Beloved Canadian entertainment reporter Danielle Graham kicks off her new monthly column at 29Secrets with a little introduction.
By Danielle Graham
I’ve always found it fascinating how people get to know you at one point in your life, and that’s who you remain for them, forever. Frozen in whatever era your timelines happened to intersect.
For some, I’ll forever be the girl who got caught stealing a pack of green apple Jolly Ranchers on a dare gone wrong in Grade 7. For others, I’ll always be the kid you picked last in gym class. Maybe you watched me interview celebrities on red carpets. Or, for the OGs, perhaps I live in your mind as being with you on Friday nights in your parents’ basement, counting down music videos. It’s also possible that when you see my name or my face, you think of me as one of the many Canadian women in broadcasting who were unceremoniously fired from their very public jobs.
I went to broadcasting school when it was considered an exciting career and not an endangered industry. Incredibly, I landed my first hosting job right after graduation, hosting The Hit List on YTV. To this day, not a week goes by that someone doesn’t tell me how much they loved that show. And, honestly, same. It truly was a life-changing job for me.
The only way that made sense to honour that lucky break was to put my head down and work really hard. That gig led to the next one and the next one and the next one. I never thought of, considered, or had a career Plan B because for 20 straight years, I worked in television. I realize now that I had the type of career that just doesn’t happen anymore. I got to live out my dreams. I summited my Everest. And I know how wildly fortunate I am to be able to say that.
After 17 years at my last television job, on International Women’s Day, I was told my services at eTalk were no longer required. My departure was marked by a full-screen, 11-second picture of me at the end of the day’s show. My goodbye literally played out like an award show’s In Memoriam.
I replayed that day in my mind more times than I can count. Kind of like pressing on a bruise. You know it hurts, but you keep doing it anyway. It was the most destabilizing season of my life. This wasn’t just the loss of a career I loved and had worked so hard for. It was the loss of a big part of my identity.
Try as I had to not let my job define me, untangling myself from it was much harder than I anticipated. It meant questioning my value and my professional purpose, and losing what I thought were true friendships. My world got really quiet, really quickly.
The quiet eventually brought clarity. It became crystal clear who my people were. Those who were for me showed up in the most significant ways. Big life changes will absolutely force an audit of your circle. Knowing with certainty who your people are is a gift I’m deeply thankful for.
As with so many of us, finding my next chapter took time. It’s no secret that network television isn’t thriving. There are no new jobs in television. And the people who do still have jobs are holding on tightly, because there is nowhere else to go. For a while, I felt aimless. The only industry I knew felt like it was on life support. I worried I was becoming the human version of Blockbuster Video. Obsolete.
I was wrong.
Many of the specialized skills I honed during my TV career turned out to be highly desirable and transferable. The niche background I feared had boxed me in was actually my superpower. My unique combination of skills became my Batman belt of gadgets: storytelling, content creation, public speaking, brand strategy, writing, editing, my ability to disarm and engage people, and my agility in thinking quickly on my feet.
Rediscovering my value outside of TV lit me up. I went full Goldilocks, trying every bowl. I went back to school, found new mentors, sought a ton of advice, and ultimately trusted in myself again. Those 20 years in television started creating opportunities and opening exciting doors in unexpected ways. I love all the hats I get to wear with my very cool Batman belt.
In January 2025, I launched a podcast with my bestie, Caleigh. She also happens to be my next-door neighbour, my former producer, and one of the smartest people I know. Within a few short weeks, our show In Three, named after the last words you hear before going live on-air (followed by a silent count of “2…1…”), hit number one in Entertainment News on Apple Podcasts. That validation let us know we had something special.
The joy and fulfillment of building something from the ground up is hard to put into words. We make this show ourselves, end to end, the whole shebang. A lot of skills from television crossed over, but there was an entire list of things we had to learn from scratch. I stretched myself more this year than I ever imagined, and I’m incredibly proud of what we’ve built. Turning an idea in your head into something real is thrilling.
So, if you’re reading this and you happen to be in a transitional phase, slogging through that messy middle, and maybe feeling obsolete, lost, or a little Blockbuster Video yourself, I’m here to tell you with a capital P promise that the path will present itself. And that the only difference between setback and comeback is time.
This is the Danielle Graham of today. I’m happy to meet you. And if this is where our timelines intersect for the first time, I’m glad it’s here. See you again soon.
