Entertainment journalist and television personality, Giuliana Rancic, is encouraging students to go out into the world and take a chance on making dreams come true.
The winner of the Fan Favorite award at the 2014 Daytime Emmy Awards, Rancic is an inspiration to many women who long to pursue dreams in the entertainment, journalism and fashion industries.
“Life is just an unplanned plan,” Rancic said. “Dream big and stick to your goals. Wake up everyday grateful for the chance to make your dreams happen.”
The TCU Leadership Center brought Rancic to campus in honor of their 20th anniversary.
Director of the leadership center, DeDe Williams, said “we wanted someone who is a role model and inspirational to the majority of our students. Her story shows perseverance along with a strong belief in faith, so Giuliana was perfect.”
One thousand chairs were set up in the ballroom, and every single one was filled.
She spoke about her life leading up to her career and her charity, FAB-U-WISH, an initiative to help women with breast cancer to feel fabulous.
Rancic does everything in Hollywood from interviewing George Clooney on the red carpet to chatting with Sandra Bullock backstage after a win on the Golden Globes.
But, the message she said she wanted to stress to TCU students was that she had to start from the bottom and go through many hardships in order to get to where she is today.
After graduating with her undergraduate and master’s degree in journalism, Rancic moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of working for E! News. She accepted a job in the mailroom with hopes of it one day leading to something big.
“My degrees set me apart from everyone else,” Rancic said, “but starting from the bottom in the business was one of the best moves I made. I had to take two steps back to take one big step forward.”
Through taking risks, working hard and being herself, Rancic became a Hollywood icon, reality star, author, news anchor, television show host, cancer survivor, wife and mom.
Taylor Helland, a first-year strategic communication major who is currently battling cancer, spoke to Rancic and sat next to her before she went on stage to speak. “She was so real. She didn’t put on a show for me, and asked me really personal questions about my cancer that made me feel like she honestly cared,” Helland said.
“She was so one-on-one with us,” Emily Benson, a second year movement science major, said.
“She spoke to us like she was our friend,” Benson said. “My favorite part was how faithful she was through her hard times and how she remains so faithful even while being a celebrity. She is a true role model for us all.”
Rancic said that she takes 30 seconds everyday to think about what she is most thankful for. “Its being thankful for the little things that allow the big things to come,” she said.
Rancic asked the TCU students to take the 30 day challenge and take 30 seconds of their day to say what they are most thankful for. She wants the students to tweet at her after the challenge using the hashtag #gatTCU to tell her how it changed their lives.
“If you look back and say most days I woke up happy and most nights I went to bed happy, that’s what it’s all about,” Rancic said.
Next on her bucket list, Rancic said she just wants to take time off and focus on being a wife and a mom to her two-year-old son, Duke.