Former NBC News anchor Carol Marin made headlines when she quit her job after tabloid talkshow host Jerry Springer was offered a slot on the news hour that she anchored in Chicago. Although it was a risky move, the award-winning journalist says it didn't hamper her career. Rather, it led her to pursue new opportunities with CBS News, PBS and more. Carol has since returned to NBC5 Chicago as an investigative reporter and is a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. She talks to Jean about the importance of personal values, and shares advice for women maneuvering in their own careers.

• Don't rely on role models too much. "I think sometimes we take our role models and we infuse them with too much of our own hope, and we forget that it's really about trying to figure out who you are, not who they are," Carol says.
• Understand your own complexity. "We all don't have to travel in a like-minded pack," she says.
• Image isn't everything. "Don't assume that everyone you see—because you think that they've had a successful career—that they're a good person, a good mother, a fine wife, a strong friend," Carol says.
• Do your homework. "That relentless, hardworking, nitty-gritty, life-consuming, time-consuming work is the part that we need to tell young women and young men about in this field that we're in, because it really is about knowing stuff," Carol says.
• Separate who you are at work from who you are at home. Carol says it was important for her to make that distinction clear to her two sons. "Carol Marin was the woman who did TV; Mom was the woman who was at home fixing him a sandwich," she explains.
• Listen to your gut and stand up for your beliefs. Carol says that by staying true to herself over the course of her career, it opened her up to new possibilities. "People would say, 'One door closes, another opens.' … It's the absolute truth," she says.