Digital Storytelling Secrets with Tabitha Lipkin of FOX 5 San Diego|Behind the Smoke #054 - a podcast by Shawn Walchef

Not many Emmy Award winners have sold meat door to door. But then again, not many Emmy Award winners are as diverse as Tabitha Lipkin.

Raised and educated deep in the heart of Texas, Tabitha Lipkin's mix of humble beginnings and contagious curiosity have made for a story that not even the San Diego based storyteller could imagine.



“I was raised by my grandmother,” Tabitha Lipkin recalls of her childhood on her episode of the Behind the Smoke podcast with hosts Shawn Walchef and Derek Marso.“We weren’t exactly a rich family growing up, it was just me and her. She took a pay cut to move and I graduated at the top of my high school and was able to go to the University of Texas. It’s all because of her.”

Tabitha Lipkin was interviewed by Shawn Walchef for the Digital Hospitality podcast in May 2020 as she prepared for her move away from San Diego back to Texas. Listen and read about it online here.https://calibbq.media/the-digital-future-of-local-news-tabitha-lipkin-nbclx-dh034/

 At the University of Texas, Tabitha Lipkin would juggle jobs bartending, selling meat door to door and being a full-time student. While catching commission off steak sales wasn’t the end-all-be-all for Tabitha, she knew she a future in broadcast journalism was in her sights since she touched base at the University of Texas in Austin.



“I knew from the day I stepped on campus that I wanted to work in broadcast journalism,” recalls Tabitha. “It was something I always wanted to do from the time I was a kid. I think people are very interesting and I like to tell their stories. I like to travel. I think the world is such an incredible place and there are so many people to meet, places to see and stories to tell. I thought the best way to do all that was to study broadcast journalism and jump right in.”It was at the University of Texas that her hard work in her broadcast journalism major would open the door for internships on TV shows in LA and NYC for the likes of Conan O’Brien and Stephen Colbert.

Ironically enough, it was an elective far removed from her major that paved the way to travel and see the world outside of the States.Digital marketing? Basket weaving? Nope, deep sea diving.

“I started at the University of Texas,” Tabitha Lipkin says of her underwater exploration. “There was a one-credit elective program they had. I became a Dive Master in 2015.”Yup, a one-credit course positioned Tabitha into the title of Dive Master. Just how? While perusing dream jobs through an Australia based internship program, Tabitha met a friend who also enjoyed diving. That friend was the reigning Miss Scuba USA and felt Tabitha could take on the same title. All it would take was some curiosity and some luck.

“She told me that if I could get to Malaysia then everything from there was taken care of,” Tabitha says in regard to competing for Miss Scuba honors. “She told me I had to do a pageant – I’d never done a beauty pageant – and I had to get a sponsorship.”As noted, Tabitha did not come from a lot of money. She did however happen to have a valuable connection.

“Body Glove sponsored me,” Tabitha says. “Their founder’s boat was next to my grandfather’s back in the day – and I went. I was competing against other countries who had been competing in pageants leading up to this, and then I won! I was like, Well, alright, this opens a whole new chapter of my life.”That chapter would be a winding road of endless adventures and life-long friends.

While a one-credit course would take her around the world, her dedication in the classroom and networking around Austin led to her first disappointment. It would also lead her to her eventual big break in media.“When I was a senior I was actually turned down for an internship with The Daily Show with John Stewart,” remembers Tabitha. “I was really upset about it because I really wanted it. Everything happens for a reason and I ended up being offered an inter...

Further episodes of Digital Hospitality: A Cali BBQ Media Podcast

Further podcasts by Shawn Walchef

Website of Shawn Walchef