Tara Takes Atlanta

This Wooster Ohio native has a gift for connecting with people, a necessary quality for any young journalist.   Described by friends and co-workers as warm and caring, Tara Jabour is also career focused.

Growing up in a small town an hour south of Cleveland, life was close-knit in all the ways that mattered.  Her mom a neonatal nurse and her dad a gastroenterologist, Tara grew up with two older brothers and says “the most important thing to me is my family.”

Tara followed brother Joe to Xavier University and found a new family.  “We met freshman year,” recalled Lea (Eidenshink) Zinyemba.  “She just lights up a room.  Tara is one of the most loving charasmatic and genuine souls you would ever meet. ” 

Lea and Tara became the best of friends, roommates sophomore - senior years along with six other girls.     

“Tara was pretty studious. It seemed we were both always in the library.   However, once a week you might find us at Stone Lanes across from Xavier.   Tuesdays were $12 College nights, with drink specials and pizza.” 

Like her older brother, Tara chose to major in biology.   But two years later, “I was like, I can’t do this anymore.”

That moment turned into a pivot— a defining pivot to communications.  Professor Blis Devault opened the door to the Digital Innovation, Film and Television (DIFT) program. 

“(Blis) changed me.  She had all these ideas.  She made me excited. She made me feel like, okay, I can pave this whole new path.  Blis is quite the recruiter.”

“I was excited to help steer her," said Devault.  "She is a can-do kind of gal and she flourished in the major!”

Inside Xavier’s TV studio, things started to click. Learning camera work from Studio Manager Jon Nicholas, editing from Adjunct Professor John Adino, and storytelling from Blis.   

“I was so intimidated.  Blis taught me scriptwriting. She’s very creative and she believes in her students. I knew nothing about editing software or operating a camera, and I was just amazed by how many things you could do.” 

“Tara worked extremely hard,” said DIFT classmate Louis DeVito.  “She was fearless and extremely smart.” 

And adventurous!   In what Tara describes as “the most exciting six months of my life,” she spent the second semester of her junior year studying in Rome, Italy.  

“I wanted to study abroad because I love to travel and it had always been a dream of mine to live abroad.   I went there not knowing one person, and found amazing people who I'm still in contact with.

“I also love learning about other cultures as I come from a multi-cultural background. I took some core classes and a couple of communication classes and got college credit.  Definitely the best thing I ever did in college.”

Note - 

 Xavier students can participate in a number of Study Abroad programs, including Academic Programs International (API), for those students who want to discover customized learning experiences.

Tara came home in time to pick up an internship with Cincinnati’s CBS affiliate.  Louis admits it could not have been easy.

“The summer before our senior year  I remember Tara was getting up at 3:00am to intern at WKRC-TV Local12.  She just worked so hard. ”

THIS JUST IN

Xavier's DIFT students capture NATAS nominations.

Support DIFT through The Endowment for Digital Innovation. Here's How

In spite of switching majors and spending a semester overseas, Tara graduated in four years, in 2017, and with a double major, Public Relations and DIFT.  What she lacked was a job. Even when Local 12 posted a production assistant opening, Tara was undecided.   

“Blis asked me ‘what do you have to lose?’  I listened and it worked. The people at Local 12 were literally amazing.  I worked at the station almost two years and was able to shadow people in their jobs.”

Tara also built a reporter reel, and talked to several stations across the country before a co-worker recommended her to a news director in Steubenville.  He didn't have a reporter position open at the time, but when he did, Tara got the call. 

“I was surrounded by really great people. Bill Phillips, the main anchor, and Paul Gianimor, the managing editor, were so experienced and they taught me, so, so much. It was a good two years.”

Bill liked Tara right away.

“Some young reporters think they already know everything before they know anything!  Tara didn’t arrive at WTOV9 with that mindset.  She was willing to take instruction and incorporate those lessons into her story telling. The thing that stood out about Tara most importantly is that she is a wonderful person first and foremost.  I believe that was and I'm sure still is something that enables people to trust her immediately.”

From there, Tara moved to WCIV-TV in Charleston and what turned out to be a career-defining moment: the double murder trial of Alex Murdaugh.

“We had a whole team there.   Long days inside a courtroom packed with legal nuance, emotional weight, and national attention, that was another pivotal point in my career.”

After two years, Tara was once again ready for a new challenge. She found it back in Ohio at WBNS-TV.  News photographer Tyler Hoffman started at the same time as the new reporter.

“Tara always wanted feedback from people.  Took criticism seriously. Got better because of it.  What you saw with her was an honest, intelligent, caring person who wants to do the best she can every given day.”

After two years, Tara predictably grew restless.  Tyler recognized the change.  

“It was time for her to go spread her positivity and her contagious laugh and her smile to the next market of viewers.”

Today Tara is in one of the most competitive, fast-moving markets in the country at FOX 5 Atlanta.   And she loves it.

“It’s nonstop,” she says.    

As a general assignment reporter, Tara covers all kinds of stories, but “my favorite story is the story with a good character, the human being at the center of it.  Reporting the news has made me care about things I never thought I would care for.   Learn about things I never thought I would learn about.  It puts me in other people’s shoes.  That’s what makes news special.”

Professor Devault  has closely followed Tara’s career.   

“She has worked very hard to get to where she is now, and it has been so exciting to see her grow.  Tara is such a professional and I predict she is not done moving up yet.  She has what it takes to go national; she always did!”

And what advice does Tara Jabour have for students in Xavier’s DIFT program today?

“Keep working.  But trust your gut.  Take a chance.  And then take advantage of those opportunities.”