Fifteen years after receiving her psychology degree from Sacramento State, Rene Syler, has finally gained national exposure as one the four new “Early Show” co-hosts alongside Julie Chen, Harry Smith and Hannah Storm.

Syler, a Sacramento native, was a scholar athlete while she attended Del Campo High School in the mid 80s, playing basketball in her sophomore year as well as track & field in her senior year. Journalism did not enter Syler’s mind as a career option until she heard of Liz Walker. “I was working on a masters program and reading about Liz Walker, the highest paid African-American anchor in the country at the time, and thought ‘I can do that’ and started calling around,” said Syler. Upon reading about Walker, Syler’s first move was to enroll in three journalism classes at Cosumnes River College.

Syler credits News 10 reporter Mark Hedlund as one of her influences in journalism. “He was the one teacher I had that I learned from the most from in terms of practical information,” Syler said.

Hedlund recalls Syler when she took his broadcast journalism class at CRC. “She was marvelously talented and I can’t think of one area where she was taking my class when she didn’t immediately figure it out and that is something with which I was impressed,” said Hedlund.

Syler stood out among one of Hedlund’s brightest students. “Once she learned how to write broadcast style, she picked up on it extremely quickly and wrote some great stuff, and had a good handle on production technique,” Hedlund said. Hedlund and Syler remained in contact throughout the years while she sought advice about a possible move across town to a competitive station in Reno. Following a news internship at FOX 40, Syler took a reporting job and a weekend anchor position at two different Reno stations.

Syler settled in Dallas, Texas took a position with an ABC affiliate and built her dream house. Upon hearing the news that her agent had sent in a tape to CBS news, Syler was told not to worry and didn’t give it a second thought until CBS called two weeks later.

According to Syler, surprise was on the menu as she learned that CBS had called to ask her to fly to New York that night to meet with Les Moonves at 10 a.m. the next morning. Wednesday’s menu consisted of screams of disbelief as Syler received a phone call the next day from CBS news division president Andrew Heyward that she was hired. “It’s fun to be on the ground floor of something that is being built because when it is built, you can look back and say wow I was part of something really great,” said Syler.

Syler makes wardrobe decision weeks in advance based on the way she feels. “I have never worked at a job where hair, make-up and wardrobe played such a prominent role as they do on this level,” she said. “I didn’t think it would be as difficult as it has been. When this job was offered to me, I thought the best move was probably just to move up here by myself so I can spend the time getting used to the job.”

With her inquisitive nature and persistence, FOX 40 reporter Lonnie Wong wasn’t surprised with Syler’s success. “She would like to engage other staffers in terms of asking questions and learning things; she was very personable,” he said.

“One of the things I learned in 14 years of local news was that there is very little they could throw my way that I could’t handle,” Syler said.