It’s all well and good to come from a family of overachievers. But when Mika
Brzezinski’s career hit a major speed bump a few years back, being the daughter of a
former national security advisor did not help. A gifted newswoman, she had diligently
worked her way to the top of “CBS News,” only to lose her job as anchor a year later. At
40, she found herself starting all over again, at the bottom of the food chain at upstart
MSNBC. “I struggled for a while to figure out who I was,” Brzezinski says of those
difficult days. “I finally realized that I’m a communicator and a storyteller.”
At MSNBC, those communication skills were soon evident, and before long she
attracted the attention of ‘Morning’ Joe Scarborough, whom she good-naturedly teased
in the halls. “I guess he liked my moxie or something,” she says. A team ever since, their
weekday morning show has soared to the top of the heap with a disarming combination
of easygoing chemistry and serious-mindedness. “I attribute the success of the show to
Joe’s vision,” she says. “We do in-depth interviews and lots of political analysis. It’s just
real, raw and kind of refreshing.”
“What Joe and I both consider
a good time is a very spark-filled
conversation.” —Mika Brzezinski
It helps that she grew up in a family that debated politics at the dinner table, and is a
microcosm of political diversity. Brother Ian worked for the Bush white house and the
McCain campaign, brother Mark for the Obama campaign. “What my family found joy
in was the journey, the conversation,” Brzezinski says. “I’m not afraid of a heated
conversation. When I met Joe, I felt like I’d known him all my life. He’s like a third
brother. What we both consider a good time is a very spark-filled conversation.”
Sparks are precisely what they give viewers (and listeners to “Morning Joe” on WABC
radio) on a daily basis, where Brzezinski freely speaks her mind whether she agrees with
Scarborough or not . . . and she often does not. One of her more memorable (and
You Tubed) moments was when she ripped up a script about Paris Hilton on camera, on
the grounds that it did not rise to the level of newsworthiness. “I was thinking, ‘go ahead
and fire me,’” she says. “It was very liberating. I felt like that woman in the shampoo
commercial. I was not afraid. That is the key to power.”
She also has a book coming out in January, with a title, All Things At Once, inspired
by her sculptor mother. “I did a “[CBS] Sunday Morning” piece on her where I asked
her what she sees herself as first: a wife, mother or artist. She said, ‘All things at
once.’” It struck such a chord that Brzezinski felt it summed up the complicated
balancing act women perform today.
Not that she minds. She’s never felt more balanced. “It’s like I have finally
hit that sweet spot in life,” she says, “when everything that’s gone before
seems totally necessary for who I am today.” —Janet Allon
