When Emma Sheehy ’17 told people she was majoring in creative writing (with a minor in American politics) she got the rhetorical question, “How will you find a job?”
She quickly answered those skeptics. Since November, she’s been executive assistant to six-time Emmy award-winning Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner.
Sheehy manages Faulkner’s daily schedules, expenses, transportation, publicity, social media, emails, meetings and events. She says, “Anything that you can imagine needing an assistant for I have probably done.”
Tasks range from making a subway trip to Whole Foods for bread to working at 4 a.m. on the day the U.S. Embassy opened in Jerusalem. (Bread slices with Sandra Smith’s image burned on them were used to “toast” Smith for her last day as an anchor on Fox’s Outnumbered.)
“I have no typical day. Some days I’m in at 8 a.m. and out around 5 p.m., but it varies [according to] Harris’ schedule and general world events,” Sheehy says. “The hours may be long, but these can be the most interesting days. The other week I went behind the scenes and was with the cast at The View when Harris had a guest appearance on the show.”
Sheehy values the social and social media skills she learned at Bucknell in class and through extracurricular activities. “I’ve learned that details matter,” she says. “Double checking work or asking a clarifying question may seem tedious, but catching mistakes happens more often than you’d think.”
No matter where her career path takes her, Sheehy says her current job “will be helpful in whatever my next step is. Handling the responsibility of making sure the trains run on time is valued in any industry. Anyone can be creative, but it’s the ability to take ideas and carry them through that sets one up for success.”