Bloomberg T.V.’s Trish Regan Talks Geithner, Davos And… Her Opera Career?

8:30 am, January 25th | by Amy Tennery

With Davos kicking off and the State of the Union address just behind us, it’s safe to say we all want to know what’s going through Treasury Secretary Timothy Geither’s head right now. And Trish Regan, a veteran financial reporter and the co-anchor of Bloomberg television’s “Street Smart,” has the scoop.

She sat down with Geithner for an exclusive interview (segments airing this afternoon at 4 p.m. and tonight at 8), “The State of the Economy,” to find out what’s next for U.S. financials.

Regan took time out to talk with The Jane Dough about Geithner – and to shed light on how she got to where she is today. She’s a working mom, a journalist’s daughter and – really — an almost-professional opera singer. And that’s only the beginning.

The Jane Dough: For a long time you were training to be an opera singer. How did you get into that?

Trish Regan: I joke that I never try and do the easy stuff. I could have tried to be a pop singer or a musical theater singer. But no, I had to pursue opera. One of the reasons I think I was so attracted it was because it was sort of the ultimate art form. I joke that when I chose to have a career in news, I also was drawn to something that some people would perceive as more complicated than, say, traditional [news] coverage. There’s an element to my personality that is just very interested in complex subjects and being able to break them down. And I loved music as a kid; I learned my ABCs on the piano. So I only knew A through G for the longest time.

TJD: I hear that your mother was a reporter and she used to take you out on reporting. Do you feel that your relationship with your mother influenced your eventual career?

TR: Absolutely. When I was in my early 20s, I decided – as much as I loved opera – that there were (and I’ll use an economic phrase here) too many opportunity costs. My mother definitely had an influence on my ultimate decision to pursue a career in journalism because that was the profession she had chosen. She was a writer for the Union-Leader in New Hampshire and she was a reporter for the Concord Monitor. I spent a lot of time as a kid at the library, where she’d go and do research. And occasionally, when she was strapped for childcare, might have tagged along on an interview or two.

TJD: It’s great that she made her career work despite the fact that she maybe didn’t always have childcare opportunities. Do you feel like having a ‘career mother’ pushed you to pick a less traditional career path?

TR: She always told me, from as early as I can remember, “You can do anything you want to do.” And that was always the message that communicated.

TJD: Would you want your own daughters to get into financial news?

TR: I want my daughters to do whatever it is that makes them happy. And that could be from being a CEO of a multinational corporation to being a stay-at-home mom. I think that that’s the real key. You’ve got to choose something that you enjoy in life.

TJD: With Davos happening and the State of the Union [last night], do you have any predictions for where [Timothy Geithner's] head is at right now, and what issues do you think are crucial to him?

TR: I think it’s critical to talk about the U.S. economy and the beginnings of an economic recovery that we’re seeing here. A lot of the economic data has been looking surprisingly good. It’s a question of whether or not that can continue and, maybe, whether or not it’s enough. And how much of a threat is the European economy?

TJD: How much do you think that Geithner’s agenda is being manipulated by this collective frustration from the public?

TR: I think that there are good economic signs on the horizon. I don’t think that you can dispute that data. But, again, I would go back to “is it enough at this time?”

Tune in today at 4 p.m. and tonight at 8 p.m. for Regan’s exclusive talk with Geithner.

(This interview has been edited and condensed.)

TAGS: trish regan | trish regan bloomberg | trish regan geithner | trish regan opera