Life According to Denise Dufala

It didn’t click for Denise Dufala until one of her 10-year-old son James’ basketball practices. But the former Cleveland 19 News anchor looked up at a clock that read 6 p.m. and breathed a sigh of relief. “I thought, Oh my gosh, I can be here,” she recalls. Since leaving the station’s newsroom late last year, the two-time Emmy winner has been able to spend more time with James and her husband, Ed O’Malley. Dufala, who’s been part of all-female anchor teams with Gretchen Carlson and most recently Romona Robinson, shares what she’s learned from being on TV in Cleveland for more than 30 years.

At one time, I did think about leaving [Cleveland]. If I had left, I would have missed the last years of my dad’s life. So I’m very grateful I never left.  

My mom is still with us, thank god. She is almost 92.

I appreciate that one-on-one time, especially with my mom. 

Which is one of the reasons I felt so strongly about cutting back on my work schedule. In the back of my mind was that time when I was home with my mom after school.

I wanted that for me and my son.

It’s more special to be a big fish in a small pond as opposed to being a small fish in a big pond. You know everybody. 

I’ll go back to TV eventually, but I’m hoping to do it part time. 

I cannot work that second shift anymore. 

At Channel 19, I was the first anchor. It was exciting. It was a really neat time. 

We had this round news set we used to call the Starship Enterprise, because it was like a spaceship. 

Tim Taylor was by far one of the people who taught me the most. Not only about journalism and the business, but about life.

When Gretchen and I first worked together, we both were a lot younger and didn’t know what we know now.

When I worked with Romona, I had those years and experience. And what Romona and I did at the very beginning of our relationship, I pulled her aside and said, “You know how people in this business are going to be. You know how they are going to talk. They are going to try to create a catfight where none exists.”

We formed that pact and are friends to this day. 

I was blessed to have a great job. If you do nothing with it, then you don’t deserve it. It’s not an option.

All these people let me in their home. I need to get out and meet them. 

If you don’t have a life outside of your job, then you don’t have a life.

Yoga was life-changing on a number of levels. Yoga helped me to be centered in the storm at work. 

And also my faith. I am a person who keeps Bible verses at my desk because without them I don’t make it through the day. 

I love a good sermon. I love to listen to the priest and go to Mass. But the part that touches my soul is the music.

TV is a challenging business. Without your center, you become something you don’t want to be and someone you don’t want to be. 

I’m always a work in progress.