I’ve known Diana De Rosa for …. well, let’s just say a lot of Olympics!
She has always been one of my favorite journalists, probably because I could sense her priorities were consistently for the best interest of the sport, and even more importantly, the welfare of our beloved horses.
So, I decided once again to turn the tables on Diana and ask her a few questions. But first, let me remind you a little bit about my friend, Diana.Diana De Rosa.
Diana is a veteran equestrian photo journalist, who has traveled the world and has recorded equestrian history for over 30 years. An accomplished rider herself, she understands the horse world from many different angles.
“I am thrilled to join the LIPC Board of Directors. This is a group of people who really care about the journalists of Long Island. When I saw how involved every board member was it inspired me to want to be a part of this very proactive group,” she commented.
A language major in college, Diana went on to run a riding school. She then started an equine magazine called Horse World USA for which she was editor for 13 years, where she did everything from writing stories to taking photos, designing ads and typesetting copy. She now owns her own PR firm called Press Link of America and continues as a journalist (both a writer and photographer), traveling throughout the U.S. and abroad.
A long time member of The International Alliance of Equestrian Journalists, Diana covered the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, Korea; 1992 in Barcelona, Spain (for USA Today); 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia; 2000 in Sydney, Australia; 2004 in Athens, Greece and 2008 in Hong Kong. She also covered or has been on staff at every World Equestrian Games (WEG), numerous Pan American Games and World Cups. Most recently in addition to the Olympic Games, Diana covered the Show Jumping World Cup in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany. She has traveled to over 30 countries writing stories and taking photos.
Her PR Company, Press Link, worked with 20th Century Fox for the release of its movie “Flicka.” She also worked with DreamWorks for their films “Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron” and “Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story.” Some of her past and present clients include the Hampton Classic Horse Show, the Washington International Horse Show, The Manhattan Mortgage Company, the American Hunter-Jumper Foundation, EQUUS Entries and IPE Realty.
She worked with the renowned Christopher Reeve as his Road Manager for eight years from 1997 until his passing in October of 2004. That same year she received the USEF’s Photography of the year award for one of her Athens Olympic photos. During her eight years with Reeve she worked with many top firms throughout the U.S. and abroad, including a trip to Australia working with the Premier’s office and others to Germany, Israel and England. Through her involvement with Reeve, she met numerous celebrities and worked on a variety of movie and TV sets, including “The Practice,” “Smallville” and the remake of the movie “Rear Window.”
After organizing Reeve’s trip to Australia the Acting Director of Protocol in the Premier’s Department, Michael Harkins MVO wrote about De Rosa, “I have worked in Protocol for more than 20 years. During that time I have … coordinated fifty visits by members of the British Royal family, …Presidents … the Dalai Llama, his holiness the Pope… In this role I have met highly capable people from many countries … Never have I met someone with the level of calm professionalism and attention to detail shown by Ms. Diana De Rosa. Her energy, humanity, diligence and ability to relate to people impressed all of us who worked with her.”
Diana continues her devotion to helping people with disabilities and presently works with Brooke Ellison, Stony Brook, NY, a ventilator dependent quad. Ellison’s story was the subject of the last movie Reeve directed.
Diana also does some TV and radio reporting as well as voiceovers. For ten years, she co-hosted the annual Hampton Classic on the local Hamptons TV Station WVVH. She enjoys bringing life to her many equestrian stories through her comments, camera and keyboard.
“I’ve done so much traveling and work outside of Long Island. I am now looking forward to making a difference in my own backyard and to working with the many dedicated PCLI Board Members.”
De Rosa is single, has three brothers and two sisters. When not working she enjoys partner dancing. Although she recently lost her mother to cancer, her dad continues to be an important part of her life.
DIANA RESPONSES TO ROBERT’S QUESTIONS
1) How did you get interested in horses and especially dressage?
I always loved horses but really don’t know why. When I was in the 9th grade I said to my dad that I thought I could get 100 on my Algebra test and he told me if I did he would buy me a horse. I did and he did.
It was covering the major events over the years that got me enthused about dressage - especially the Olympic Games. When you see the elegance of the best horses and riders in the world it’s breathtaking. But more than that - as a photographer I get to capture that elegance in action for years to come and it brings back such great memories. I have really enjoyed looking at all of Steffen Peters photos from the World Cup, from the competition shots to the joy he showed after he was named the 2009 World Cup Champion.
When I look back at the Olympic photos from over the years not only is it a reminder of what brilliant horses competed but of the journey I took while uncovering and photographing their stories. There are the sad moments, like when Brentina unexpectedly did not to well but then those special moments such as when Brentina and Debbie, Steffen and so many others brought a renewed belief that we will one day be back in the Gold Medal seat again.
2) What is your background in journalism?
I learned by doing it. I was running a riding school after I graduated from college as a language major and one day a publisher of a local sports paper stopped at our stable. He wanted to know if I knew someone that would want to write a horse column for his publication. I told him I would do it. That went from a column to a horse magazine which after a few name changes was called Horse World USA and I was the editor for 13 years.
While doing that I did a lot of coverage, both writing and photography, of all kinds of events and so I was out in the trenches. A lot of the other journalists and especially the photographers were very helpful over the years. So, I learned by doing.
3) How did you hook up with Mary and Dressage Daily?
I went from the magazine to working with other PR firms to starting my own PR firm called Press Link while at the same time continuing as a journalist. Over the years I would sometimes send Mary press releases for my clients and other times cover events for Mary wearing my journalist hat. It became a ritual that I would cover the USEF Convention, the World Equestrian Games, the Olympic Games, the World Cups and occasionally other international events for horsesdaily. We have a very similar vision and work extremely well together.
My one memory was working with Mary at the World Equestrian Games in Jerez. I believe it was a real eye opener for her in how difficult this job is. When we cover those major events the days are endless and sleep is nil but the memories last forever.
I love working with Mary because she doesn’t want coverage of the event. She leaves that to all the others who do that and lets me look for the color stories - the behind-the-scenes happenings. I love delving into the unknown and bringing that knowledge to the readers.
4) What is your greatest achievement as a journalist?
Covering six Olympic Games. It’s very hard to get credentials for the Olympic Games but I’ve been lucky and have covered every Games since 1988. Other achievements that might be easier to categorize as achievements was having my photo getting the annual photography award from the USEF and being named to the Board of the Press Club of Long Island.
5) What is your fondest memory reporting?
I really enjoyed co-hosting the Hampton Classic Horse Show for the local TV station WVVH for ten years. We did it live and I love live TV reporting. I have more memories as well, such as arriving at the Seoul Olympic Games and being greeted by beautifully dressed woman. It was my first Olympics and I was a newbie as a reporter and the whole trip was a real adventure. Also covering the Barcelona Olympics for USA Today and realizing that I could adjust my writing style to adapt to the shorter articles they wanted.
One year I was in one of the competing carriages at the Festival of Champions and was able to cover it from that perspective, which was really neat. I also enjoy writing profile pieces because it gives you a chance to get to know the part of a person that we don’t see in the competition arena. I’ve done lots of profile pieces over the years.
But there are more memories. I did a two week assignment covering Hungary on horseback. I went to Ireland and did TV reporting for a video production company. I competed in the World Champion Show Jumping competition for Journalist in Sweden and won an Individual Bronze Medal and wrote about the experience. I worked on the staff for the Holland and Italy World Equestrian Games. The memories are truly endless and precious to relive.
6) What is your least fond memory reporting?
Covering Rolex in the rain is something that is not fun. No event in the rain is fun but when you are photographing three-day eventing there is no way to protect yourselves and still get the photos. There’s nothing worse than trying to get photos in a downpour and that’s happened more times than I care to remember.
7) Do you feel that equestrian journalists generally do a good and fair job reporting?
Depends - in general yes but I feel we need to go deeper with our journalism. The profile pieces I mentioned earlier are a perfect example. I think too often we only focus on horses and forget to let the other side of the person sift through. Overall I believe that the true journalists work really hard, do their research and write some solid and informative pieces. However, the horse world is so used to having people either donate their services or not get paid fairly for what they do that it makes it hard for us. But the core journalists are a very devoted and conscientious group.
What would you most like to see change regarding Equestrian Journalism?
I’d like the people we want and need to interview to be more available to the media. It’s important to return phone calls and to be willing to answer journalist’s questions whether you are at the top or bottom of your field. So often those in the horse world wonder why we don’t get more exposure. The fact is that we can but it needs to be a united effort between the journalists and the people they are interviewing.
Very often when I am at a major event I go to the person in charge and ask them if they can organize a meeting of the riders for us. That shouldn’t be the way it is done. They should be coming to the journalists and asking us what they can do to help us get their stories. They should be suggesting that they can organize a group meeting. I have the unique position of doing this from both a journalist and PR perspective and that’s what I would do if I were wearing my PR hat. There are some of us that wear both a writer and photographer hat and it would help us if the person handling the rider’s PR would get quotes and have them available for us in the press room. Sure we also get our own quotes but if we suddenly can’t reach someone at least we have something to work with.
There is so much that can be done. So, I am going to keep going. If you really want to see more coverage in the general interest media then the riders should also either do some of their own PR or hire someone to do PR for them to get more exposure. I’ve often promoted an idea of mine that would be called “The Horse World On A Mission.” The concept would be that every person that is in the horse world would be responsible for getting one article published about them a year in a non equine publication. Most local papers would love to feature a horse person. Could you imagine how quickly our coverage would expand if every horse person did just that. We have to band together if we want to have our world covered. It can’t just be the responsibility of the equine journalists.
I’ve seen some efforts by the riders lately at forming groups to help get exposure. They should join forces with the journalists to unite in this effort. I also believe that more effort has to be put into helping us get the photos we need. There should be a protocol that award recipients are trained in to be aware of the cameras and how they can help make our pictures exciting. Things like looking at the camera, smiling, raising flowers, medals, smile, being energized, smile — have I said it enough, smile. Some of you are great at smiling but others need some guidance. Riders need to look and be happy about their victories. In general the Europeans do a better job and the U.S. riders at picture taking and being available to the photographers.
As for the photo end of journalism, more effort needs to be put into the backdrop for our photos so that we have great options no matter where the sun is. Clean, unencumbered backdrops are important for action and candid shots. The organizers of events should let the photographers know their plan and ask for the advice of photographers. They forget that we have to have the sun behind us and we need a backdrop that says where the photo was taken simply by looking at it. And it needs to be a pretty, awesome, attractive picture.
Finally, I’d like to see the fee to journalists increased. I started doing PR because that’s what pays the bills but the journalism is much more far reaching. It’s pretty hard to make ends meet with the journalism so you have to supplement. Compared to other fields, equine journalists are the lowest paid.
9) What would you most like to cover in the future?
I’d like to do more international coverage having anything to do with horses. I’ve been invited to do a Horseback Safari in Africa. Plus I love covering the major events; The Olympic Games, World Equestrian Games, Pan Am Games, World Cups, European Championships. That’s when I have my biggest high. I’d also like to do more TV reporting and/or videos but nowadays that could even include computer reporting since so much ends up being viewed on the computer. I love doing that.
10) Where do you see yourself in 5/10 years?
Still doing this in five years and maybe in 10 years as a mentor passing on what I’ve learned over the years to up-and-coming journalists. I also see myself guiding an effort to get more exposure for the horse world. I think I have the vision that could take us there.
11) What other passions do you have and what is important for readers to know about your life?
I love to dance. I worked with Christopher Reeve for eight years and during that time arranged all his national and international trips. I am on the cover of two books jumping fences. I worked with Captain Vladimir Littauer when I was younger. I did PR for DreamWorks and Fox for the release of some of their horse movies. I’ve covered six Olympic Games. I am on the Board of the Press Club of Long Island. I’ve traveled to over 30 countries in my lifetime and lived in Italy when I was a senior in college. It’s amazing how little we really know about each other once we uncover the many hidden secrets.
I want to do more TV reporting, voice overs and other things such as speeches and commercials.
Recently I started two new projects. More details are at these links: www.twosistersonamission.com and www.aperfectpresskit.com.
“A Perfect Press Kit” is about developing Press Kits for people so they have all their key information in one nice neat package.
Two Sisters on a Mission is about my sister and I trying to save the property we grew up on. My mom passed away on September 28, 2008 and one of her last wishes was for us to keep this 5-acre piece of property in the family and so we are determined to do that. Recently we were featured on the Morning Show with Mike and Juliet telling a little about our story but the web site really gives lots more details.
12) Any other thoughts about horses/ sport/ life?
Working with my mom to beat the cancer has made me a healthier person. I advise others to recognize the importance of eating well, exercising and thinking about what they do to improve their health and well-being. We will all die one day and as we get closer the care we’ve put into our bodies will pay off. I’ve developed this healthy shake that me and my sister, brother and dad drink everyday which includes a lot of the ingredients I learned after trying to help strengthen my mom’s body and fight off the cancer. I feel good and my health has improved. That’s a good thing to be able to say as you get older.
And remember to take time to smell the roses. That’s not just a phrase. That is a reality.
When I look back over my life I feel lucky for what I have done, the people I’ve met, the stories I’ve written, the friends I’ve made and the many photographs that are a constant reminder of where I’ve been.
