Midwest native Catt Sadler reigns as Hollywood’s entertainment broadcast queen. Once a small-town girl from Martinsville, IN, her relatable-roots now inspire young people to believe that they, too, can attain the American Dream.  

Sadler’s passion for storytelling began when home video cameras were peaking in  popularity. These childhood videos are a premonition of her broadcast career.

“I started mock-interviewing all the time. My mom could pull out so many tapes. I  would be at the dinner table interviewing my family, annoyingly so. Or I would sit  my 90-year-old grandpa down and I would want the story of his life,” Catt Sadler,  said. “I loved the camera, I’m not going to lie.”

Sadler is not a product of overnight Hollywood stardom.  She began at Indiana  University with aspirations to study theatre, a path far from journalism.  Perhaps  Sadler’s grandmother is the one to thank for her broadcast career.  Not pleased with  Sadler’s original choice to study the arts, Sadler’s grandmother influenced her  decision to change her major late in her college career.

“Oprah was one of my heroes and Kate Couric was one of my heroes,” Sadler said.   “By the time I was in my junior year, I finally figured out that broadcast journalism  was an absolute fit.” 

From that moment, Sadler dedicated herself to her broadcast dream.  She immersed  herself in the craft.   

“I did my internship and I was really, really hungry,” Sadler said. “I was always putting myself on camera and I was always going in the news director’s office going,  ‘Watch this interview. Watch this tape,’ I would be at a crime scene or be at a fire and I would always be emulating what these reporters were doing. I really, really  wanted to go for it.”  

Sadler’s insatiable hunger for the camera was satisfied in a big way her senior year at IU.  After completing her summer internship for local Indianapolis news station, Fox 59, the news director offered to pay for the remainder of Sadler’s education in exchange for her talent.  Sadler finished her education at IUPUI, a sister school to Indiana University-Bloomington, and began her own segment at the local news station, without yet having a broadcast degree.   

Sadler began in-depth reporting the segment called, “Youth Matters,” which covered  socially conscious youth issues.    

“At the time, it was unheard of. I don’t even know if I was 21 yet,” Sadler said. “That  was my in. And then that kind of spiraled because that turned in to some general  assignment reporting on the weekend.” 

After nearly a year of reporting Youth Matters, Sadler recognized reporting hard news topics was not particularly fulfilling to her. 

“I learned an immense amount and I’m so thankful for everything that they taught  me while I was there because they were so helpful and so giving.  But, I also learned what I didn’t want to do,” Sadler said. “Hard-hitting, invasive journalism didn’t agree  with who I was.” 

At a stalemate, Sadler continued to report and learn from the professionals at Fox  59. Little did she know, the stars were aligning in her favor.  Talent agency, N.S.  Bienstock, who represented Diane Sawyer and Dan Rather, wished to represent  Sadler.  

“I literally blew him off. I was like, ‘He didn’t really see me on TV. I’m on TV once a  week for two minutes and he’s in New York.’ It didn’t make any sense,” Sadler said. 

Sadler’s boss, lead anchor of Fox 59 news, became stunned as she told him of her  rejection to N.S. Bienstock, an agency he wished to be represented by for years  prior. After realization of her mistake, Sadler called him back and catapulted to the  next part of her career. 

N.S. Bienstock agent, Ezra discovered her talent and convinced her that she could  achieve any broadcast dream she wished. “He was like, ‘What do you want to do, if you had anything to pick from the whole  world?’,” Sadler said. “I think I said, ‘Entertainment Tonight,’ or ‘VH1.’ He said, ‘Well,  then that’s what we’ll do.’” 

21-year-old Sadler uprooted her small town Indiana life and moved to California, a  place she had never even traveled before.  From there, she worked for 10 years on  various local networks before landing the highly sought after E! News hosting  position.   

“I claimed the biggest dream I could possibly dream,” Sadler said. “That was the  beginning.”