Robin Roberts has become a familiar face on Good Morning America after many years of excellent contributions to journalism, and like many others, she hasn’t forgotten about her first job.
Viewers regularly see Roberts appear alongside Michael Strahan and George Stephanopoulos on ABC’s morning program.
She’s been recognized with various awards and honors, including the Peabody Award in 2012 and the Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Journalism in 2014.
This year, she’s contending for Outstanding Host at the American Reality TV Awards for her work as the host of her Disney+ series, Turning the Tables.
She’ll compete with Wayne Brady, Steve Harvey, RuPaul, and Jane Lynch for the prestigious award in a stacked category.
However, years before she joined the GMA crew and established herself with the ABC network, she had a surprising job.
Roberts reveals her first job in GMA video
Appearing in an Instagram video with her GMA co-stars, Roberts was asked to recall her first job.
After stepping into part of the studio backstage and receiving the question, she revealed she was a school bus driver.
“When I was a senior in high school, alright? Don’t raise your eyes,” she said while looking at the camera.
“I turned 18 my senior year. The tennis coach said we needed a driver because we were always having to cancel our matches because we didn’t have a driver. So, I was the driver,” she recalled.
Roberts explained that she was in a small school district in Mississippi, so if another driver called in sick, she was the substitute driver.
“Can you imagine pulling up and your classmate sees your face behind the wheel?” she asked before saying, “Priceless.”
“School bus drivers rule!” she shouted, raising her fist before leaving the room.
Roberts’ co-anchors also had humble beginnings before making it big in sports, journalism, and television.
Strahan revealed his first job was mowing lawns but added that his first job where he paid taxes was working as a dishwasher in Manheim, Germany.
“I was a caddy,” Stephanopoulos told viewers with no further details given.
Their colleagues Ginger Zee and Lara Spencer also participated in the video, recalling where they worked. Ginger indicated she had to keep that early job to supplement her income at her first two TV jobs due to their low salaries.
Where else has Robin Roberts worked?
Following her high school career as a school bus driver job, Roberts embarked on her career in journalism. She attended Southeastern Louisiana University and graduated in 1983 with a degree in communication.
That same year, she became a sports anchor and reporter with WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. She’d move over to working at Biloxi’s WLOX-TV a year later.
Additional local network stints included Roberts joining WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1986 and WAGA-TV in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1988.
Her career path in sports led her to ESPN, where she became a star anchor and host from 1990 to 2005. Five years into that job, she was also a featured reporter on Good Morning America.
Around that time, viewers saw Roberts hosting ABC’s Wide World of Sports from 1996 to 1998.
She officially received her promotion to co-anchor with GMA in 2005, and viewers continue to see her at the desk or on assignment, delivering various stories and interviews.
She hasn’t abandoned her love of sports. In the past year, she has interviewed several star athletes, including basketball players Caitlin Clark and Brittney Griner and, more recently, tennis legend Chris Evert.