(dramatic piano music)
- [Jana] Women on television and local news,
they have really cool, like, Rent the Runway dresses.
They're beautiful.
They know how to do their makeup,
like they were born to know.
They have lots of earrings and tall shoes.
I wanted to be them my whole life,
'cause if I got to be them, or look like them,
that was the ultimate hall pass.
I could just tell stories.
And I maxed out a lot of credit cards
trying to look like that.
But this is the one we've all been waiting for.
It just didn't work.
Good evening, I'm Jana Shortal.
Thank you for joining us.
You can't have an authentic voice
if you feel like you're in a costume.
It took a long time, but I did find a way
to unapologetically be myself.
(piano music slows)
(string plucking music)
My name is Jana Shortal.
I'm a journalist, and I host a show here
at KARE 11 in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Are you guys excited?
When I first moved to Minneapolis
15 years ago, I was not out.
I didn't see anyone succeeding
in front of a camera as a gay woman.
You know, I remember being a little kid
when Ellen came out, and it didn't go well.
Rachel Maddow wasn't on TV back then, so I swallowed it.
The first thing I did when I moved here was
get boyfriend, and he's great.
I haven't really seen him in 15 years,
so I still like you, Craig.
(laughs)
I was actively internally fighting the fact that I was gay.
It was like being two being two people at once,
but you can only do that for so long.
(dramatic piano music)
As a girl growing up in the world, there was a code.
And in this industry, at least the code
was very easy to see and follow.
Pretty hair, perfect makeup, and their outfits
look like they do in the magazines.
Look at my face.
Look how there's no lesbian smirk yet.
That was internally difficult, but I knew how to do it.
So in my late 20s, I started coming
out a little bit at a time.
I'm not out on air, and when I would have
to be on this side of the camera, I got so scared.
It was where I was least confident
'cause I would have to do stuff
to look like somebody I wasn't,
and how can you authentically present the news
or someone's story when you're terrified?
Someone said, "Cut you hair.
"This isn't working."
It went from bob to short by Kimberly.
Kimberly, Kim, helped me to become who I am.
- I've been doing Jana's hair for about 15 years.
When I first met her, she needed a beautifully executed,
masterful bob, but I would style her hair
differently in order to go out with friends
than we would if she was going back to work,
and the two became very separate.
It was two Janas, and for me, it was overwhelming
because it was two clients.
We worked together to help her evolve
into what is now her most comfortable personal style.
As she was assigned this new project and this new show,
it became more evident to me that
that was what they were wanting to see.
They were wanting to see more of her,
and so I absolutely was banging a tambourine
trying to cheer her on and trying to move it right along.
I love her coming out story.
I think it's beautiful.
- When we debuted this show on January 11th of 2016,
I felt confident enough to wear this hair
and a David Bowie t-shirt, and I was so scared
that the minute I got off there would be, like,
this group of people that were gonna beat me up,
or, like, send me mail to say, "Take her off the air."
None of that happened.
The applause were there.
I wasn't saying, "I'm going to be this, like, trailblazer."
I'm just me.
I mean, this is always who I've been.
I'm sad that I'm some sort of anomaly.
It seems goofy because I know a lot of people
that look like me, but I'm sure you could call
news directors all over the country
that would say my hair's a problem.
(uplifting electric guitar music)
We all know the heartbreaking stories
about what happens in the LGBTQ community
to kids figuring out where you belong.
And I will be damned if I am not the person
that they need me to be to get them
(yelling) to that point where they see
themselves and say, "Hell yeah."