Episode #51 - Emily Gerard, NBC's "TODAY Show"

Hanna (2:21)
Hi, Emily, welcome to the show. 

Michael (2:23)
So nice to see you. 

Emily (2:25)
Thanks for having me. 

Michael (2:26)
So let's start with your journey to TV journalism. How'd you break into it and what makes it so compelling to you? 

Emily (2:33)
I always wanted to be a print journalist. That was what I focused on in school. I wrote for our college paper. I did, um, a lot of food writing there and all my internships were at magazines because growing up, you know, in the, in a Sex and the City time, I wanted it to be Carrie Bradshaw.

I thought that was the most glamorous life you could have. 

Um, and I got a job as an assistant at Vanity Fair when I graduated college and I learned so much, but what I actually met, the woman who would become my future boss in TV at a Christmas party. And she was like, TV is so much more fun for young people. There's no hierarchy, it's, you're as good as your ideas. And you can just come and, um, you know, if you want to do something, you do it. She was the EP of Nightline at ABC. She needed an assistant and they were grooming me thinking I would sort of learn the ropes and become the writer at some point down the line. 

But within a couple of months when I was there, the writer of the show quit and that turned out to be a great opportunity for me because all of a sudden they needed someone. And I think they took a chance on me, even though I was so young and it was probably an opportunity I might not have had otherwise. And, um, the rest is history. I kind of just never looked back. Um, and then the Today Show things similarly like happened really fast, um, and went from nightly TV to the world of morning TV, which has some similarities as well as some major differences.

Hanna (4:24)
Speaking of, we've been big fans of NBC Today Show for a long, long time. So can you tell our listeners what you do and what type of topics do you cover? 

Emily (4:37)
So I straddle two worlds at the Today Show. My main job is as a news writer for the show. We are on the air for four hours every single morning. It's a lot. I usually do just two of those hours, sometimes the nine o'clock hour as well. I love that I get paid to be really well-informed and know what's going on in the world at all times, to me, that's like the greatest privilege. 

Um, but you don't get a byline in TV writing and I'm channeling the personalities of our talent rather than my own voice. And I found that I really missed that. So in the last few years I started writing, I joined our Today Food Team which does stuff, both for the show and online. And I started writing online articles for the Today Food Team, which I really love because it's just for fun. I don't have to do anything. I write pieces when something piques my interest.

Michael (5:41)
So would you say that every Today Show segment has an accompanying online piece, or is the editorial direction independent? So, how does the process work and how much coordination is there between the two? 

Emily (5:55)
We certainly want viewers to be able to look up something online if they heard it on the show.

So we have a whole segment of our website that's titled Heard it on the Show. If you can’t find something that you heard, come up, but the Today Food digital team is also its own entity. There's so much I'm not even involved with. We have streaming shows now, we have, Today All Day on Peacock. There's just so much demand for content.

Um, there's really great digital stars who have their own shows on streaming that are just totally separate from our normal TV talent. So, there's so many worlds it's really exciting because anything that is of interest to you, you can just kind of plunge in, as I did.

Hanna (6:49)
What makes a story idea a great fit for the Today Show? 

Emily (6:55)
Certainly for digital for TodayFood.com, we love interesting stories about people. There's a lot of interest in how a person or business got to where they are. Um, whether that's how a TikTok star became big on TikTok or how a business pivoted during the pandemic to survive or help essential workers. Um, something like that is definitely going to grab our attention.

Um, we're not so much just interested in oh, this really cool spot opened up, but we are interested if the spot is led by a chef who is using recipes from his home country, that may not be America and finding a new way to share that with new people in New York or wherever.

Michael (7:54)
Where do you find your inspiration for your stories?

Emily (7:56)
First of all, I have to give a shout out to the PR people because I get all kinds of amazing pitches all the time. And sometimes something just lands in my lap and it kind of feels like a gift from above if the timing is right. Sometimes I will see a story or my editor will see a story and say, I'd love for you to talk to this person. And sometimes it's just something that I want to do. I find a way to make it work. So it's any number of things. 

Hanna (8:28)
So when you find that story idea that you like, what is the process of the story idea going from concept to actual story? 

Emily (8:37)
It really varies. I've been doing a lot of, um, profiles of social media stars. And those are simple in that. All I need is some time to talk with them and get a sense of their story. And get some great photos, hopefully have them in action. And that's kind of a one note thing to do. I also do more researched stories, um, that take much longer time where I talk to a lot of people and do some original reporting. 

For instance, over the summer, I did a story about a sleep diet. We have a sleep doctor who comes on the show a lot. We actually had a mandatory meeting with him a few years ago for Today staff, because we're people who work all kinds of crazy hours. He had some really amazing tips that kind of blew my mind.

So I ended up interviewing him. And some other people in that field and seeing how following a diet that's supposed to be, it's not a diet for losing weight, but a diet that's supposed to be conducive for sleeping would help me. I figured I was a good subject since I either work until one in the morning or start at one in the morning. So he said, you guys are all basically living like you have jet lag all the time. 

Michael (10:00)
In addition to that story, uh, we were very moved by your story on Sharon Richardson, who had served 20 years in prison and emerged as this motivated chef and caterer. So what was the reaction from your readers? 

Emily (10:16)
You know, I love this story so much. Um, and sometimes when I have a great story like that, I will pitch the subject of the story to be a guest on the show. What a life story. This woman went to prison for 20 years for murder, for the murder of her domestic abuser. She had to leave two young kids at home. When she finally was done with her time in prison, she felt like there was just nothing in society to help formerly incarcerated women.

And she ended up starting not only a catering company where she hired other formerly incarcerated women, but also a nonprofit to help people adjust to life afterwards, which there's a huge need for that. And I love doing a story like this because first of all, talking to her is so inspiring. And second of all, because you can really hopefully make a difference.

And I have gotten a message from a lawyer who said that their company is looking for holiday caterers, and they're going to be so thrilled to use Sharon's company and their company spread it to other New York companies who are all very excited, especially during the holiday season to do something good.

And it's a need that they have anyway, they have these events where they need to have food. So they're thrilled to be able to hire someone who really needs the work. And in turn hire, Sharon has a pool of about a hundred people and that she draws from every time she gets a catering gig and a lot of them are just, you know, waiting around hoping that she'll have some business, which has been especially tough during the pandemic. So that just made me so happy. I hope she is absolutely slammed with holiday catering gigs. 

Michael (12:17)
We were also charmed by your story on PleeseCakes, the UK cheesecake company, that became an Instagram sensation. So how in the world did you find this house painter turned baker? 

Emily (12:29)
My editor spotted this one. This company PleeseCakes is pretty big in the UK, but there's not much about them in the US yet, although they will be in the US soon. I loved talking to this guy, he's just my age and he was a house painter on construction sites and his dad made a cheesecake and he was like, I don't think this is so great. I think this could be a bit better. 

He realized that his passion for painting and his eye for aesthetics, he got really obsessive about making these beautiful cheesecakes that, if you see them, they're really over the top. They're quite beautiful. He loves using edible glitter and edible gold and all these really fanciful touches.

And he started bringing them to the construction site and all of his, you know, construction workers were his first test group. 

And he said it was pretty uncommon at the time, a man in that line of work to be bringing in these really fanciful treats, but they went over great. Everyone loved them. And he said, without that support at the beginning, I never would have gone for it. And he started an Instagram account thinking he would start selling them and make a bit of pocket money. And instead they basically went viral overnight. I mean the power of social media, he's amazing. He had no business plans to back it up and all of a sudden he was like, oh boy. 

And things really took off so fast that within a year he got a call that the Queen wanted to try his cheesecakes and he made two cheesecakes for the Queen in his very first year of business. 

Michael (14:21)
Did you get to try the cake that he baked for Queen Elizabeth?

Emily (14:25)
That is really sad part of this story is that because he's not in the US yet, I have not been able to try one. Um, they do have a cookbook out. I haven't had a chance to bake one of these cheesecakes yet.

But yeah, I will say I really wished I was in the UK. I'm sure they would've sent me a cheesecake and that would’ve been great!

Hanna (14:49)
Well, speaking of a fun story. So we worked together earlier this year, when you wrote a story covering What to Eat and Drink While Watching the Tokyo Olympics. And thank you so much for including our book The Japanese Art of the Cocktail. Really appreciate that.

Emily (15:08)
Oh, I loved it. It's such a gorgeous book and it was such a fun story to work on. It's, you know, there's, there's something for me as well, because I get to meet Masa. I get to meet you guys. I got to experience Katana Kitten, which has just been named, I think the number 10 bar in the world.

Hanna (15:27)
Number 10 in the world by World's 50 Best Bars, but then they became number one bar in the US.

Emily (15:35)
Oh my gosh. I feel very cool that I've been there.

Hanna (15:40)
You did a story over the summer before this happened. So you saw something already. 

Michael (15:47)
You had your finger on the pulse. 

Emily (15:49)
I certainly can't take credit for that. Our producer went to Katana Kitten to film for a segment we had about Japanese whiskey and Masa was not the star of that interview, but our producer was so taken by him, obviously. It's beautiful to watch him in action. He's such a professional. He takes such care and makes such gorgeous drinks. Um, that we were like, we got to shine more of a spotlight on this guy.

Michael (16:21)
So along those lines. Should our listeners try to leverage world events when pitching story ideas to you?

Emily (16:27)
It never hurts. We are a news organization. Um, but for the website, it doesn't have to be necessarily tied to. Current events, but yes, I work in the news. It's certainly top of mind all the time. 

Hanna (16:44)
Overall, how far in advance should they reach out to you with their story ideas? 

Emily (16:50)
I wish I had a clear answer for that question, but sometimes, um, I like, I've just spent the past two months working on an article about, um, the rise of sober curious culture and millennials who are trying to cut back on their drinking. And for that, I interviewed a bunch of founders of cocktail, alternative companies, bartenders, all kinds of people. 

And I didn't have a hard deadline. And again, I'm just doing this on my days off. So it took quite a while, but sometimes things move super fast. I've had times when I've gotten the pitch. And especially if it's an interview with someone and they can talk quickly, those don't tend to take me very much time and it can be up in a matter of days.

So there's just a huge discrepancy. Um, but sometimes you have that experience where a pitch lands in your inbox and it's just, it happens to be like the perfect time. And you think, huh? That is exactly what I was just thinking about. I just want to jump on it right away. So it really varies.

Hanna (18:03)
In the coming months what type of story will be working on? Any topics that you can share so that our listener can be part of?

Emily (18:11)
So we're all, we're always looking for content that's tied to what's going on in the country in the world. So we are in the middle of the holiday season. That's obviously top of everybody's minds. I think in January, a lot of people start thinking about their health, um, in a way that maybe went out the window during the holidays, whether that's eating healthier or drinking less, I'm seeing a lot of stuff out there about Veganuary going vegan for January. I don't know if that's in the cards for me, but it's certainly interesting when it's in the air. 

Hanna (18:53)
Our listeners have a lot of great ideas. So, what's the best way to pitch a story to you? 

Emily (19:00)
Um, I'm not a big Twitter user. I do use Instagram a lot. And one of my stories from this past year, these girls reached out to me on Instagram. They’re @TwinsThatCook - that's their handle.

They make these amazing cookies. It was sort of a pandemic hobby that took off and they DM’d me on Instagram and said, hey, we would love to send you some of our cookies to try. And I said, please let me buy them. I want to support you. I put in an order, the cookies were phenomenal and the girls turned out to be so cool. And I pitched it to my editor and she was like, this is awesome. Let's interview them and get a story on them.

So sometimes something like that, I was really impressed, um, how they kind of made that happen for themselves. And that really changed their business in a pretty major way for them.

Michael (19:59)
So we call our podcast Hospitality Forward because we're bullish on the industry. So what individual or organization have you seen really innovating lately and moving hospitality forward? 

Emily (20:12)
I'm going to have to say you guys, because you're so generous in your spirit of wanting to help people get access to the media. I mean, people in hospitality tend to be really good people, really generous warm-hearted people. But I think that in this day and age, when there's so much competition for attention and eyeballs, people get competitive and they don't want to tell people necessarily. And I'm talking about people on all ends of creation and all kinds of businesses. But I think sometimes people don't want to share how they meet something happen for themselves.

And you guys are like, let's knock down all those doors so that it’s equal opportunity. And I think that's really wonderful. I don't see anybody else doing that. 

Michael (21:09)
Thank you very much.

Hanna (21:11)
Thank you so much. It means a lot to me and Michael. I'm getting so emotional. Thank you so much. We thank you for taking the time to do this because we really wanted to help our community and you know our community the bartenders and chefs and sommeliers, all of these people are the Newsmakers and we believe that everyone has a story, but they just have to know how to get to someone like you to tell your story. 

It’s been so great having you on our show and you sharing these insights and tips so that our industry newsmakers can have confidence in to call you or email you. And this is an incredible generosity that you are sharing. So we thank you for doing this. 

Emily (21:58)
Well I thank you. And I also want to say that it, it makes life really easy for me, especially if someone has put in a lot of work, thinking out how something could be a great story and a great fit for me. So, um, you know, it's not entirely unselfish. It's great for me too.

Michael (22:14)
It’s a win win win. 

Hanna (22:18)
I know you are a foodie, and so if you have to pick one country to travel to, which country would that be?

Emily (22:26)
I am dying to go to Greece, where I've never been, and this is kind of a dorky reason, but ever since I saw Mamma Mia, I’ve wanted to go to Greece. The food and the people, it just looks divine. Then I looked up where it was filmed. A lot of it was not filmed in Greece, but I have a very romantic idea of wanting to go to Greece and eat a lot of octopus.

Michael (22:53) 
And if you had to choose one cocktail to share with your best buddy, what would it be and why? 

Emily (23:00)
Oh, I have to say. Masa's Panda fizz is my favorite cocktail in New York right now. It's so delicious and tangy and refreshing. I also love salt. I love a salt rim on a margarita. And he makes this gorgeous cocktail that's two-toned with this black lava salt. It's very striking. It's not like anything you've ever seen. And the salt is delicious and they're just dangerously tasty.

Hanna (23:29)
You know, everything that Masa makes is dangerously good. 

Emily (23:34)
Definitely, yeah. They go down way too easy.