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Bio
As soon as Blanche learned how to talk she knew she wanted
a career in television. Yielding a spatula as a microphone,
she would interview folks around her San Francisco neighborhood
as a preschooler, piecing together stories about earthquakes, street
construction, and local events. She would then set up a podium
made of cardboard and read her newscasts in front of friends and
family. Years
later, after graduating from UC Berkeley in Political Economy of
Industrial Societies, she hit the ground running to gain on-the-job
television experience.
Blanche began her television track working behind the camera in
1994, doing production work for ABC, CNN, PBS and Michael
Hoff Productions while pursuing her master’s degree in Broadcast
Journalism at San Francisco State University. In 1998, she
auditioned for and landed the part of host for Video
i, and her on-camera career has taken off ever since.
Not wanting to miss out on the high-tech boom, Blanche then lent
her television skills to the high-tech industry as an on-camera
host/moderator for webcasts. She also coached high-tech executives
how to present in front of the camera. Some of her clients included
Akamai Technologies, Siebel, Hewlett Packard, Agilent Technologies,
and TECH TV’s daily new program TECH-LIVE.
Blanche reported live every hour on high-tech and other news stories
starting at 5:00 a.m. with a final report at 1:00 p.m. She covered
major stories, from the Compaq-HP merger to the September 11 attacks.
She was also an on-camera host and moderator for special programs
for another satellite channel called Link
TV. Blanche
then took a turn for entertainment reporting after auditioning
for and landing the job of the only fulltime correspondent for
ABC’s brand new live program called View
from the Bay. It was there that Blanche began to cultivate
an interest in environmentalism, producing story after story on
how to live green in the Bay Area and beyond. She also interviewed
A-list celebrities from Bruce Willis, Nicholas Cage, Orlando
Bloom and Selma
Hayek,
to illustrious musicians from Harry Connick
Jr., K.D. Lang, and
Rick Springfield. Evident from the fan mail Blanche
has received, viewers delighted in following her on her adventures,
whether getting a lesson on stinky cheese, taking a salsa lesson,
shooting fire from a cannon, or cooking with top Bay Area chefs.
At View
from the Bay, Blanche further cemented her experience in
the live television realm, reporting live on location from festivals,
concerts, and businesses all over the Bay Area.
Throughout all of these changes, Blanche was loyal to and passionate
about Video i, and has remained the host since 1998.
Over the years she has witnessed an explosion of artistic, high-quality
works in the independent film scene, and feels lucky to be a part
of this revolution. She particularly enjoys documentaries, especially
ones that inspire activism.
Whether moderating a high-tech panel for a high-tech company,
interviewing eclectic politicians on Link-TV, showing how to live
green on “View from the Bay” or improvising hilarious
stand-ups for Video i, Blanche has proved she has
the versatility to reach out to audiences regardless of genre.
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