Director of CNN’s Medical, Health & Wellness Unit

About this episode

Not only is Roni Selig one of my favorite people, she is one busy woman, so I am honored that she carved out some quality time to sit down with me and do the podcast in the midst of her immersive (to put it mildly) work schedule at CNN, where she has the heady title of Director of the CNN Medical, Health & Wellness Unit in CNN's New York City headquarters high above Columbus Circle. In certain respects, I suppose this makes her Sanjay Gupta's boss — heavy, right? To provide some perspective, we were meant to conduct this interview about a month ago. But as we sat in her office catching up prior to potting the mics, the Boston Marathon bombing occurred, and I had the rare opportunity to watch her — and her team at the world's leading 24-hour international news network — jump into action to begin covering the unbelievably tragic events as they unfolded in real time. It was impressive. But needless to say, the horrible events of that day prevented the podcast from happening. Lucky for me, I was back in NYC a month later. No crazy breaking news that day, so we got it done. Compelling is the fact that despite the time constraints and pressures of her incredibly demanding job — amplified by her busy personal life as a wife and mother — Roni still manages to find the time to pursue her passion — triathlon – and pursue it well. We get into all aspects of her professional life — behind the scenes at CNN Health; plus how she balances her personal life to train and compete as a high level age group endurance athlete, and her passion for CNN Fit Nation — a program she oversees that involves a small group of civilians (hand selected annually from submissions) facing personal challenges committed to completing their first triathlon under the mentorship of CNN. All said, Roni is a delight and an inspiration. I hope you enjoy the interview as much as I (always) enjoy spending time with her. As always, thank you for all the ongoing support. You guys are everything. Thank you! Rich