Shawna Randolph isn’t sure about the word "personality" to describe her category in the St. Albert Gazette’s annual Readers' Choice Awards, hers being "Favourite St. Albert Personality." And though she took top spot (acknowledging it’s an honour to be voted number one), the longtime St. Albertan says modestly that she’s just a normal wife and mom, a family-focused cheerleader at her kids’ sporting events, whois glad to have raised her family in this city. Singling the media maven out for more is "kind of awkward," she says.
Perhaps her humility is one reason St. Albert voters picked Randolph as their favourite well-known resident. And when it’s pointed out that being someone with a higher profile (she’s had decades in the media as a broadcaster and communications professional) gives her the opportunity to champion the city, Randolph admits she’s fine with that.
“We’re appreciative to the community. I’m humbled; it’s an honour to be involved in an initiative that showcases the businesses of our city,” Randolph said, and she should know. Among the hats she wears, Randolph is currently first vice-chair with the St. Albert and District Chamber of Commerce.
The upbeat Randolph is likely familiar to city residents thanks to years behind the anchor desk at CFRN (now CTV Edmonton) and then later with the nightly news magazine program Alberta Primetime. And somehow amidst the news gigs, Randolph started the company she still runs to this day, Shawna Randolph Communications. It's another way she’s able to give back, the busy entrepreneur admits, and though she considers herself "semi-retired," she knows it’s not the easiest of goals.
“I stayed in the media/news industry for a decade. I knew I didn’t want to work full-time anymore, with the deadlines and chasing stories. I wanted to be available to the kids (son Aidan and daughter Brooklyn) to be active in their lives; to go to soccer games,” Randolph remembers, acknowledging that though the kids are both university students now, they’re still heavily involved in sports, wrestling and soccer, and they still need their mom, but maybe just in different ways.
“We’re a sports family, really," she said. "My husband (Warren Gresik, a senior fire captain and paramedic with the City of St. Albert) coached and I’m still a supporter; a cheering mom.”
Having the insight to know she wanted a better work-life balance has served Randolph well, whether it’s being available to her family (including an aging parent and making that a priority, too), or how many and which clients to take on with her media training/consulting business, (key clients have included the City of Edmonton and Edmonton Humane Society). With these and other organizations and individuals, Randolph says she has become a contractor, able to do media training (workshops, seminars etc) on a part-time basis.
And she knows when to combine the things she’s good at; what she has a passion for. Morphing her expertise for storytelling with a media-savvy eye, Randolph is presently extolling the offerings of the Arts and Heritage Foundation of St. Albert. A few days a week, the focus is on just that; telling the stories of the Little White School, Historic River Lots and Grain Elevators, Musee Heritage Museum and Art Gallery of St. Albert.
“I sneak in consulting, or holding media training seminars with municipalities and businesses too,” she said. “But I love the challenge of getting people in St. Albert to know more about the city, like when they say, 'Oh, I didn’t even know we had an art gallery here.'”
These days, Randolph says she gets some of her greatest satisfaction from coaching those who interact with the media; guiding them to be honest, open, accountable and confident. “It’s even more rewarding than when I was still in the media, seeing the benefit of a mutually respectful relationship between business and media.”
Randolph may not even realize she’s encouraging her clients to take a page out of her own book; an impressive career of mutually beneficial interactions between a media personality showing integrity and forthrightness, and the other side; organizations that have a message they want to get across. She understands both.
Colleague and fellow media personality Sean Burke,(a popular radio host) who has worked with and known Randolph for some 30 years, sees it, too. The pair teamed up during the pandemic, hosting a podcast called Talk Time with Sean and Shawna, a pop culture chat fest that included looks at everything from politics and crime to entertainment.
“We both saw that people needed an escape, some positivity and kindness. I’m proud to call her a friend,” said Burke. “She loves her community and you can tell. Congrats on winning St. Albert’s fave personality, Shawna. Very well-deserved. You’re buying lunch next time.”
Randolph will surely find time for that lunch. She says being available for her family, her three cats, golf with girlfriends and yes, those occasional lunches with pals, is what she’s about.
“I love the idea of gearing down," she said. "We’re in that sandwich generation, between our parents and our kids. I love having time for it all.”
