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Everyday people

“The Goldie Show” looks for the extraordinary in the ordinary

By Jim Mount

Fort Wayne Reader

2015-04-21

The formats for most talk shows tend to be familiar. A daytime show usually comes to mind where the host is in a studio, in front of a live studio audience and is interviewing a celebrity of some sort.

When done right, they show a more “human” side of their subjects beyond the paparazzi tabloids and the seemingly untouchable distance of fame and — in some cases — mega-stardom. Well thought-out talk shows are successful because they show that the people we only see and hear of in the media or cultural spotlight, are human, just like us, having their likes, favorite pets and perhaps will even join the host in the studio kitchen for a very human demonstration of cooking their favorite dishes.

Here locally, Golnaz Mathews, otherwise known as Goldie, caught the bug to do something similar but with a different format — no studio, period.

Golnaz, an American-Iranian living in Fort Wayne, has a vision she's been implementing in her show “Goldie” (airing every Thursday at 1 pm on WFFT channel 55) with the running theme of “Everyday people are worth more than gold.” Assisted by A. Andaz Ahmad, Director of Media Services, Instructional and Online Technologies at Ivy Tech Northeast and the driving force to help Goldie get her dream off the ground, Goldie works with a talk show format that is absent a key component-alive studio. According to Ahmad, the fact that there isn't a studio to work in would normally present a formidable obstacle but isn't the case with what they'd planned,

“It's a mobile studio,” says Ahmad. “We go to where the people feel most comfortable. In a professional studio, the lighting will be perfect, no shadows, the audio will be fantastic, everything will be controlled. But part of our idea was that we want to go to their homes, their offices, their work or places of worship, wherever they feel most comfortable. Wherever they might be so we can feel the essence of it and so the audience can feel that also.”

Essentially, the show is about the day-to-day people going about their day-to-day lives, surviving battles and challenges we never know about. These are the people Goldie is looking for, the stories she wants to tell. Goldie herself identifies strongly with average people struggling with challenges and those who struggle to overcome adversity because she herself has been there. “I've been through everything,” Goldie says about her own life experiences. “You name it, I've been through it.”

Being an Iranian-born woman in a post 9-11 America had also made Goldie the target of some animosity where she suffered a physical attack, “On September 11, this guy threw a cup of hot coffee on my face, Goldie recalls. “That was truly unbearable emotionally and physically; however that made me a stronger person.” Rather than become resentful or bitter over this incident, Goldie says that it further solidified her resolve and helped form her philosophy of perseverance. “I decided not to let anything stop me from doing what I want to do.”

Her background and experiences would help her drive to achieve that dream, and having worked hard and consistently over the course of seven years through rejection and setbacks, Goldie was determined that her vision would take place. “I worked my tail off and I finally got someone to sponsor me,” Goldie says. “I worked for everything that I have, camera, lights, screen, batteries, computers, you name it, everything I paid for.” Having the camera, lighting and portable equipment needed she could conduct the show in the best place possible. “We put this whole idea together and I don't even have a studio,” Goldie says. “So I go to people’s homes and interview them because their comfort zone is there, they are more relaxed.”

Goldie style of interviewing deviates in some respects from the standard format. Usually before an interview segment on a talk show, the host goes over some questions with a guest. Not so with Goldie. Her approach to her interview subjects is what she says is natural or spontaneous, allowing the interview to guide itself. “I don't have a script. I don't send them questions, I don't tell them how to answer, I don't tell them anything except that I'm coming for an interview are you OK with this? I go to their home and I ask my questions based on how they answer.”

Early on, Goldie says she approached a couple TV stations as a volunteer, just to get a chance. “I was willing to work for free but they all turned me down,” she says.

Eventually, she landed the help of Ahmad after she called and expressed interest in interning in his department. As director of the instructional technology and media services departments at Ivy Tech Northeast, Ahmad decided to enroll Goldie as soon as he realized that not only was Goldie committed towards achieving her goals, but she also speaks seven foreign languages. A decision that Ahmad says has struck gold, “From what we've seen, Goldie connects very well with the person she is interviewing,” Ahmad says. “She very quickly builds a rapport with them regardless of culture, nationality, gender, background, religion, anything. She just connects to the guest and just gets into the questions, sometimes deeper level questions to the point where the other person would let all the emotions out.”

Ahmad and Goldie feel that the show, with its simple and straightforward format exploring the lives of everyday people, fosters an attitude of tolerance and understanding in helping to build bridges. In the final analysis, according to Ahmad, the true value is in the people they reach to and listen to. “If you take the people concept out of it, it benefits no one, but for us, we say that everyday people are worth more than gold.”

The Goldie Show can be seen every Thursday at 1 pm on WFFT Channel 55. Each episode is also made available through the Goldie Show website located at goldieshow.com