(upbeat music) - Hi everyone.

Steve Adubato.

We kick off the program with a great broadcaster in the New York/New Jersey market.

Tina Cervasio, lead sports anchor over at Fox 5 New York and host of "Sports Extra," a great iconic show on Fox 5.

Tina, how you doing?

- Steve, I'm doing great.

Thank you so much for having me on.

I really appreciate it.

As a long time, native New Jerseyan and still living in New Jersey, I'm a big fan of you and your work and your show.

- Well, it's mutual.

Hey Tina, you got obsessed with sports when and where?

- You know, I was growing up in a family that was in education, so we had a lot of teachers, principals, and with education comes athletics.

So there were a lot of coaches.

My mother had her brother, our cousins, my fathers, brother-in-law, everybody was a coach in some capacity from softball to boys and girls basketball, to college, women's college basketball, and crew, wrestling, freshman football.

My godfather was John Senesky, who was the head coach of the Belleville High School football team for many, many years.

So Friday night- - Coach Senesky.

- Yes, we would see Uncle John Senesky, Friday Night Lights in Belleville at the Municipal Station.

On Saturday mornings we would go watch Uncle Joe's freshman Nutley football team.

And then however the seasons would pan out, of course we would see Uncle Joe Zara as the head coach for Nutley wrestling.

And then Carl Carino with Belleville Softball and Jim Carino with basketball and Mark Carino at Caldwell College.

- Hold on one second, Tina, every name so far ends in a vowel.

- Of course.

- Mine does as well.

- And by the way, I grew up in Newark, right up on the Belleville border line.

Is part of your passion and enthusiasm and the way you come across, I have to do this.

Is it in part being Italian-American?

- I think so.

I think because also family is so important.

So that was number one.

So here we are supporting our family and that was kind of what we did socially.

It was either big parties, you know, the big Thanksgiving in my grandmother's huge garage and grandfather's garage in Belleville, or it was going out and supporting the third cousins and whoever was playing in sports or coaching in sports.

So I think it really, it's the Italian American tradition of family and it stemmed from there.

And then just being a spectator and trying sports myself, you know, that built my passion.

- I first picked you up.

I'm a Knicks fan.

We're taping this on the 20th of May.

Don't know what's gonna happen.

Love what the Knicks did against Boston, but I wanna know, this is always around me, but I gotta ask you, Tina was MSG, MSG from when to when?

- So 2008 to 2018.

So it was a little bit of the light years.

- And Fox 5 comes in when?

- 2018, I freelanced here at Fox 5 for quite a few years, from 2009.

I would work weekends and work when my schedule was light as a fill in.

- What's the deal with you and soccer?

- So soccer, tried the sport.

I wasn't very good at sports that involved balls.

So I was great at track and field, gymnastics.

Those are my key sports, and cheerleading came as an ancillary sport with all of those skills.

So always loved the game of soccer.

Worked in a soccer store when I was in junior high.

It was my first job.

Killer Bee Sporting Goods on Franklin Avenue in Nutley, New Jersey.

- Know it well.

- And so I loved the sport.

I got to meet Tony Meola.

- The great goalkeeper from Kearny, New Jersey.

He did an autograph session.

He was still at Virginia at the time, but he was on the US men's national team and they were going to the World Cup.

So he came in and did autograph signings and all of that.

So I really started to take an interest in international soccer and learn more about, more of the World Cup games versus necessarily the European teams at the time.

And then in college, I wanted to go to a big school.

I could have gone to a division three school and ran track and field, chose University of Maryland, combination their location, they're a great journalism school, and also the sports program.

And couldn't play sports there but I wanted to cover division one sports.

They were the ACC at the time.

And I became the manager of the women's soccer team.

It gave me an identity.

I was on the floor at an all girls dorm my freshman year and half the women's soccer team was there, freshman and sophomore players.

They became my friends.

I would run with them in the off season.

And I worked for April Heinrichs, who went on to become the US women's national team coach, taking the team to Olympics and World Cups.

But then it was her assistant coach, Jill Ellis, who became the women's head coach that won two World Cups.

So I really have a unique, for somebody who couldn't play the game, I have a unique soccer background, went on to cover the Red Bulls, and the rest is history.

- Let me try this on you.

You've had so many great experiences as a broadcaster, but I'm fascinated by leadership.

And you may ask, what the heck does that have to do with what we're talking about?

First of all, being a woman in sports broadcasting by itself, I can't imagine the challenges that you have faced, you know?

And fortunately, there are more women in sports broadcasting than there were 10, 15, 20 years ago.

That being said, the word grit is a word from Angela Duckworth, who wrote a wonderful book called "Grit."

You should check out either the book or her TED Talk, folks.

But the reason I mentioned grit is, I wonder with all the, with broadcasting, for me, I mean I've been, in addition to my broadcasting and public media, I've been fired, let go, or told not to come back from a variety of places.

Rejection, dejection.

- I have too.

(laughs) - How the heck do you keep the confidence when someone says, "You're not the one, we're going in another direction.

Don't come back tomorrow.

We'll call you when we need you."

Go ahead.

- I mean, early on when I was coming out of college, applying for jobs, sending out those VHS tapes all the time, I mean, that's, I'm dating myself, but so many times I was told, Steve, "You're too New York."

But I wasn't getting the job or I wasn't getting the interview.

And I always thought, "But wait, that's a compliment.

I wanna be a New York broadcaster and I wanna cover New York sports.

I don't wanna go to your little town in whatever state."

I don't wanna, you know, hurt anybody here.

But there's 49 other states I was applying to.

- And by the way, that was the argument.

If you wanted to be in New York, you had to go somewhere, to a really small market three more times and then get to New York.

Go ahead, pick it up.

- So that small market ended up being Staten Island, New York.

I mean, think about it.

They wanna defect all the time and be their own state.

And I got a job at Staten Island Cable, There were a couple re- renderings of that station.

And I did everything from pull cables.

Then I would go into the truck, do the little fox box for sports.

There were days where I would lay cables, do play by play for girls basketball.

I would go out and one man band cover, you know, see what people in the parks are talking about, and Richmond Boulevard, about the deer that made it across (indistinct) bridge.

And then I would go cover a Staten Island, you know, SI University game or Wagner basketball game.

So that's really where I found my way to acceptance.

And ironically, it was right in New York.

But you know, many a times, I was either not asked back to jobs or my contract dried up and it's like, "Oh, we're going in a different direction."

So, you know, it hurts.

What I learned in life was to not identify with my job.

There was a long period of time where I was Tina Cervasio, Knicks reporter, and that's who I thought who I was.

And then when that job dried up, it was a really hard time for me to accept that change.

It came so sudden, there was no warning signs.

So I went through that whole transition period and you know, now I know who I am as a person.

And yes, my career is very important to who I am as a person and it's, after family, it's my top priority in life.

And I've been so grateful and blessed to have all these different opportunities.

But I guess just the support of my family is how I've stayed positive and confident and I love it.

And I've tried other careers, Steve, and it keeps pulling me back in.

- Let me just say this, people sometimes ask, "Hey, why do you have someone on?"

There's a simple reason why Tina Cervasio is on, because I've been a fan of hers for a long time.

Wanted to have her on.

Our producers were great, finding her and bringing her in.

And I cannot thank you enough not just for being with us now, but for the great work you've done for a few years.

- Thank you.

- And I wish you nothing but the best to your team over at Fox 5 in New York and you take care.

- Thank you Steve, for having me on.

All the best to you and your crew.

They're wonderful.

- They absolutely are.

Thank you.

That's Tina Cervasio, we'll be right back.

- [Narrator] One-On-One with Steve Adubato is a production of the Caucus Educational Corporation.

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And by PSEG Foundation.

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