20 Oct G Day Story: Darcy

Darcy Wintonyk is the senior online producer for CTV Vancouver, and produces the weekly half-hour Steele on Your Side consumer series. She’s done almost every job in the newsroom, from writing and desking to producing daily and weekly news and consumer features for CTV News at Five, Six and 11:30. Starting in September 2013 she and Lynda debuted a weekly half-hour consumer show – Steele on Your Side – capitalizing on the popular nightly segment. A passionate animal advocate and longtime volunteer, Darcy was honoured with the 2014 award for Media Excellence by the B.C. SPCA.  She also writes an animal blog for Vancity Buzz. In her spare time, Darcy enjoys hanging out with her Norfolk terrier, Murphy Brown. Thanks for your G Day Story, Darcy!

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The best I ever remember feeling in my pre-teens were the last two weeks of summer before Grade 9. I contracted Mono, which left me zapped of energy, napping constantly and completely without an appetite.

While most girls would be miserable being stuck at home, I relished in the virus because it was making me something I’d always wanted to be: skinny!

With every day of my accidental diet plan, the sturdy, stumpy thighs I inherited from my Ukrainian babas started more closely resembling the willowy branches of the girl I desperately envied. Of course, after a week of being recovered they “bounced back” to regular size, but at the time I was ABSOLUTELY OVERJOYED.

I don’t think I spent a single day of my adolescence feeling thin or pretty, or thinking that I fit in. I was constantly self-conscious about my clothes, hair, good grades, skin: everything.  Despite a supportive family that told me I could put my mind to anything, it was my mind that was making me doubt everything about myself. I buried myself in books and writing.

I spent my school years constantly coveting other people’s lives: their cooler clothes, their later curfews, their confidence, all the while minimizing my own successes. I hid myself under anything I could: baggy clothes, crossed, defiant arms, dark-dyed hair and wacky faces anytime a camera was pointed at me.

Speaking to my horrible awkwardness, my mom used to say “God isn’t finished with you yet,” but I didn’t believe her.

My “aha” moment came in journalism school where I found myself surrounded by smart, witty, awesome people. They all loved the “nerdy” things I did: writing, reading and voraciously consuming news. It turned out what made us feel so uncool in school is what made us so driven and successful as budding journalists. I finally figured out that being cool isn’t about confirming to the norm, and trying to look pretty.

In my broadcasting career I’ve had the privilege of interviewing hundreds of successful, confident, beautiful women – the ones who were the thin, pretty girls I envied back in school. And you know what? It turns out they felt just as awkward and self-conscious as I did.

Anyways, it gets better.  I promise.  God isn’t finished with you yet.