Excerpts From My Website

My 4th Grade Epiphany                   
More @  KevinMarcusRoy.com

"When I grow up I'm going to be a newscaster." I announced when I was 9.

We lived in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Miss Cooley was my teacher.

I was the teacher's pet.  

On the last day of school, Miss Cooley told me she was moving to Texas to begin a job as a TV Reporter.

She was the first person I knew who was going to work on TV.  That got me thinking.

My epiphany came sometime during the next day or so.

We moved to River Forest, Illinois, the first suburb west of Oak Park which is the first suburb west of Chicago, when I was in 7th grade.  

At Oak Park & River Forest High School, I almost jumped out of my seat when my homeroom teacher announced auditions for "Newscene."

There were so many exciting moments as a high school TV Anchor, but nothing comes close to being selected to interview Oprah Winfrey.  I don't want to give it all away here -- click

Oprah's message then and now remind me of a poem my mother gave to me called "Press On."  The message comes down to this:  perseverance is everything.

I graduated with top honors from The University of Missouri-Columbia Journalism School.  #1 in my class. I'm the only broadcast sequence student to win the prestigious Donald W. Reynolds Scholarship at Mizzou. 3.98 gpa.  

Mental Health Reporter

When John Drury said, "It took a lot of courage to do that," at the end of "A Son of Suicide," it was the beginning in many ways.

Mental Health Reporter became my title; one I wear with pride.

The Emmy Award winning series is included in "Surviving Suicide," my project as a Fellow in The Carter Center's Mental Health Journalism Program.

It's one of many ways I've contributed to ending the stigma against people with mental illnesses.  It's my loving tribute to my mother, Diane Marcus Roy, who died by suicide but it was the stigma that was the root cause of her death.

We saved lives.  

There is so much more to be done. 

My hope is to work for a media outlet, non-profit organization, and/or a consortium, if you will, that will make the most of my talents and assets and encourage me to do much more of this kind of work. 

I ask you to Take The Pledge. 

Leave your comments.  

I'd love to hear your stories and what you are doing to help end the stigma.

Thank you!

Love,

Kevin Roy