"Whoa, buddy, whoa!" Carly Williams says, laughing as a zebra noses his way into the back seat of her car as she tries to film a broadcast segment about Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, N.C.
Carly, a sophomore at Nation Ford High in Fort Mill, S.C., is pursuing her dream of becoming a television anchor — and she's quickly becoming noticed.
Her most recent success came when she got a call from "Teen Kids News" in New York City after submitting a few segments she shot for her school news program, including the Lazy 5 Ranch one. The producer of the show contacted Carly, said he liked what he saw and asked if she would film a segment for them, said Lori Williams, Carly's mom.
"All I could say was yes, yes, yes!" Carly said. "I didn't even hesitate."
"Teen Kids News" is a weekly show that airs nationally and was founded by executive producer Albert Primo, who created "Eyewitness News" for adults.
Carly says she has been mesmerized by broadcast journalism since she was in sixth grade in Florida.
"After PE one day, we went out into the forest and did a little package on forest fires," Carly said. "Ever since then, I've loved it, and every single grade, I've been trying to do it as much as I can."
Now 15, Carly reports for her school's broadcast news program.
"Carly is a great student with a drive to make her mark on journalism," said Charles Walker, Carly's broadcast teacher. Walker says he often relies on Carly to share her knowledge with other students and help them edit their projects. "Carly is a multitalented journalist who is as comfortable on the computer or behind the camera as she is in front of the camera," Walker said.
One of the greatest challenges Carly has learned to overcome in the broadcast industry is criticism from viewers, both negative and positive, she says.
"Everyone has a different opinion and I've always tried to tell Carly that you can't listen to it," said Lori Williams, a former Atlanta CNN producer who often helps Carly's career by filming her interviews and editing the final product. "If it's what you love to do, it will outshine and trump everything else."
Carly's advice to other young broadcasters is to rely on encouragement from friends and family.
"My friends, they are amazing, so they have gotten me through all the negative comments," she said. "With every negative comment, there's five positive — and that's how I think about it."
Since her days of reporting on that forest fire, she has added big interviews to her portfolio. In eighth grade, she interviewed the Harlem Globetrotters at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where they taught her to spin a basketball on her finger. She also did a segment where she learned how to do the cha-cha with "So You Think You Can Dance" television stars Lauren Froderman and Kent Boyd.
Carly also has a regular animal segment called "Carly's Critters" on "Kid Time," a local program that airs on a public access channel.
"She's gotten to do some pretty amazing things," said Lori Williams. "For her to get that taste of it was pretty cool."
Williams accompanied her daughter to New York on Oct. 21, where Carly spent five days learning about "Teen Kids News" and the broadcast industry. Carly's first assignment there was to anchor a segment about an artist's pumpkin patch. She said she worried about working with a new crew there, because she wanted to impress the producer.
As part of the news experience, she also attended a Coldplay concert on the "Today" show and met reporters Matt Lauer, Al Roker, Natalie Morales and Savannah Guthrie.
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