Meet Trailblazer Teresa Strasser

Today we’d like to introduce you to Teresa Strasser.

Teresa, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
As a kid, it was obvious that my talents were limited to losing my house key, blowing bubbles with chewing gum from the liquor store on the corner and choreographing involved roller skating routines on the sidewalks of San Francisco with my boom box blasting Neil Diamond. Obviously, this set of skills screams SUCCESS. So, it was a good thing teachers and adults seemed interested in the musings I would keep in my journal. Unlike my brother and cousins, who were either good at sports or playing musical instruments, writing was the only skill I had that seemed to impress adults. I won’t bore you with the usual waitress and struggling artists stories, but I did move to Hollywood to live on a block that celebrated a very high number of gang-related shootings. Did that keep me from doing my roller skating routines? It did. But I was able to begin a writing career, winning an Emmy for Comedy Central’s “Win Ben Stein’s Money” and writing essays for the Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, the Los Angeles Jewish Journal, HuffPo and others. On camera, an audience may know me from hosting TLC’s makeover show, “While You Were Out” and radio audiences heard me for years doing the news and side-kicking for the Adam Carolla Show. My bestselling book, “Exploiting My Baby” was optioned by ABC. Looking for a change and pregnant with my second son, I leaned out of Hollywood and into the desert to help launch syndicated lifestyle show, “The List,” which airs here on ABC15 and in 44 other cities nationwide. Now, as a mother of two boys, I spend most of my life looking for cleats and lost football gloves and explaining what should and should not be thrown inside of our Arcadia house. And I’m occasionally on TV and radio or in print. This city gave us a very warm welcome. No, literally, it was 117 the day we arrived. And it hasn’t stopped shining the light of warmth, community, family, fellowship, and friendship on our little family. Arcadia, the land of pastel beach cruisers and hardcore Little League parents, and craft beer and views of Camelback Mountain, never ceases to charm me. I can still blow a mean bubble, but my roller skating skills haven’t aged as well a Neil Diamond.

Has it been a smooth road?
To young women hoping to work in television or write, this is a magical time. Instead of burning calories convincing people to print your work or give you a job on your show, you can create your own content. Just writing that phrase upsets me on some level, but whether we are talking about traditional or digital media, the gist is the same. It’s always been about the work, about the ability to sit with your own self-doubt and personal demons (and maybe Jameson’s) and say what you have to say. It’s difficult to give advice about the arts, which involve so much luck, but the best advice I got was this: figure out your strengths, know what they are, and keep them with you.

We’d love to hear more about the awards and accolades your work has garnered over the years. 
I’ve won three regional Emmy Awards for hosting The List, a Daytime Emmy nomination for hosting “While You Were Out” and several Los Angeles Press Club Awards, including columnist of the year. It’s an honor just to be nominated for things, which is good because I’ve lost way more than I’ve won. Also, like my kids, I love trophies. Validation is my oxygen. That’s totally healthy, right?

Which women have inspired you in your life?
As a latch-key kid, Oprah Winfrey was at least partially responsible for raising me. I worship Joan Didion. Noted Hollywood show-runner Yvette Lee Bowser helped me turn my book into a TV show script for ABC (and now works on “Dear White People” which is excellent). She’s a brilliant writer and someone who I consider a mentor; the network paired us together and I’ve never been so lucky. RBG is the MVP. Judy Blume made me love books. Madonna and Lucinda Williams spoke to me or rather, sang. And I read way too much Sylvia Plath in junior high. And she may be decades my junior, but Lena Dunham inspires me. I’m so happy she exists.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.teresastrasser.com
• Instagram: @teresastrasser
• Facebook: @OfficialTeresaStrasser
• Twitter: @teresastrasser

Image Credit:
Johnjay Van Es, Todd Covelli and Jose Ochoa for the last two photos.

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