reasons because USC was extremely expensive and and I didn't get like enough of a scholarship to to fund it. So that's how that ended up. It wasn't like I dreamt of going, you know, like I know some families with this kind of university culture of like being loyal to one school. So for me, that's where I ended up, and that was the circumstances of how I got there.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

What have been some of your challenges in the broadcast industry and how did you work through that?

SPEAKER_02 8:29

I think I think we could say that within every industry there's challenges, right? The first thing for me was getting in, getting my foot in the door. So I totally relate to you and your story of having a dream and trying to get in. And I'm so proud of the journey that you're taking now of not giving up on that dream. No matter what age, I think you have what's in your heart, and I think there's a bit of boldness of going after it, right? Because you're the one that's going to believe in it. Because a lot of people might not see what you see, but it's not their dream to do it anyways. So I didn't study broadcast journalism, and and I mentioned, like, oh, what a missed opportunity because they could have had some internships while in school and probably been a part of their journalism program. But I realized that probably two years after college, and then I was like, well, maybe I should go and get a master's degree. I just remember being exhausted from um school. And so I went to a broadcast specific kind of like trade school where I just learned like the ins and outs, and then they helped facilitate internships. So that was my path in. But I did that for years of doing like entry-level positions at several different networks. And I remember even somebody that was like in my friend's circle at the time saying, How long are you going to pay your dues? Kind of like, you know, and that I remember that what that stuck with me because I know how hard I was working. And I I mentioned how kind of bold and brave you have to be to tell people your dreams. And I don't think I was ever that vocal with what my dreams were to other people. I just knew I wanted to be a part of this industry and knew what I wanted to do. And then having somebody observe that you're working that hard, but kind of being like, How long are you going to be doing the interprets and entry level things? Kind of that that's one of those things that could make you retreat, right? And and so that was probably the biggest obstacle. I also, for the longest time, uh, they didn't have this phrase of describing a personality type growing up, but I would I would classify myself as an extroverted introvert. So um by nature a shy person, reserved, and still I'm kind of just like reserved. I I do struggle actually with social media. I know I wish I know people that follow me wish I would share more of my behind the scenes and day-to-day life, but it's so exhausting for me to do that. And but but I do love like the stage and performing and stuff. And and growing up that was always confusing to my mom because I remember having showdowns with her in the library, you know, when you would get you sent home with homework from school, and the teacher might give you an assignment to go to the library and ask for a particular book, and I would be having standoffs in the library with her. The librarian, afraid to talk to the librarian, the most per the easiest person you could probably talk to on the scale of adults as a kid, right? But she would be so confused because, like the following week or something, I performed like sing on stage at the the for the school choir and doing a solo or something like that. But now we know how to identify those personality types. So I say that to kind of say the basis of me like trying to get in the door also requires a lot of like networking and connections. And I would reach out to some people and they would say, Yeah, sure, follow up with me, but I would be like biting my nails and like I don't know how to follow up, and I'm afraid to ask this question, I don't want to bother you. So I did all of that through so many years, but you know what that taught me was how to make a way for what you want. So I'm very early on, I've been entrepreneurial with my approach to this and and creating something and then pitching it or showing proof that I can do something, and that has helped me to ever every step of the way, even to this day, of having my own production company because I know how to pitch myself, come up with a concept, all of those foundational things that I learned of just trying to get in, let me in, let me let me in, I are applicable to what I do today.

SPEAKER_01 12:48

I can definitely relate to the extroverted introvert. And prior to getting into digital media, I actually worked as a talent agent, and we often said that about actors. You know, they would be extremely extroverted when they were in front of the camera, but when they stepped away from that and behind the scenes, it was completely different. So you've had some pretty interesting experiences, like the time you went into a drug den in La Perla, and that's a really great video on your YouTube channel. So I think our listeners definitely need to check that out. But what is the most memorable or life-changing story that you've told and why?

SPEAKER_02 13:25

So I haven't actually gotten around to tell this story yet, but I'm glad that you approached it in that way, knowing that I cover travel. I'm always asked where was my favorite place, and I could never determine that because one of my approaches to travel is like immersion and being very present. So I can be going down the street to like the local trail and kind of be consumed just as much as going to Fiji. So so I love the way that you phrase that. So thank you for saying it that way. But I actually have been putting off writing or producing this story and all the footage and sit down and kind of sort it out and start writing and producing it, and it's quite daunting. And that was a trip to Israel. And so Israel is a place that is very complex, and the way that we were um introduced to it was were through what is considered like liberal Jewish people, Israeli people. And so they wanted us to see Palestinian homes, we went into Arabic neighborhoods, and the place is very segregated, and I learned so much, and it's very complex. And I also want to note that I'm a brown person going in through this experience, and that's relevant because a lot of the narrative that I realize coming back to the states is a particular way, and the reason it's quite daunting is because I've heard other people kind of just try to give a matter-of-fact, here's what I experienced story about their journey through Israel. And if it wasn't skewed a particular way, they've been kind of really criticized. And I know somebody that you know was lost their job at CNN as a contributor for saying something about another group. So it's kind of, and I'm a I'm a journalist, so it's what my job, I always take it as like my job isn't so much about like my opinion, it's more about helping facilitate telling other people's stories. And sometimes in travel storytelling, how I was affected comes into play, but it's really about allowing as many voices to share their story. So I said that kind of long answer to say that was it was a very impactful trip, and that happened about like four years ago. And that is the one that always comes to mind when people ask me.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

So the other day you said to me, it's important to say your dream out loud. We don't do it in order to protect ourselves because not only do we fear what others may think and others may not think of you and that role of your big dream, but we also give advantage to our insecurities because although we want that big dream, while we are dreaming of it, the pathway there is most of the time unclear. And I thought that was so inspiring. I I honestly want to print it off and hang it up in my office. But with that said, if you could offer any other advice to a young woman wanting to follow in your footsteps, what would that be?

SPEAKER_02 16:40

So do the first thing is to do it, and you and you're like, well, I don't know how to do it. Well, if it's exactly kind of like what I'm doing, you want to do something in television or broadcast. Well, we all have our cell phones, and these bad boys are so powerful. By the way, this is my vision board on my homepage. Oh, I love it. And yeah, and I learned that from my my friend who I was like, Oh, uh vision boards are I'm not I can't be bothered to cut out magazines and all that stuff. And she said, Well, you could put it on your home screen of your computer, so whenever you log on for work, you can see it there. And I said, Oh, better for me. Like, well, I'll take your idea and make it even better for my own personal use. What a great idea! Yeah, so I just thought I would throw that in since we're talking about dreams. But but yeah, like the visualization, like you talked about what I said about saying it out loud, the visualization of reminding yourself, like, oh, this is what I want to do, helps with manifesting because you gotta feel like it and the feeling of it, the action, like you know, if you if you're a Christian, there's there's a line in the Bible translated of like, you know, faith without works is dead. So you have the faith and you have to do the action. So, like the first step is to do the action, and the action in broadcast is likely not gonna be good at first. So you can't get discouraged with that. You have to keep going. But with anything, like if you're a tennis player, you're not gonna be good at first. If you play baseball, you're not gonna be good at first. It's about loving it, being driven to it, and so that's the first step is to do it. Well, the pre-first step is to like believe it in your heart, write it down, say it out loud, and then start doing it and start practicing it like you did with your blog article that put it out there, knowing I didn't know that you wanted to be on TV, you knew you wanted to be on TV, and that TV thing can't happen for you for the first time.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

I definitely agree with just putting it out there and manifesting. And I've I recently started doing my daily affirmations, and I have my playlist on Spotify that I listen to every morning to get going, and I definitely agree with that. If you can leave any words behind or your favorite quote, I like to ask people what their favorite quote is or the favorite saying, what would that be?

SPEAKER_02 19:16

So it I this came from like my childhood, but I still love it, and it's the greatest love you'll ever know is to love and be loved in return by Eleanor Roosevelt of all people. But I just think it's so I think it just speaks to me. I think you know, love is so powerful, and that's my favorite quote.

SPEAKER_01 19:39

I love that, and you have some exciting things in the works too. Can you share any of that with us today?

SPEAKER_02 19:45

Uh let's see what I can share because there are a lot behind the scenes. But right now, what I'm trying to launch ASAP is I do get a lot of questions about how to be a guest on television. And so I'm actually going to I'm working on building out a training for that. And I think that's something that could help a lot of people answer like their top questions, but also if they want to do a deeper dive, I'll have some e-learning courses out there, which is something people have been doing during the pandemic, but and I kind of avoided do being a part of like I don't want to show up on your timeline kind of selling a course, but I did some research and and I don't have to do it that way. So I think it it's it will the way I'm creating it is right in line with the brand I am and the work that I do and helping others kind of get to where they want to be as well. And then of course I um have I'm building this um brand that I can't tell what the real big project of it is, but right now it's travel with Davy, and that's just kind of like different lifestyle things for for us that love to travel. And you actually were one of my first customers when I did this uh circle skirt of the map of the world. So I love that like really vivid maps of the world. So a lot of things are based around that. Actually, these earrings are of what I designed. You have a mask too. Oh, I have a mask, and then we're doing these like t-shirts. This is traveler, we have one that's coming out adventurer, wanderer. So, anyways, yeah, so that's that's kind of been fun, just a more creating. And then finally, you mentioned this does take a lot of my time to do, but it's it's kind of been really powerful. It's I've been taking some of the stories that I do for for like news outlets and stuff of travel and telling my own personal journey through that, like the one through La Perla. And I realized I have all of this footage that that I didn't that really didn't make some of the films and the travel series that I did before that are kind of interesting tidbits. So that's been fun, and they're kind of like cinematic, high quality content on a new YouTube channel. So if you would like to follow me there, I'd appreciate it because it's brand new and we know how hard it is to build up traction on YouTube. But the good thing is it's the content has just been syndicated going on a new streaming network called Loco Plus.

SPEAKER_01 22:14

That's exciting. So where can we find you?

SPEAKER_02 22:18

The easiest way is to follow me on at Davey Sutton on all social media. So you can find me on Facebook there, on Instagram there, even TikTok. I'm trying TikTok, and or my website is the home place for all of that.

SPEAKER_01 22:30

And I will also include those details under the notes of this episode of at Voicesofinspiration Podcast.com. Thank you, Davey, for joining us today and sharing your story. I really appreciate it. And I'm glad that I had the opportunity to thank you face to face.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Thanks for having me, Amelia.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Thank you to our listeners. There are hundreds of thousands of podcasts out there, and I'm so grateful that you have chosen to join us. My name is Amelia, and I'm your host of Voices of Inspiration. Everyone has a story to tell. What's yours?