Photography: Babiche Martens.
The mum juggle is real,” laughs broadcaster Katie Bradford. She should know. The dedicated journalist has been up since 4am filling in on Ryan Bridge Today, NZME’s morning news show.
She’s squeezing our interview into a packed newsroom schedule, before racing off to daycare to collect the little person who’s changed her life – her three-year-old daughter Micah.
The past few years have brought enormous change, both personally and professionally, for the former TVNZ political reporter and business correspondent. She became a mum in early 2023, left 1News 18 months later for a corporate communications role at Infrastructure New Zealand, then returned to her first love – journalism – as a senior correspondent at the NZ Herald.
“Yes, quite a lot has happened,” Katie, 44, tells Woman’s Day.
“It’s been hectic, but I feel very lucky.”
Motherhood was something Katie always imagined would be in her future. With four siblings, and nieces and nephews she adores, she’d assumed she would have a big tribe of her own. Yet “life got in the way” and before she knew it, her thirties were nearly over.
After waiting so long to become a mum, Katie figured those first precious weeks with Micah would be spent cocooned in the blissful newborn bubble she’d always dreamed of. Instead, the new mum faced a frightening health crisis after her little girl’s arrival.
A terrifying start to motherhood
Induced at 39 weeks, Katie endured two and a half days of labour, before undergoing an emergency Caesarean section. While her baby girl was healthy and well, the broadcaster started to feel poorly – and she’d go on to spend three weeks in hospital as doctors tried to determine what was going on.
Eventually, they discovered an E. coli infection had spread throughout her abdomen, leaving Katie critically ill. Resistant to most antibiotics, the infection sent her vital signs spiralling as doctors prepared to transfer her to intensive care in the middle of the night.
Looking back, Katie says she was simply too sick to fully comprehend just how serious things had become.
“I remember feeling guilty that Micah’s first few weeks of life were spent inside a hospital room. I felt bad we weren’t outside getting fresh air and seeing the world. But I was grateful I could still breastfeed her and that we were together – that’s what really mattered.”
A new chapter with Micah
Finally being allowed home remains a sweet memory.
“I felt so relieved,” she recalls.
“We could get on with life.”
Thankfully, that frightening chapter is now firmly behind her. And these days, Katie’s world revolves around an energetic three-year-old who has completely reshaped her priorities. Where work once came first, now everything is about Micah.
Weekends are filled with ballet classes, café dates, catching up with family and friends, and plenty of dancing around the house.
“She’s very girly,” laughs Katie.
“She loves handbags, princess dresses and lip gloss, but she also loves dinosaurs and diggers, so it’s a good mix.”
Finding balance as a working mum
With such a busy work life, Katie’s grateful to have a supportive group of friends – many of them also journalists with kids of a similar age – and close family always willing to step in to lend a hand, including her mum, former Green Party MP Sue.
But like most working parents, Katie admits balancing her career and family isn’t always easy. Some weeks run smoothly, while others are a little more chaotic.
“Either way, I try to make sure Micah understands what’s going on. When she talks about Mummy going to work, I tell her it’s to make a good life for us and to be a role model – to show her that mums work and women work. She doesn’t quite get it yet, but she will one day.”
Making a change for Micah
That desire for balance was a major factor in Katie’s decision to leave TVNZ. For 18 months, she tried to juggle life as a 6pm news reporter with a baby at home, often racing from the studio to daycare pick-up, before bringing Micah back to the newsroom, where supportive colleagues would happily hold Micah while Katie presented her live segments.
“It was pretty full-on,” she admits.
“It got to the point where I felt like I was missing so much of her life.”
The move to Infrastructure NZ offered a chance to slow the pace while still doing meaningful work and Katie enjoyed the challenge of an entirely new role. But after a year, the lure of journalism proved impossible to resist.
“News gets in your blood,” she says.
A new chapter in the newsroom
Taking up the senior correspondent role at NZME during an election year felt like coming home. Alongside many former colleagues, she’s helping build a new on-screen news brand, combining live broadcasting with longer-form reporting for the Herald, specialising in politics and business. And with the election fast approaching, there are lots of exciting plans in the works.
“I’m absolutely loving it,” she grins.
“After 20 years in broadcast journalism, it’s been nice getting back into writing again as well.”
While the hours are more family-friendly, Katie still finds herself opening the laptop after Micah has gone to bed.
She says, “I don’t think that’s too different to most working parents. I just figure out a way to make it work.”
Her greatest role of all
Finding time for herself is important too.
“I try to make time to read books, have a massage or just chill out because I need to be healthy and not exhausted in order to give her a good life.”
And while Katie might not make it to the gym quite as often as she once did, one essential remains.
“Coffee gets me through!” she laughs.
For all the career milestones, Katie says nothing compares to becoming mum to Micah.
Katie enthuses, “She’s just learnt how to spell her name and she wants to read out every letter she sees. “She loves sitting and reading books on her own, which she definitely gets from me. Seeing the world through her eyes is just so much fun. I feel very, very lucky to have her.”
