Some people claim they knew what they wanted to be when they grew up from day one. There are others who didn’t know, but here they are. Sheila Nevins? She’s of the latter group.

Sheila Nevins, wOw contributor and President of Documentary and Family Programming for HBO and Cinemax, spoke this morning at the New York Women in Film and Television Power Player breakfast. The event started with a condensed collection of clips from Sheila’s body of HBO work, which is as immense as it is impressive, to say the least. Sheila then took the podium and, after giving her audience the choice – Which first? Questions or childhood stories? – began speaking.

"I didn’t really ask to be in documentaries, I didn’t have a calling … I just needed a job," said Nevins, with unabashed honesty. From there she took her audience on a revealing – and sometimes hilarious – walk down her unconventional path toward a remarkable career as a documentary-film-making legend. From her drama-school beginnings to her DC days with the United States Information Agency to her move to New York City, Sheila explains, "So I got a job in television … It’s as simple as that."

Simple? That’s Sheila’s humility talking, I’m sure.

While working at CBS in New York, Sheila found she wasn’t fond of her job, as it left her feeling a bit like Cyrano de Bergerac: "I didn’t like working at CBS because, although I liked the people, I didn’t like the fact that you had to go out with a correspondent … It just didn’t seem right. I thought, wouldn’t it be good if you didn’t have to have a correspondent? So I guess that’s how I got into documentaries, just through the fact that I didn’t like people taking my stories away." She’d heard about "this thing called HBO" and that the company was looking to start a documentary department. Sheila went for it. And while she may have stumbled into the docu-field, says Sheila, "When I would stumble, I would stand up straight and work very hard."

Wise words from a brilliant woman. Over the next hour or so, Sheila shared anecdotes and advice, and answered questions from the audience. She touched on the subject of age and said, "That’s the good thing about getting older. You’re not so hard on yourself anymore." On her affection for documentaries, Sheila says, "It’s life. We don’t know what’s going to happen."

Now, 22 Primetime Emmy Awards, 25 News and Documentary Emmys and 28 George Foster Peabody Awards later, where does that leave Sheila? Happy. In fact, she said this morning, "I’m happier than I ever thought I’d be."

To listen to Sheila’s entire talk from the breakfast – which I highly recommend you do – click the play button below.