Today we’d like to introduce you to Karla Ray.
Hi Karla, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m a veteran broadcast journalist who has spent nearly two decades mastering the art of storytelling, the microphone, and executive presence. Now, through Unprompted Strategies, I put those skills to work as a professional emcee, on-camera talent, and communications coach, helping leaders communicate with clarity, confidence, and authenticity.
I grew up on a farm in the Midwest, and I always wanted to expand my worldview. Journalism was a natural fit for me- I’ve always loved writing and being on stages, and broadcast combined the two. I sent more than 100 VHS tapes looking for my first on-air job out of college, and was hired to work as a Bureau Chief at KELO-TV in Rapid City, South Dakota.
The industry has changed so drastically in the last two decades; when I first got into the business, I was shooting my own interviews on a giant camera with a BETA tape and editing ‘tape to tape’- which is a linear way of essentially copying clips from raw video in sequential order using a big deck that you probably can’t even find in TV newsrooms any longer. I’m so old school, I was a working journalist when Twitter was invented, and I joined the platform in time to cover the historic 2008 election.
I adapted to the evolution of digital editing, smaller cameras, social media, and vertical video. Eventually, I moved out of the Midwest for a reporter position at WBBH-TV in Fort Myers, Florida. There, I met my now-husband, a fellow journalist, and we moved as a package deal to work in the Orlando market in 2012. I worked my way up from general assignment, to investigative, to anchor, and left the industry due to a budget cut in 2024.
It was not the exit I had planned, but one of the things journalism taught me is that you don’t get to control the story you’re handed- you can only decide what you make of it.
I had spent years interviewing executives, politicians, entrepreneurs, celebrities, survivors, experts, and everyday people. I knew how to walk into a room cold, find the story, ask the right questions, make complicated information understandable, and communicate under pressure. I also realized that people had been coming to me for years asking how to do those things themselves- especially when a camera or a microphone was involved.
About a year after leaving television, I launched Unprompted Strategies.
What started with people asking me for help communicating on camera quickly grew into coaching, hosting, and on-camera opportunities. Today, I’m focused on moderating conversations, emceeing events, hosting, and helping leaders become more compelling communicators.
In many ways, it feels like I’m bringing everything I’ve learned over the last two decades into one place. Journalism taught me how to tell a story. Television taught me how to command a room and communicate under pressure. And leaving television taught me that a career can end without your story ending with it.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Candidly, some of the biggest struggles have been personal.
One of the hardest things has been learning how to separate my self-worth from my former job title. Journalism is a calling, and there can be a real sense of guilt when you leave it, even when you have good reasons for doing so. I loved being a journalist, and having a built-in platform to amplify voices, tell important stories, and advocate for causes I cared about meant a lot to me.
Losing that position put me in an uncomfortable space of not knowing exactly what was next. Where would my confidence come from without a newsroom or TV call letters behind me?
That uncertainty has been a gift. I’ve had to realize that the platform was never really the TV station- it was my own. The skills, relationships, curiosity, storytelling skills, and desire to help others didn’t disappear when I left TV. Realizing that I don’t have to attach my worth to that job has been an awakening.
There’s something really empowering about figuring it out. Losing a title doesn’t mean you lose who you are.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Unprompted Strategies?
Unprompted Strategies is about being able to tell your story without a script- no teleprompter, no problem. The three service areas- professional moderating and emceeing, for-hire on-camera hosting, and clarity coaching- all fall back on that concept.
I founded Unprompted after nearly two decades in broadcast journalism, where I learned how to find the story, ask the right questions, make complicated information understandable, command a room, and communicate clearly under pressure. Today, I bring that skill set to the stage, the camera, and the C-suite.
U/S has three areas of focus: professional emceeing and live event hosting, on-camera talent and content creation, and communications coaching. I moderate conversations, host conferences and events, appear in branded and broadcast-style content, and work one-on-one with leaders who want to become stronger, more natural communicators, particularly on camera, in interviews, presentations, and other high-stakes situations.
What sets Unprompted apart is the combination of journalism and performance. I don’t just teach people how to read a script or talking points. I’ve spent thousands of hours interviewing people live, working on deadline, navigating difficult conversations, translating complex information, and adapting in real time when things don’t go according to plan. That experience changes the way I approach communication coaching and event hosting.
What I’m most proud of, brand-wise, is that U/S feels like an extension of who I actually am. It isn’t a persona I created after leaving television. It’s the culmination of everything I’ve spent my career learning about people, stories, communication, and presence.
Are there any apps, books, podcasts, blogs or other resources you think our readers should check out?
I’m very into self-improvement books, as boring as that sounds. I prefer music over podcasts- very into Noah Kahan right now.
As a content creator, I love editing with an actual editing suite vs. in my phone– DaVinci is my go-to.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://unpromptedstrategies.com/
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/karlaraytv
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/karlaraytv
- Other: https://tiktok.com/@karlaraytv
