Q & A with Constance Chatfield-Taylor

What is your favorite color? I'm afraid this changes with the seasons. The color of yellow and orange maple leaves with the sun shining through them in the fall. The green on a mallard's neck in the sunshine in the spring. The glow in the sky after a rain when the sun is trying to break through the clouds at any time of the year. Can I just say "light"? No? OK - blue.

In a few words, how would your friends describe you? adventuresome, big-hearted

In a few words, how would your colleagues describe you? well informed, professional

In a few words, how would your family describe you? resourceful, happy

What does your family think you do for a living? "You integrate the use of satellites, microwave and fiber to make images appear on your TV screen from anywhere around the world."  Q, age 14.

What is your professional background? YEARS! in the satellite industry. Without getting specific on how many years, I was managing a foreign news operation during the de-regulation of the international satellite market, and produced the first live insert into the BBC News covering the Baby M Surrogate Mother trial on the courthouse steps somewhere in Connecticut. Brand new KU truck, the BBC bureau chief leaned over and asked, "Constance, are you SURE this is going to work?" Following the work with the foreign news operation, Flying Colors Broadcasts was incorporated in 1989, and focused on the transmission and production of large, live international television events. I found myself working in Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Burkina Faso, Senegal, in the Manaus Opera House on the banks of the Amazon River, in Tianjin, China with international table tennis championships, with Presidents Bush, Clinton and Bush, with environmentalists in Moscow in 1991. The cultural aspect of this type of work was an unexpected benefit, in figuring out how to communicate transmission plans when the translators don't have the engineering terms in their vocabulary, and convincing engineers in other countries that, yes, we really can do what we are proposing, and so can they - all the time taking into consideration protocol, language barriers, varying operating procedures, etc. I guess that my anthropology degree has been put to some use, much to the chagrin of some of my classmates at Virginia.  Flying Colors has expanded to include the installation and management of private networks, and an exciting new division, Flying Colors Interactive.

What excites you in an average day at FC? Average days don't really excite me. What excites me is having a large, complicated project walk through the door- having to analyze it, break it into sections, figure out options, determine the best solutions for the different segments and then put all the parts together into a smooth, seamless, strong operation. I must say the biggest thrill of all is watching it all come together, to be standing in a remote truck watching feeds from 10 different countries come in, color bars appearing in monitors with IDs from places all over the world. If you've ever worked in a darkroom it's kind of like the magic you feel as you watch an image appear in the developer tray, and suddenly it's a photograph. It's watching the technology work that excites me.

What attributes from your personal life fall into FC? I suppose being lucky enough to have two children, and the constant reminder of school, and learning, and the excitement that can come through learning. I'm especially vigilant of their science programs, and like to go into their classrooms and give guest lectures when they're studying space, or the electromagnetic spectrum. We've made up great games and challenges in communications that, as the kids get older get more complex. My kids have started hiding their science and physics syllabus' from me, though.

What is your favorite age? hmmm... I guess whatever age I am at the time had better be my favorite.

Who is your best friend?  Best client? I don't have a "best" friend.

Best client? My favorite client is GE - they're bold, and fun!

What is your favorite "tool" at your work? I have three - (1) Lyngsat - oh, and my laptop with wireless internet access,  (2) colored markers,  and (3) 1/2" binders with fifth cut dividers.

* * * * *