Seven years before Jeannette Reyes quit her prestigious TV anchor job, she had already been plotting her next act.
In 2023, Reyes, who was once the lead anchor on the top-rated Good Day DC on Fox 5, stepped away from the news desk to become – wait for it – a content creator.
On the surface, it sounds insane.
I mean, who walks away from a great-paying job in news to create TikTok videos?
But, what Reyes does is so much more than that.
She stepped away because her own social media career was scorching hot, and she needed to lean into her own personal brand more.
For those of you who don’t know who Reyes is, allow me to explain.
Jeannette Reyes: Queen Of The Anchorwoman Voice
Known online as MsNewsLady, Reyes first went viral for doing her trademark anchorwoman voice where she serves up spoof news reports on everyday events.
Not only is she spot on every time, but she’s funny.
Her news spoofs are so popular, that they’ve caught the attention of national talk shows, like the Jennifer Hudson Show.
Reyes, along with her husband, Robert Burton, who worked for 7News DC for 10 years, have amassed millions of views across Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.
Together, they frequently showcase their family, including their daughter, Bella.
Jeannette Reyes Speaks On Her Pivot At The She’s So Lucky Podcast
On Saturday, Reyes took part in a fireside chat for the She’s So Lucky Podcast event in Washington, DC.
I found out about the event during my typical late-night Instagram scroll and knew immediately that I had to go.
I’m an introvert by nature and much prefer to be home, but Reyes was someone I had to see.
I had been following her career since her time on Good Day DC and happen to be a big fan of her podcast, Awf The Record with co-host Mona Kosar Abdi, another one of my faves.
Reyes’ Pivot And What We Have In Common
Like Reyes, I, too, pivoted from journalism.
I was once a news anchor and news writer, who, quite frankly, got tired of the daily grind.
Weekends, holidays and late nights belonged to the newsroom.
My family would often celebrate major milestones without me and if I’m being honest, I got tired of going out on 2am crime scenes to cover the news.
I was over it.
Listening to Reyes share similar stories of having to broadcast live during Thanksgiving while her family was at home was extremely familiar.
Only people working in news will get it.
There is always an intense pressure to always look and sound good and to be ready at the drop of a dime to go live.
At First They Laughed, Then They Asked How I Did It
Like Reyes, I quit my job in media and transitioned not only into PR and marketing, but started my own YouTube channel, which at the time of writing this is closing in on 190K subscribers.
When I first started my channel, I would hear gossip about me from other journalists in the field who thought I was nuts for doing YouTube of all things.
They felt serious journalists didn’t do such things.
Funny enough, a few of them reached out years later when my channel took off to ask me how I did it. Typical.
Reyes Had To Turn Down Fenty Beauty
Reyes, who is now a full-time content creator, told the packed audience that while in news, she had to turn down multiple sponsorship offers from companies like Fenty Beauty and Dove due to ethical reasons.
In the media business, journalists are not allowed to accept gifts for ethical reasons. Translation: the news stations want to make sure their reporters aren’t being bought off.
So, as her social media accounts were on fire, she had to turn down lucrative deals. That was another impetus for her to work on her own brand and walk away from news.
Reyes Says An Ally Helped Her Discover Her Worth
The former news anchor detailed a time in news when she was up for a new contract and needed to negotiate her pay on her own – a big change from the past where her agent did it for her.
She said she was unsure of what salary to ask for when a white male coworker, whom she considers an ally, told her that if she was interested, he would tell her what she should ask for.
“I’m like, oh, they’re playing a different game, and I’ve got to get with it. Because I don’t want my bosses to walk out like, “phew, she saved us a few whatever. I’m not trying to save him money. I think that’s the attitude that we need to adopt,” she said.
“You need to find the one that’s like the guy who told me, ‘let me know if you want me to tell you how much you should be asking for. Because they’re in on things that, unfortunately, we’re just not in on.”
Reyes explained that when she accepted the job at 6ABC in Philadelphia, she did so because she knew it would look good on her resume. Plus, her salary doubled.
The Former Anchorwoman Leans Into Her Brand
However, she said when she decided to return to DC years later, she started leaning into her own brand even more.
“My social media was taking off and Fox 5 really doesn’t mind me having my own thing. So, I say that to say, always think what can I build on the side, just in case things were to change no matter what industry you’re in,” she said.
“Because you always want to have a back-up plan, and you don’t want to pivot out of fear and panic and being frantic. You want to pivot from a position of power of choice and of leverage. It allows you to think with more clarity.
This part of the conversation really resonated with me because I have had to fight with a former employer about my personal brand.
I was in an environment where I had gotten hell about my blog or my YouTube channel or other personal endeavours I had at the time. They wanted me to stop.
I refused.
I knew that a company could fire me at any time or frustrate me to the point where I would want to leave, and I knew that my own brand to be there to sustain me if it ever came to that.
Jeannette Reyes On The Trials Of Entrepreneurship
Since starting her own business, Reyes says she quickly learned how tough entrepreneurship is.
“I’m really fortunate that I was turning down so many deals that by the time I left work, I hit the ground running. However, what has been really tough is, I’m not used to Google Drive and Google docs and running a meeting,” she said.
“When you’re an anchor or reporter, it’s a very small team. Like, I answer to my EP (executive producer), I’ve got my photographer, I come and do the show. Leading a team and being an entrepreneur was never anything I was interested in, that I entertained, that I thought I would be good at, or that spoke to me in any way.”
She continued, “So, to be thrown into running a business where people answer to you . . . it has been humbling. It has been a steep learning curve in that respect and there have been times where – even just managing my time, I feel like I’m being inefficient and that I am reinventing the wheel; and you feel that other people are doing things in a much more efficient way. And that can be discouraging.”
Reyes Left News To Spend More Time With Her Daughter
The mom-of-one says one of the reasons she left news was to spend more time with her daughter.
However, being her own boss turned out to be more demanding than she expected.
“To be candid, I don’t spend as much time with her as I would like. I underestimated that when you’re pivoting, there’s a lot of time investment on the front end,” she said.
“You’re building something and ideally, you’re building multiple streams of income. That’s been the toughest thing, that there’s a lot to learn and I can’t stop and learn. I have to keep going.”
Reyes urged the audience to always have a Plan B and a Plan C and think, ‘what if?’
“Think, ‘am I pouring into myself and my own stuff as much as I’m pouring into this job?’ Because they’re not going to tell you to find a backup, just in case. They’re gonna keep you along until the wheels fall off. There are always signs,” she said.
All in all, I had a great time at the She’s So Lucky Podcast event and I am glad I got the chance to see Reyes in person.
Who knows, maybe someday soon I’ll be able to interview her for my channel and podcast.
We shall see.
XOXO,
This Bahamian Gyal
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