The world is infinite, life is full of possibilities, and there is an inevitable truth that dark times will cross our path. Yet, one thing is certain through the journey of life – “I think there are no limits unless you put them on yourself,” she says. “Don’t let the opinions of others guide who you become. Be who you know you are, and go be the best you can be. There is no limit to that.”
Twenty-one-time, Emmy-award winning news anchor with over 20 years of experience and a vast impact on the network television community, Wendy Bell has a notable story to be told. What you may not know is this authentic, down to earth woman, loving wife and most importantly proud mother, holds a wonderful passion for life and people beyond what cameras could possibly capture. Her deep wisdom on life and personal fulfillment encompasses a powerful, moving perspective that can spur radical change.
As time unfolds, we live into our destiny with every reason holding truth into creating our own path. From early in life, she knew one truth about her path – “I was blessed with this innate curiosity about wanting to hear everybody’s story,” she says. “And that is what makes me tick.”
Emerging out of sheer hard-work and faith driven perseverance, Wendy Bell’s journey thus far has painted an inspirational picture of authentic pursuit; a journey of consciously enduring the waves of life in order to discover all that you are and all that you can be. She represents a beacon to help reveal a path for a brighter future using the light of story-telling to positively impact our Pittsburgh community and people across the world.
I sit one on one with a genuine heart, diving into the path of her personal journey as we learn what it means to endure the roller coaster of life, rediscover ourselves, and through it all – RISE UP.
This is VIP Taste of Pittsburgh PEOPLE – Wendy Bell.
. . .
It is near the end of November; winter seems to be lurking around the corner as the brisk chill flows throughout the day. I arrive, patiently waiting – [knock, knock] – the door opens, and I am greeted with a big vibrant smile, as she says, “Hello Jess, welcome to my home!” I step inside, and immediately the chillness from the day dissipates as I embrace the warm, pleasant ambiance of her home. Within minutes, I already feel as though she and I have known each other for some time. This lively energy radiating from Wendy left me feeling confident this story would be something special. Wendy and I plop down on the couches in her living, enjoying conversation. Then, we dive in.
. . .
Wendy was born in Evanston, Illinois, which is a small suburb of Chicago. Shortly after, her parents decided to take her and her older sister, Janet, to Calabasas, California where she truly experienced her upbringing. “I learned from a very young age to work hard.” she says. “I kind of grew up in shadow of my sister who was good at everything – she was awesome,” Wendy says. Though, this does not imply that Janet was more favorable, but the circumstances allowed Wendy to embrace the characteristics that helped shape her into a young, ambitious individual. Possessing this mindset, Wendy trusted her intuition. “Things like school didn’t necessarily come quickly to me, but I loved writing and I loved music. When I sat down and I was able to just write, something clicked for me. It was this escape to different places.”
Wendy was certain that writing and music were her calling, but it wasn’t until the seventh grade where she was able to connect her forte to a concrete path. Her parents enrolled her and her sister into the National Charity League, where they joined a prestigious society of young women who work to make a difference in their community. “I fell in love with what we did.” Wendy says deliberately. “We worked at a place called Rancho Del Valle, and it was a day camp for children with mental and physical disabilities. In order to proceed in the step of this ladies’ club, you needed to do something innocuous, like 40 hours a year, and the girls hemmed and hawed about it – ‘Ugh.’ But I spent every day of my summers there, every single day, eight hours a day, and fell in love with these kids on the spectrum – kids with cerebral palsy, kids with Down Syndrome, kids with any number of motor disabilities.” Wendy spoke enthusiastically as she relived these magical memories with helping these fascinating children. She confidently says, “In that experience was this seed of story-telling, of hearing everybody’s story, of realizing that everyone is an amazing table of contents, you know, and I just became fascinated with listening to people.” After completing her high school career and the National Charity League, Wendy went to college with the most active community service hours in the entire San Fernando Valley.
. . .
Expanding out of the California hills, Wendy found herself in Boulder, Colorado where she attended college with full intent to follow her passion to connect with people and tell stories. It was truly enlightening to capture her character while she spoke about pursuing an academic career where she was learning to communicate and retell beautiful stories. She spoke gracefully, “I actually cared about the people. You don’t just interview somebody and walk away. You carry them around with you for a while. They linger in your spirit. And because of that, I became very good at interviewing people,” she tells me. “And so, I guess I was blessed with, while I didn’t have all these others things maybe my sister had, I had this innate curiosity about kind of hearing everybody’s story. And so that is what makes me tick. That and hard work is what keeps me going.”
Despite the state school atmosphere, large class sizes and lack of one on one attention from professors, Wendy distinguished herself by being a diligent student throughout her four years. Striving towards ambitious goals combined with utter determination, her journalistic future looked promising. As classes became more hands on, she came across a moment that was important in defining how and when she would capture stories. Moreover, this moment revealed to her a deeper sense of appreciation and respect for the field of journalism. “It was interesting, in Colorado, in one of my intros to videography classes, everybody had a big bulky camera and there had been a tornado that had touched down about 90 miles away from our campus. One of our projects was to just go out and shoot something and try to tell a story in the camera without editing anything,” she says. “So, my friends went out to an ice cream place, or they went out to a soccer game, and I was like – I got in my car and drove to this town called Limen Colorado.” Elaborating further, “I got there, parked my car, and I’m getting ready to lug out all my things, and it’s like deafening silence, people picked through the remnants of their lives. I sat there for about an hour, and I was like – I am invading by pulling out this camera, I am invading this slice of their life – And It was in that moment, before my career was even a whisper, that there is great responsibility that comes with telling someone’s story.”
The impact this moment left was pivotal in her journey of understanding the responsibility and care of capturing others’ lives. She became very empathetic to anyone who was struggling; therefore, it opened her eyes to how vulnerable and heartfelt these personal stories can be. Enlightened, Wendy connected the emotional situation to inspire her to pursue a very unique avenue of story-telling. “So now, I started seeking out stories about small people doing big things, about ordinary people doing extraordinary things quietly,” she says. “And that is kind of how I carved my path, was my natural curiosity, my love of hearing people, kind of opened this door for me, and I ended up filling this niche that wasn’t being filled, and it took off.”
. . .
After earning her Master’s degree from the University of Missouri in Colombia, Wendy landed a job on national television in New York City. What happens when an open sky, green grass, and mow your own lawn kind of girl finds herself in a concrete jungle? “It made my soul unhappy,” she says. “I told my mom and dad – I can’t do this.” The day she left New York, she got a new job at a TV station in St. Louis Missouri for NBC. Taking on a new segment called “Show Me St. Louis,” Wendy surprisingly found herself in a new realm of interviewing. “I didn’t much think about kids before then, but I loved it,” she says. “I would go somewhere and do something with a group of kids, and they would come sit down in my lap. They said some of the most remarkable things. I absolutely fell in love.” Wendy found herself reaching new heights, achieving both personal and professional success. “It was there that I won my first Emmy award for story-telling,” she gratefully states. “It was a blast.” After her third year in St. Louis, she met a man who was attending medical school at St. Louis University. After completing his degree, they moved to Pittsburgh together, where he completed his residency with the University of Pittsburgh. Within time, they got married and began their life in Pittsburgh. “There is something very special about this town,” she says. “I wouldn’t live anywhere else. I would always want to live here.”
It wasn’t long after moving to Pittsburgh, Wendy joined the WTAE Channel 4 News team. After almost 18 years with WTAE, Wendy received an unexpected phone call while on vacation with her family. Shortly after returning back home, she found out that she would no longer be working for WTAE. With no regrets to what had been said in regard to prompting her firing, she states, “I know what I wrote, I know what I meant. And how people interpreted it, that’s on them.” Contributing to the power of knowing oneself, her words ceased the moment of confirming her legitimacy. “If you can say that, about going through a horrible experience that you wouldn’t mind walking through that fire again because you’re that confident in your soul and who you are, I don’t know what else I could possibly need.” Supporting the truth of her soul, she confidently expresses, “I know who I am, and I like who I am. I am a good person. When you know that you are a good person and that you care profoundly about others, and that you do things not because it’s all about you but because it’s all about us, then people can say what they want to say about you.”
Discrepancies cannot cover the truth. In fact, we need to be able to share our own words without immediate repercussions. No problems will ever be solved if we as a community cannot openly talk and express our opinions. Numerous media channels across the Pittsburgh area held a variety of opinions towards the outcome of this situation, yet nothing has changed. Wendy comments, “You don’t apologize for things that are true. And I would not have apologized for that because what I said was true. And where are we today after that? People are still killing each other. Same problems, different day. No one stood up to take action. It’s disappointing.” What is more disheartening is the actual story itself was overshadowed by the publicity of a news anchor losing her job, thus leaving the outcry of a horrific event repressed under the injustice of a corporation trying to save themselves. “Channel four is in Wilkinsburg. They should have owned it and brought the community together,” Wendy comments.
Ironically, prior to her getting fired, Wendy had won eight Emmy-Awards for sharing stories in respect to our Black Neighbors. Shedding light on various communities, Wendy has a passion in working with Rebuilding Together Pittsburgh – a local social service that works to improve the homes and lives of individuals. She would follow these construction prophets and share these wonderful stories of people changing lives. Why? “Nobody was telling them,” she said. “If your only idea about a city neighborhood is gun fire and death, you don’t get a fair picture of that community. And I knew many of the people, and I knew what they were doing, so I became that person to tell their stories. It’s an honor.”
Another bright story, ironically categorized as “Emmy-Award winning,” is about a wonderful woman in the Homewood area doing immaculate work to express herself and her gift by creating art. Her name is Vanessa German. Wendy made a point to tell this story about an African-American inspirational artist, writer, and activist among several other things, who began making art on her front porch. As people passed by, they would notice her building the art, which instantly left them intrigued. The more people saw, the more they approached her to ask questions. After growing a following, Vanessa did something revolutionary in her neighborhood. She took the initiative to renovate the home next to where she was living and create the “Homewood’s Art House.” She is also responsible for “Love Front Porch,” which all capture the notion of opening a safe place for individuals and families to come together and create art.
“It is the coolest daggone thing,” Wendy joyfully says. “She is a phenomenal person and a beautiful writer.” Wendy mentions a significant movement rooted from the heart of Vanessa. “After a series of murders in her area, Vanessa created a yard sign – ‘Stop Shooting, We Love You.’” A powerful, honest statement, yet there is no fire back because it derives from real stories, real pain, real facts. Vanessa is leading this movement with love in hope to stop shootings in her neighborhood area. “She is a very cool lady,” Wendy says. “These are my neighbors. I’ve told a lot of stories about my black neighbors that the news wouldn’t cover.”
Although the reality was disappointing, the truth still remains clear and concise. There is no question of character. What has been said, for better or worse, is profound and clarifying because no matter how much you try, you cannot destroy the truth. Now, it is up to us as a community to learn and move forward from such an instance, in hopes we can become closer to working together for the greater good.
Questioning motivation and perception is irrelevant at this point. What needs to be brought to life is the sheer fact of the value we can take away from this incident. How to own who you truly are, despite the blasphemous rhetoric attacking you. A bold heart, speaking words from honest perception, and unfortunately accurate truths; as she walked away from WTAE, her character remained unchanged. “I always took the upper road, never saying anything ill. It’s lonely there, but I sleep very comfortably,” Wendy says. “That is why I say – you got to know who you are. Once you got that, what are they going to take away from it?”
Despite the circumstances of the events that unfolded, it added a new, miraculous dimension to her personal journey. “I try to tell people all the time, we’re all going to go through dark times, things are going to happen in your life that aren’t going to make sense, and it is going to hurt,” she boldly states. “But you got to have faith because it always comes around. I’m not talking about losing somebody you love or getting a terrible diagnosis, I’m talking about the blips in your road that really divert your path. It happens to all of us, but you got to have faith that there is always a reason,” she says. “Because there is always a reason.”
Certainly, the redirection of her path from WTAE wouldn’t terminate her desires to continue moving forward with life. Her new path took deep meaning as other passions of hers were able to come into fruition. “For two and a half years I got to be a mom. And I got to fooster in my yard, and I got to grow different kinds of grass, and I had a vegetable garden that would have knocked your face off.” While it certainly was apparent that Wendy had established a new area of focus, there was pain that continually lingered. “It was amazing. Hurtful, very hurtful, but amazing,” she pauses. “Hurtful because I didn’t know what the future held, but amazing because I’d missed out on so much with my family.” Through the adversity, pain and unforeseen future, she cultivated a special wholeness that is deep beyond words. A new perspective of life. Her embracement of this thought was enjoyable to watch. “Oh my God, yes,” she energetically declares. “Thank you, yes!” Grasping a newfound appreciation for life allowed her to be fully present in a new light for what truly matters most in our lives. “My number one role is mom,” she smiles. “It’s the best.”
Throughout the midst of the controversial remnants of her past, she fell into an unexpected blessing that miraculously changed the direction of her life. By accepting her reality, embracing the infinite possibilities of potential growth both personally and professionally, while never allowing any outside influence change her true self, Wendy now lives in this resounding joy of personal fulfillment.
. . .
Wendy Bell Today.
Taking on several initiatives to continue living and promoting positivity around her, Wendy hosts a daily informative and inspirational radio talk show with KDKA from 3-6:00pm. She explained, “When they hired me, they were like – we just want you to be you, be who you are, say what you want and you’ll feel the path – dare to be authentic.”
The show focuses on capturing news of the day and extraordinary, uplifting stories ranging from Pittsburgh to all over the world. Additionally, Wendy has a public website and Facebook page called “Positively Wendy Bell.” Producing messages, videos and sharing stories of hope and light, Wendy is on a mission to fulfill a venue that our community and world needs more of – the power to read, feel, and belong to something with good, positive intention.
The importance of family and being “Mom” far outweighs the public figure we know as Wendy Bell. Wendy O’Toole, proudly marked, gets her job done, so she can go home and be with the ones she loves. Her husband Joe and five sons – Michael (20), Jack (18), Ryan (14) Christopher (11) and Bobby (11), all gather to fill the existence of all she is – a completely, fulfilled, blessed mother and wife.
Year to year, season to season, the boys are busy participating in sports. Ranging from baseball to soccer, basketball and swimming, life is never slow. When they’re not involved with extracurricular activities, their family likes to hit the restaurant scene for good food and valuable time together. “We all have a guilty pleasure of going out to eat. One of our favorite places to go is Stinky’s in Lawrenceville,” Wendy says. “With a family this size, being able to sit down in the same location, this is where we do the majority of our stuff.” As a family, they also enjoy supporting the Pittsburgh Penguins.
What are your hopes for the boys as they grow up?
“I hope that all of the boys listen to their own dreams and work hard to pay attention to other people. I want them to be aware of the world around them and see opportunities where they can help,” she says. “Whether that is shoveling our elder neighbors drive way, helping with groceries, seeing that people need help and asking why they shouldn’t be the ones giving it.”
It is virtually impossible to not expect the unlimited mindset that is instilled in Wendy to be passed along to her five boys. Recognizing the opportunity of all possibilities carves a wondrous picture of unforeseeable beauty. “I don’t want any of them to think they can’t do something. Because my mantra is you can if you are willing to work hard,” Wendy notes. “I don’t want them to feel they have to live up to other people’s expectations. They should live up their own expectations.”
How has being a Mom helped you grow as a person?
“Being a parent makes you immediately selfless. Everything that you do is for their benefit, so it forces you to get really organized and to prioritize your goals,” she says. “Life is a teeter totter, you have various levels that go up and down so you try to make it as consistent and predictable as you can.” Words cannot justify the hard work and resilience it takes to be a mother, but one thing is for certain. “There is nobody stronger on earth than a mom,” she speaks confidently. “We just have to remember we are blessed in order to be them.”
This is the beautiful part of life – to embrace all these moments, take on the challenges, and rise together as one family. “If we could all look at life as opportunities rather than obligations, like – I get to do that, I don’t have to do it, I am privileged to be able to do it, then that is all life is,” Wendy states. The days may seem extended, but when you reflect over the grand scheme of it all, the years truly do go by fast.
What are some things you are grateful for?
“I am grateful for every opportunity I get to hear people, to learn from them, to love my sons, to try to spread joy.” She says. “I am just grateful for this opportunity to be here.”
Do you have a personal mantra?
“Believe and you will achieve. Believe that you’ll get it done. Believe that you can do it. Believe that you are that good. Believe that you are that important. Believe that you are that special. Believe that you are that able. Believe. When you believe, you make things happen.”
. . .
Life is a journey, and it is up to us as individuals to take a moment and enjoy the ride. Continue learning about yourself every day. Embrace all that comes your way. As you walk your path, believe in yourself. Focus on all that you are and all that you can be. Any diversion is an opportunity to become more. You never know what you may discover about yourself or the path you are on, but what is true is that you are capable of anything you can put your mind to. When you believe, you become limitless.
This is what it means to RISE UP.
Overcoming the odds, becoming into her own, demonstrating what it means to embrace the fire and let it fuel her into a greater self, Wendy rose up into her utmost personal fulfillment in life. Wendy’s work has always been closely aligned with demonstrating a positive impression, but now, the platform is more powerful than ever. She knows what it takes to start the climb, the grit to continue the climb, and the reality endured from overcoming all the obstacles within the climb, to now be able to humbly identify an extraordinary view from the top that momentarily takes your breath away.
Now, in a new light, Wendy is breaking her previous barriers with an even greater scale. She is reaching an extended community across the world, with daily efforts in story-telling. Wendy is fulfilling her element to spread positive joy and grow her mission to help alleviate daily stresses, and most importantly focus on the good in this world. Accomplishing a new height, a new vision, a new beginning; Wendy rose up.
– This is RISING UP with Wendy Bell.
