Nov 2, 2022
“I would not go back and second guess the choices that I made back then, or now.” Carol Cain
Denise talks to Carol Cain, journalist, broadcaster, and Emmy award-winning producer, who earned her stripes in the business without the benefit of a news department at CBS. Since her third-grade teacher tasked her with being editor of the school paper, her course was set, and she’s loved both the print and television sides of her professional career. She’s been a reporter, columnist, editor, and host, on just about every major network there is. And she says none of it would have been possible without the loving support of her family and life partner Jim Stapleton.
Cain learned a valuable lesson early in her career when she turned down an opportunity because she didn’t want to work with someone who had a wanton reputation. Rather than be labeled as a “troublemaker” had she tried to do something about it, she took a pass. “Sometimes you just have to say no.”
One right decision led to another as her career moved from journalist to broadcaster organically. Cain admits she was naïve in thinking that she’d be rewarded simply because she worked hard. Now she knows, and advises, the importance of networking and finding good mentors. Sometimes knowing the right person leads to opening doors you never thought of walking through.
Like Denise, Cain is one of seven children. Although unlike Denise, she is the youngest of her siblings and therefore, “listened a lot!” Cain says she’s naturally inquisitive but has honed her interviewer skills over many years, putting herself into her audience’s shoes—asking what she believes they most want to know.
Not surprisingly having worked in news media for so long, Cain’s favorite Detroit moment weaves together the 1967 Detroit Riots and Detroit Tiger Willie Horton’s courage and kindness.
Stay tuned to hear the one question Carol, ever the investigator, can’t keep herself from asking Denise!
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Carol Cain, 13-time Emmy award-winning senior producer, is the host of "Michigan Matters," Detroit’s highly-rated weekly public affairs show on CBS. She also hosts and produces CBS Detroit's "Eye on The Future" TV specials and has been nominated for a Peabody Award. Cain began her career at United Press International, the Toledo Blade and was a nationally syndicated columnist at The Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press, where she continues to write a Sunday column. Cain has received numerous awards for her work and steadfast focus on diversity. A native Detroiter, Cain attended city public schools and earned a BA from Michigan State University and an MBA from the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan.
Denise Ilitch, an owner of Ilitch Family Companies and President of Ilitch Enterprises, has been a part of Detroit’s business and philanthropic community for over 40 years. As a mother, lawyer, entrepreneur, devoted community servant and tireless advocate for women and children, she learned early, from her father, that everyone is worthy of contributing to the world. Her passion for affordable, accessible, quality education stems from her own experience as a first-generation student, earning a bachelor’s degree from the University of Michigan, where she currently serves on the Board of Regents, and a law degree from the University of Detroit Law School.
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