A life shaped by storytelling, summers, and the Seattle spirit has led Colleen Davis to a dream job in daytime TV.
For Colleen Davis, the rhythm of life has always been set by the tides of the Pacific Northwest. Born and raised in Seattle, she still returns every year, especially in the summer, when the air is soft, the water glitters, and the long northern evenings stretch out like a promise.
“There is no better place to spend a summer than the great northwest,” she says, and she means it with the conviction of someone who has lived enough life to compare.
Colleen grew up as the third of four daughters in a bustling, all-girl household. Her father served as a firefighter with the Seattle Fire Department; her mother worked long days for the U.S. Postal Service. Their work was steady, honest, and demanding, qualities they quietly passed down to their daughters.
A Childhood in Motion
Her education began in a Montessori kindergarten, where two things became immediately clear to her teachers: she was a gifted storyteller, and she was bored. Academics came too easily. Stories came even easier. Her mother, upon hearing the teacher’s praise, asked the only question a mother of four imaginative girls might: “What kind of stories is she telling?”
To keep her challenged, Colleen was moved into Catholic school, skipping first grade and starting second grade at just six years old. Her parents also subscribed to a simple philosophy: keep her busy. Between second and eighth grade, she cycled through an enormous list of after-school activities: soccer, basketball, T-ball, volleyball, track and field, swimming, synchronized swimming, tennis, theater, ballet, tap dancing, French lessons, and skiing. If it existed, she tried it.
High school at Holy Names Academy, an all-girls Catholic school, only amplified her drive. She joined sports teams, student government, drama club, retreat leadership, and freshman orientation. But it was early morning rowings on glassy lakes that captured her heart. She rowed year-round, competing in regattas from British Columbia to Oregon. Decades later, she can still hear the synchronized splash of oars, still feel the boat lift as if it were flying, still see the sun rising over the Cascades in a wash of orange.
The Island That Built Her
If rowing shaped her discipline, summers on Hood Canal shaped her soul as a kid.
Her family’s cabin sat on a small island accessible only by boat, with no electricity and no running water. It was modest, quiet, and to Colleen, perfect. Days were spent building driftwood forts, collecting sea glass, rowing at high tide, digging for clams, and listening to Seattle Mariners games on the radio. Nights were for board games, comic books, and the kind of laughter that only comes when no one is staring at a screen.
Even now, as an adult with a demanding career, the island remains her sanctuary.
“It gives me permission to turn off my phone, leave my computer at home, and enjoy the fresh air and beach,” she says of the place that taught her creativity, independence, and the joy of unplugging, long before that became a cultural aspiration.
A Grandmother’s Influence
Another defining force in her childhood was her grandmother, a woman who adored the arts and saw in Colleen a kindred spirit. Of her 11 grandchildren, Colleen was the only one old enough and close enough to accompany her to performances. Together, they attended musicals, plays, ballets, and operas, always with a lunch or dessert date attached.
“When people asked my parents which one of them I was more like, they’d say, ‘Neither. She’s just like her grandma.’”
To Colleen, it remains one of the greatest compliments of her life.
Falling in Love With Westchester
Colleen’s life took a decisive turn the moment she first saw Westchester.
She and her mother flew down from cold, rainy Seattle to visit Loyola Marymount University on a bright October day during her senior year of high school. They stepped out of LAX, hopped into a cab, and found themselves winding through a charming, tucked-away neighborhood that felt worlds apart from the city around it. In those days, LMU’s main entrance was at Loyola and W. 80th Street, which meant every visitor passed through Westchester before reaching campus.
“It was love at first sight,” she says.
She moved to Westchester the day she entered her freshman dorm and lived on campus all four years. A medical condition forced her back to Seattle for a couple of years after graduation, but when she returned to Los Angeles, she knew exactly where she belonged.
“This community was home for four years, and I was ready to make it home for many more,” says Colleen.
She has now lived in Westchester for more than two decades.
Her coworkers often ask why she chooses to live so far from the entertainment industry’s hubs. Her answer is simple: “Are you kidding? In Westchester, it’s always 20 degrees cooler than the Valley and there is always a nice sea breeze blowing. It’s the perfect way to start and end my day.”
Long commutes and long studio hours mean she rarely gets to join the Pilates classes or pickleball groups she sees advertised around town. Most nights, she doesn’t get home until after 8 p.m. But Westchester remains her refuge; quiet, breezy, familiar.
A Career Built on Storytelling
While other kids bounced between dreams, majors, and career paths, Colleen was unwavering. She loved television. She loved movies. And her parents, rather than restricting screen time leaned into it. They watched everything with their daughters, even the questionable stuff, using stories as a bridge to conversation. At dinner, instead of asking the dreaded “What did you learn at school today?” they asked about characters, plot twists, and themes. It worked. To this day, the family maintains a group chat dedicated entirely to TV and movie recommendations.
So when Colleen announced she wanted to study television, no one was surprised.
Before her senior year of high school, she attended Boston University’s Institute for Television, Film & Radio Production. The program confirmed what she already knew: she belonged in this world. But when the dean encouraged her to apply to BU, she explained that cross-country tuition and flights were out of reach. She asked for a West Coast recommendation. He suggested Loyola Marymount University.
With a scholarship, grants, and financial aid, she was officially an LMU Lion, majoring in TV Production.
Her internships were a mix of timing and tenacity: first at KCBS, helping to launch their very first news website back in the dial-up era, and then at “General Hospital,” the soap opera she had adored for years. She stayed there for several years, eventually graduating
on a Saturday, moving into her first apartment on Sunday, and starting full-time as the Executive Producer’s assistant on Monday. She has been in television production ever since.
Today, Colleen serves as the Rights & Clearances Supervisor for “The Jennifer Hudson Show,” part of the production legal team responsible for ensuring that every guest, song, logo, photo, and clip is legally cleared before airing. It’s meticulous work: high stakes, high pressure, and absolutely essential.
Life Outside the Studio
Colleen jokes that she has “no home life” meaning no spouse, no kids, no family nearby, unless you count Emily Ingistov, her best friend. Most of her waking hours are spent at work or in the car. When she finally gets home, she wants nothing more than sleep before the cycle begins again.
But she does carve out time for the things she loves. Sports, especially soccer, run deep in her family. She is a proud season ticket holder for Angel City FC, supporting professional women’s sports from the team’s inaugural year.
When she has time off, she travels. The Pacific Northwest is her most frequent destination, but her heart belongs to the South Pacific. She has visited Fiji, the Cook Islands, and French Polynesia three times, most recently spending time in Tahiti, Moorea, and Rangiroa.
And she’s not afraid of adventure. She has already crossed off the top two items on her bucket list: going to Australia and cage-diving with great white sharks. She did both at once, plunging into the waters off South Australia to meet the ocean’s most legendary predator.
“It was absolutely amazing,” she says with a grin.
Her Bold Move
Between work and home sits a third pillar of Colleen’s life: “Her Bold Move,” a political organization dedicated to helping women get elected across the country. She has served as the Endorsements Manager since 2020.
The group began during the pandemic, when women in the entertainment industry, suddenly out of work, decided to use their production skills to help female candidates who couldn’t afford professional media. Today, Her Bold Move is a nationally recognized PAC (Political Action Committee) offering training, networking, and support to women running for office.
Colleen’s favorite part is meeting the candidates themselves.
“They’re strong, confident, intelligent women from all over the country,” she says. “Getting the chance to talk to these inspiring women, then see them run and get elected to office is the best feeling in the world.”
Recently, she spoke with a candidate running for the Texas House of Representatives and sent endorsement letters to women in Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, and California. She keeps close the words of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg: “Women belong in all places where decisions are being made.”
A Life Rooted in Place, Lifted by Imagination
From the quiet beaches of Hood Canal to the bright lights of daytime television, from the breezy streets of Westchester to the turquoise waters of the South Pacific, Colleen’s life has been shaped
by the places and people who nurtured her imagination.
She is still the girl who told stories in Montessori school, still the granddaughter who dressed up for the theater, still the rower who felt a boat rise beneath her as the sun broke over the Cascades.
And Colleen Davis is still, unmistakably, a Seattle kid at heart, one who carries the rhythm of the Northwest with her, no matter where her work takes her.
Story by Sylvia Wilson. Photo by Zsuzsi Steiner.