Had Katie Couric passed a job interview at Grey Advertising with flying colors back in 1979, she might have been a modern-day Peggy Olson instead of a famous TV personality.
Her fateful day came in March 1979, when she was in her fourth year at the University of Virginia. Like so many other young women, she wanted to see if she could make it in the big city, but she was in for a rude awakening that day.
Here's how she recounted it for us: "It was a terrible, rainy nasty day. I had a very bad cold which made for an inauspicious beginning. I walked outside and had a cheap umbrella that blew inside out in the wind, I couldn't get a cab and I had mascara running down my face. I was a pretty pathetic sight. I interviewed with a couple places and nobody was interested in hiring me. But my last interview of the day was with a head of personnel at Grey. I think her name was Barbara. I got there and my feet were soaking wet. During the interview I started crying. I'm not proud of that. I was just so discouraged. And to add insult to injury she told me that I 'should consider getting a job closer to my parents.'
Years later Ms. Couric still remembers that day and how she felt clearly. And most of all she's wondered what it would have been like to work in adland. "I always laugh about it because I really thought advertising would have been an exciting career for me. I love being creative and love words and images. I wanted to be on a creative team. Basically, I wanted to be Peggy Olson."