Colleen - Immaculata University

MIGHTY MAC PROFILE
PHOTO BY DAVID RUSSELL
Colleen
the Shots
Colleen Conway ’93,
a network executive
producer of Lifetime’s
24 Hour Catwalk, has
all the “write stuff.”
Originally a fashion merchandising major
at Immaculata, Colleen Conway ’93 switched
to English with a minor in fashion after her
sophomore year. “I enjoyed all the classes for
design elements and sewing,” said Conway,
“but the fashion major was more about
business, and I was always more interested
in the creative side and in writing, whether it
was journalism or marketing and advertising.”
Conway, who is vice president of Reality and Alternative Programming
for Lifetime Television, describes 24 Hour Catwalk, a Jane Street
Production, as “Chopped for fashion.” Four designers compete to
create their own three-garment line; after a first cut challenge, the competition
drops to two contestants who must create a three-piece themed collection to be
featured in a runway show—and they have all of 24 hours to do it.
“It’s really fun,” said Conway. “The designers have a sewing team from
the garment district, who function almost like a Greek chorus, and we
focus on the fast pace and high pressure of fashion. We could sit on set
while they were shooting and just let the drama go where it was going to
go, though, occasionally, we would throw in an extra challenge to keep
things interesting.”
According to Conway, “One of the show’s judges, designer Cynthia
Rowley, said it really does mimic the fashion world. There are always one
or two pieces being put together the day before a show. It’s a real test of
creativity under pressure.”
Conway said her own sewing experiences at Immaculata gave her
an insider’s sympathy for the contestants. “I had two fashion labs at
Immaculata,” said Conway. “I took flat-pattern making. I could
definitely understand the pressure-cooker feeling and commiserate
with them when things went wrong.”
Conway credits another very different Immaculata experience with
being “the stepping stone for where I am today.” In her senior year at
Immaculata, Conway landed an internship with KYW in Philadelphia, the
NBC news affiliate at that time, in the creative services department. “I did
a lot of little promos for the Olympics,” said Conway, noting that it was this
internship that “sealed my fate,” launching a career that, so far, has included an
Emmy Award.
66 IMMACULATA UNIVERSITY

PHOTO BY DAVID RUSSELL
24 Hour Catwalk designer creating his final
design in an episode on Lifetime. ©2011 A&E
Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.
L-R: Judges James LaForce, Cynthia Rowley,
Derek Blasberg and host Alexa Chung critique
the designers on Lifetime. ©2011 A&E
Television Networks, LLC. All rights reserved.
Colleen Conway ’93, Vice
President of Reality and
Alternative Programming for
Lifetime Television
From connections made at KYW, Conway was hired right out
of school by Strawbridge and Clothier, first as a wardrobe stylist
assistant, then as a writer/producer/director for the company’s broadcast
advertising department run by Susan Carden. “Susan was inclined to
hire me,” said Conway, “because she had worked at KYW too, prior to
my interning there.”
Conway wrote commercials at Strawbridge’s for a couple of years,
and then, after a brief stint with a production company, she took a job
in Boston writing long-form programming, working independently for
Carden, who had moved to Comcast.
“I was a freelancer writing scripts for live TV hosts,” said Conway.
“They were these little segments advertising a weekend of free HBO, or
free movies and premium packages.”
Carden invited Conway to work out of the offices of Smash
Advertising, the agency of record for Comcast in Boston. After a
year of freelancing, the agency hired her, and Conway began writing
commercials for VH1, Sesame Street, and A&E Network, the agency’s
three biggest clients.
In 1999, Conway returned to Philadelphia to work for Comcast again
before moving to A&E in New York. “I was creative director on the
promo side, and then I switched over to programming,”—not a natural
progression in the industry.
“This was a first for the company,” said Conway, “to have a marketing
person come into programming. In 2003, there was a ‘changing of the
guard’ at A&E. Marketing was helping to rebrand the network, and I was
working closely with the programming team.”
This professional cross-pollination led to Conway overseeing the A&E
series Intervention, which profiles individuals whose dependence on
drugs and alcohol or other compulsive behaviors has led them to crisis.
The show was twice nominated and then awarded an Emmy in 2009 for
Outstanding Reality Series. It is a five-time PRISM award-winner for its
treatment of health and social issues.
“I would watch the cuts and give notes,” said Conway, who also
approved casting and filming teams. “Internally, I was the brand manager
for the show. I wasn’t in the field day-to-day, because the nature of the
show was very intimate.
Conway credits another very different
Immaculata experience with being “the
stepping stone for where I am today.”
“I was really fortunate to be able to work on Intervention,” said
Conway, who met her fiance, a showrunner, when they worked on the
series. “I’ve been able to work with the best programming in television, and
my Immaculata days are a huge part of it.”
While at A&E, Conway was the executive producer on The First
48, Dog the Bounty Hunter, I Survived, and Kirsty Alley’s Big Life.
Now at Lifetime, in addition to 24 Hour Catwalk, Conway is a network
executive producer on Coming Home, Russian Dolls, Vanished with
Beth Holloway, and The Week the Women Went, with new series and
projects in the works.
24 Hour Catwalk
Thursdays at 10:30/9:30c
www.mylifetime.com
WWW.IMMACULATA.EDU 67