In a role-reversal episode of From the Lobby, O’Donnell & Associates VP of Public Affairs Ralph Ortega — a former City & State NY editor — takes the host’s chair to interview Joanna Pasceri, the firm’s Director of Communications and a nearly 30-year veteran of television news. Pasceri spent more than two decades at WKBW-TV in Buffalo, eventually becoming primary co-anchor of Eyewitness News, before pivoting to communications roles at the Amherst Chamber of Commerce and the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. In a reporter-to-reporter conversation, she reflects on the stories that shaped her career — from covering Timothy McVeigh and 9/11 to staring down Border Patrol guns on a tense assignment — and explains why helping clients find their hook now feels like the frosting on a career-long cake.
Ralph Ortega
Hi, everyone, and welcome back to From the Lobby. Usually when you tune in to this podcast, you hear Joanna Pasceri asking the questions. She’s the one leading the conversations with Jack and the rest of our team. But today we’re flipping the script. I’m Ralph Ortega and I’m stepping in to host this episode of our Meet the Team series. Before she joined the firm, Joanna spent nearly 30 years in television news. More than 20 of those years were at WKBW TV in Buffalo, where she eventually became the primary co-anchor of Eyewitness News. Joanna, thanks for joining us from the lobby and welcome to the hot seat.
Joanna Pasceri
I know, I’m not sure I’m comfortable being in the hot seat. I like being on the other side a little bit better. Right. Don’t we always just like to ask the questions?
Ralph Ortega
Well, I’m sure this is going to be really interesting, getting two reporters in for conversation here. So take us back to the beginning. When did you first realize journalism was what you wanted to do?
Joanna Pasceri
Going way back, I probably should have seen the signs. As a young girl, I was talkative, I loved to perform, I was curious, and I loved to share things that others didn’t know. My dad was telling me to go into accounting — nice solid, steady career. And while I was pretty good in math, I knew that wasn’t lighting my fire. A big part of my inspiration came from TV. The show that inspired me was Lou Grant, the more serious journalism story that Ed Asner was in after Mary Tyler Moore. I always loved how the reporters righted all these wrongs in 60 minutes. I joined the high school newspaper, and then in college I had an internship at the Jamestown Post Journal. But — I’m sure you remember, Ralph — the glue they used to use to lay out the paper in the newsroom before it went to print. It was bad. It started to kind of turn me off. So I wandered one day into the TV station on campus, and that’s where I really fell in love. I interned at a television news bureau on Capitol Hill in my senior year, got a resume taped together good enough, I guess, to land my first job a few months later in Elmira, New York. So I was off.
Ralph Ortega
Wow, amazing. I’m sure you must have worked on a lot of stories over 30 years in television news, more than two decades at WKBW. When you look back at your time in the newsroom, what stands out the most?
Joanna Pasceri
Buffalo, when I got here, was market 35. So we were doing some pretty big stuff. I started out behind the scenes as a producer here. My first big assignment was to produce a visit from Jack Kemp when he was the VP nominee, a former Buffalo Bill, and he was beloved here. Later I transitioned to more on-camera work, reporting and anchoring so many big stories. The Oklahoma bombing with western New York native Timothy McVeigh — so many reports that I had to do outside of his dad’s home in Pendleton, just north of Buffalo. The O.J. trial. 9/11 — we were not ground zero, obviously, here in Buffalo, but I remember that day well. My photographer and I went to the U.S. Border Patrol to try to get an interview on what was happening at the border with Canada as a result of the attacks. We put all the gear in the trunk. Right before we pulled up to the U.S. Border offices, I was just about to say to him, hey, Aaron, you know, better not pop the trunk. Well, he’s a 22-year-old kid, he’s all excited, he hits the button, and before I could say don’t pop the trunk, all of these officers come running out of the Border Patrol offices with guns pointing at us. I was absolutely terrified. I had my hands up. I’ve never had a gun pointed at me. They were so mad at us because everybody was just under so much pressure. They didn’t know if we had explosives or whatever. That always stood in my mind, that day of staring down the barrel of a gun. There were presidential visits, the crash of 3407 here in Buffalo. We went on the air at 11 p.m. thinking this was a small plane crash. No one dreamed. And when it became clear it was a commercial jet, we stayed on the air until 7 in the morning. In television news, the talent is the commodity. Showing up consistently, doing good work, little by little, you do gain the public’s trust — and really being your authentic self. The audience knows when you’re playing reporter or when you’re really serious about doing the work.
Ralph Ortega
And what those experiences teach you about connecting with people.
Joanna Pasceri
Exactly. You talk to enough people in the good times and in the bad — that’s when we’re there, but mostly in the bad — that you really find out a lot about how people tick, and you really can connect with that. That’s how you change lives, by connecting with that. Otherwise, people won’t be interested in what you have to say.
Ralph Ortega
After your time in TV news, you moved into the communications world, including serving as senior director of communications and marketing for the Amherst Chamber of Commerce. What surprised you most about helping organizations tell their own story?
Joanna Pasceri
The best part of leaving TV is that there were no longer thousands of people watching me work every day. That is an incredible amount of pressure. So it was great to not have that pressure of being under the light. The Chamber really was an important step in my transition because that’s where I learned a lot about the business community. You think you understand a lot from your media career, but you’re really not plugged into everything. They keep stuff from you when they’re in the business community. I really learned how many policies are out there that are created really in a vacuum without the input from businesses that are detrimental to companies and damaging to our economy. And also the sacrifice it takes to run a business. At the Chamber, we also were a great advocate to small businesses and the importance of them. They’re really the backbone of our economy. So I focused on bridging that gap between our successful larger companies and how they can mentor and help grow our smaller businesses.
Ralph Ortega
You also became the public information officer for the Erie County District Attorney’s Office. That’s a challenging job — serious cases, public attention, media questions every day. What did that experience teach you about communication during high-pressure moments?
Joanna Pasceri
There was a lot more pressure in the DA job. Coming from TV, though, I was accustomed to that. I knew exactly what the media wanted, when and how they wanted it. What was different, though, I was not in control of my own career. I was in control of the district attorney’s and protecting the DA’s office. I remember walking out of court one day and seeing this well-known member of our community personally attacking the DA in front of a gaggle of media, calling them names. Just sheer panic. I’m like, oh my God, this guy’s trashing my boss right here, and this is my job to control this. So I ran upstairs and I said, we gotta have a response to this by the news. I don’t want no comment from the DA when this guy is telling everybody how terrible you are. We drafted a quick written response so it was ready to go when the story hit the air. Tons of stressful times in the DA’s office, but it really was an honor to serve that office under two district attorneys. The public should know how very hard the DA and his team work to keep our community safe and crime victims protected and supported.
Ralph Ortega
Now at O’Donnell & Associates, you help clients shape their message and reach new audiences. What’s the first thing you look for?
Joanna Pasceri
I would say the hook. If you want to connect with people, there has to be the emotion behind it, and the story has to resonate and show benefit to all, not just a company. Sometimes it’s pointing out that their good work is worthy of greater attention, and sometimes businesses get so caught up in the day-to-day, they don’t see it. One of my favorite sayings is, you can’t see the label from inside the jar. So it’s just providing that outside perspective to clients. Another part of my role is advancing O’Donnell & Associates. Since I came on in 2020, the growth has been tremendous. We have been named one of the top 10 fastest-growing businesses here in western New York. It’s been fun seeing that ride and sharing the good work that we’re doing — really setting the record straight about lobbying. The connotation is usually negative. People don’t really understand it.
Ralph Ortega
I wanted to ask you one last question, since this is reporter to reporter. What part do you still miss about this job, and what do you enjoy most about the work you’re doing now?
Joanna Pasceri
It’s 10 years out in TV, and early on it was really hard to get it out of you. It never leaves you completely, though. News will always be a part of me. As I like to say, you can take the woman out of the news, but you can’t take the news out of the woman. Sometimes I do miss being able to witness these historic moments in our community as they unfold. But there comes a time when you just keep doing the same work over and over. Here’s the things you never miss — the odd hours, working till midnight, waking up at 2:30 in the morning, working the holidays, missing family time. The sacrifice is huge. I have two daughters. Pretty confident they could never have been raised if it wasn’t for my husband. They would wait for me to come home from the morning show to open their Christmas presents. It was always, mom has to work. It is an amazing career in a lot of ways, but filled with the highest highs — I don’t know if some get any higher — and the lowest lows. Overall, I do feel grateful to have endured as long as I did in that very competitive and compelling career. And I always look at it this way: I’ve had my cake, so everything since I’ve left TV is the frosting.
Ralph Ortega
That’s great, Joanna. This was a lot of fun. It’s not often we get to turn the tables on the person who usually runs the show around here. And that’s exactly what this Meet the Team series is about — giving you a chance to meet the people behind the success at O’Donnell & Associates, the people helping clients navigate government, tell their stories, and connect with communities across New York. For our listeners, if you’d like to learn more about our team, visit odonnellsolutions.com.
