Dec 14, 2021
Maria Quiban Whitesell is a powerhouse media weather anchor on Fox 11 news who has been a positive force on television for two decades. She built an award-winning reputation as a trusted go-to for weather and reporting on human interest stories and has developed a fan base that celebrates her bubbly personality on TV. While having to put a smile on her face every day in front of millions on LA’s popular morning show, Good Day LA, no one had a clue the kind of personal toll she was taking on at home.
When on the home front in 2014, Maria Quiban Whitesell's husband Sean was diagnosed with a deadly form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma (GBM), she was completely unprepared. Her first thought was how could she possibly explain what was happening to their young son, Gus? How would she manage to say goodbye to the love of her life and, ultimately, live without him? In today’s Potential to Powerhouse conversation, Maria speaks openly about her journey of finding hope and shining her light through grief after Sean’s passing. Tuning in, you’ll learn about the book she wrote describing her experience, titled You Can't Do It Alone: A Widow's Journey Through Loss, Grief, and Life After, in which she teams up with licensed therapist Lauren Schneider to provide readers with a roadmap for walking through illness, death, and grief. This is a heart-led conversation about love, resilience, and the understanding that everyone has their own challenges to overcome, despite how things may appear from the outside. Maria takes this opportunity to reach out to those who may be dealing with a traumatic loss to say, “You are not alone!” Make sure not to miss this tender-yet-powerful conversation with media powerhouse and author Maria Quiban Whitesell!
Key Points From This Episode:
- Insight into Maria’s 25 years in ‘infotainment’ and what drew her to the weather.
- How she came to work for KTTV in Los Angeles and what she loves about being live.
- Hear the fateful story of how she met her late husband Sean Whitesell at a party.
- Find out why she and Sean broke up before getting back together; and married
- Some early signs something was wrong that Maria noticed prior to Sean’s diagnosis.
- How she and Sean were blindsided by the news that he had glioblastoma.
- Why Maria believes that it was actually a blessing that Sean’s GBM was inoperable.
- Part of Maria’s purpose is to shine a light on this disease and attract funding for research.
- Advice she received from a nurse shortly after receiving Sean’s diagnosis: Be strong.
- How Maria devoted herself to spending the time they had left making memories.
- Why she decided to title her book You Can’t Do It Alone; the importance of support.
- What it was like to work with licensed therapist Lauren Schneider.
- Maria shares why she is such a strong advocate for professional mental health support.
- The crucial role that family support played and her advice to listeners: Find your village and share your story to gain support.
- The promise she made to Sean; that she and Gus would live their greatest lives possible.
- Maria shares where she is on her journey through grief and how she hopes her book will inspire and help readers.
- What this journey has taught her about herself: You are stronger than you think you are, one day at a time.
Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Maria Quiban Whitesell on Twitter
Maria Quiban Whitesell on Instagram