Cokie Roberts By Delaney Harper

Presented by: Women’s Resource Center & NOLA4Women

Designed by: the Donnelley Center Cokie Roberts If asked, Cokie Roberts, journalist and a founding “Paying it forward” transcended state lines mother of NPR, would teach those who were curious for Cokie Roberts. For decades, she frequented news about the proper way to pronounce “.” stations like PBS and ABC, appearing as a political She considered herself a resident expert on her commentator, eventually receiving the Edward hometown; even in Washington, Roberts asserted Weintal Prize for Diplomatic Reporting in 1988. herself as a woman who was nomadic by trade and a While leapfrogging between stations, maintaining a New Orleanian at heart. position on NPR, and hosting dinners for 30 guests Born Mary Martha Corinne Morrison Claiborne nearly every Sunday, Roberts remained tethered to Boggs to Hale and , both of whom New Orleans. She often listened to the traffic segments served in the United States Congress and jointly on local stations just to hear the street names that represented New Orleans for 50 years, her reminded her of home: St. Charles, where she upbringing was one of hobnobbing. She brought attended Sacred Heart Academy; Bourbon Street, into her work an acute insight into both the operations where her mother lived. When she could, Roberts came of Capitol Hill and the people who worked within back to her hometown to participate in conventions, its numerous gilded hallways. Women of all ages panels, and seminars that focused on empowering and all parties have commented not only on her local New Orleans women in their professional lives. integrity as a journalist, but also on her firm One of the women personally mentored by Roberts compassion as a woman. is Tania Tetlow, President of Loyola University. In a field especially dominated by men and in an She was originally a protégé of Roberts’ mother, era preoccupied with the war in Vietnam and political Lindy Boggs, but when Boggs passed away, Roberts unrest, female journalists sought to create their own corners filled her mother’s mentoring shoes out of nothing of that small, networking-driven world. One of the main less than mutual respect and friendship. When corners was the hair and makeup rooms. This was Loyola inaugurated Tetlow as the university’s where some of Roberts’s mentorships blossomed. first woman president in 2018, Roberts, in her As she sat needlepointing before the early morning throaty, impassioned voice, lifted her up with news programs started, Roberts discussed with stories of a “precocious” teenager, emphasizing female colleagues her anecdotes and advice, and the fundamental importance of precociousness she listened as the other women shared their own. in young women as they take their turn in their Madhulika Sikka, a journalist for The Washington relay race. Indeed, Roberts spent her long career Post, reflected on Roberts’s awareness and positive passing the baton and cheering from the sidelines. utilization of the personal privilege Roberts brought to her career; she chose to use this privilege to service other women, lifting them up and “paying it forward,” as Sikka put it.