Liz Mercure
Georgia Aquarium
Atlanta, GA USA
"Don’t let your job take over your life, but if you don’t care [about your job] you won’t get ahead."
Career Roadmap
Liz's work combines: Journalism, Action Sports, and Learning / Being Challenged
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Day In The Life
Skills &
Education
Advice for getting started
Get experience in your chosen field as soon as possible.
Here's the path I took:
High School
Bachelor's Degree
Business/Corporate Communications, General
Georgia State University
Certification
Diver, Professional and Instructor
National Association of Underwater Instructors
Life & Career Milestones
My path in life has been direct
1.
Attended Georgia State University (GSU) during her sophomore and junior years, but admits she changed her major several times because she had no idea what she wanted to do.
2.
She moved to Colorado for a year to figure it out—discovered her love of writing and communications after taking a film class.
3.
Says Colorado’s party atmosphere was a distraction, so she moved back to Georgia to buckle down and finish school; she graduated from GSU with her degree in communications.
4.
During her last quarter at GSU, she learned to dive, which became a lifelong hobby.
5.
In 1982, two weeks after graduating, she got hired at the newly formed news network, CNN—they trained her how to be a video journalist, editor, and producer.
6.
Worked for CNN for over 25 years, rising in the ranks to become the senior supervising producer in charge of the newsroom.
7.
After leaving CNN, she wanted something different to do, so she took her diving experience and began volunteering at the Georgia Aquarium cleaning exhibits.
8.
She later received her Divemaster certification and was hired full time by the aquarium.
Defining Moments
How I responded to discouragement
THE NOISE
Messages from Society in general:
You can't keep bouncing around, pick something!
How I responded:
I bounced around a lot of different majors in college. I knew I wanted to do something I loved, but it took me a while to figure that out. Exploring different majors was helpful in doing that.
Experiences and challenges that shaped me
I had trouble early on in college figuring out what I wanted to do. I ended up taking a break from school for a year and moving to a new city to figure it out.