ST. LOUIS (KMOX) - Graduation season is always interesting to see who will be the commencement speaker for the St. Louis-area campuses.
For Webster University, the commencement speaker for the 2024 graduating class over the weekend was Erika Josephson-Heise, the Executive Producer for NBC News Daily. Josephson-Heise was 2010 graduate of Webster University's campus in Geneva, Switzerland.
"I was already a television producer, deep into my career and I kind of burnt out," said Josephson-Heise to KMOX's Debbie Monterrey on Total Information A.M. "I spoke to a friend who lived in Switzerland and said, 'Hey, you may want to check into this campus if you're interested in going back to school' (which was never on the radar) and I looked into it and it was perfect."
Josephson-Heise says that prior to going to Webster's Geneva Campus, she only visited to St. Louis once. But at Webster's Geneva Campus, she met her husband, who is a St. Louis-native.
"I've been out here a bunch because I ended up meeting my husband at Webster Geneva. He's from St. Louis, of course. Yeah, had to go to Geneva to meet somebody from St. Louis," Josephson-Heise joked.
Josephson-Heise says Webster University Chancellor Beth Stroble reached out to her in December 2023 about interest in doing a commencement speech and her first reaction was of pure shock.
"I spoke to my husband and I said, 'I don't think I can do this' and he said, 'You got to do it, you got to take a chance.'" said Josephson-Heise. "That's sort of started me on the path of what the theme of the commencement speech was going to be."
Josephson-Heise's commencement speech Saturday encouraged graduates to take the chance and seize opportunities even if it's something that wasn't in the realm of their expectations or goals.
"So many kids when they're starting out, think 'this is the path that I'm supposed to go on and this is what I'm supposed to be doing. I got this degree and this is what I was meant to do with my life''," said Josephson-Heise. "Sometimes they overlook other opportunities that might come up along the way. And those opportunities, as I said, are really the ones that bring you the most joy and pleasure in life sometimes. And so taking chances can really pay off."