Narelda Jacobs turned her life upside down when she made the switch from 10 Perth news presenter to Studio 10 host late last year.
Moving across the country to Sydney and converting from evenings to mornings, she was up for the challenge. And, after 19 years of hard news, the mother-of-one wanted to be part of the conversation.
“I really liked to have a chat about the things that I was reading about, rather than just reading it,” she tells Now To Love.
“I wanted a bit of a challenge.”
Narelda is grateful Studio 10 has allowed her to “share some things that I’m really passionate about.”
“Throughout the 19 years that I was as a journalist, and then a news presenter, I didn’t really share openly a lot of the opinions that I had.”
The Studio 10 cast celebrate Narelda’s milestone.
(Image: Instagram)As a queer indigenous woman, Narelda was eager to finally share her opinion and passions with viewers at home in a way hard news hadn’t allowed her. The reactions, however, weren’t quite what she was expecting.
“I started before January 26 and so I shared some of my news on Australia Day.
“Then a month after that was Mardi Gras, and I shared, some of the things that I feel personally about in my queer community. It was a bit of a shock to realise that some people don’t think the same as me.”
But the ever-optimistic TV presenter only sees the criticism as an opportunity.
“The positive thing is that it opens up a conversation and the need to have discussion about things like that.”
Narelda and her partner, filmmaker Stevie Cruz-Martin, made the move to Sydney together.
(Image: Instagram)Chatting to Narelda, it’s easy to see how the journalist turned presenter has had such a successful career in the industry. She radiates warmth, even over the phone, as we speak.
Yet she can’t quite fathom how two decades have passed already.
“I can’t quite believe it. I think back to when I started, that’s a long time ago, but I’m working with people that have been there for 30 years. Sandra Sully‘s just recently celebrated her 30th anniversary, and Angela Bishop.”
Narelda is immensely proud of her daughter, Jade.
(Image: Instagram)A single mum at 19 and studying at university, it hasn’t always been an easy journey for Narelda, but she wouldn’t have it any other way, and luckily she had a little help.
“I had amazing family support, which was really important,” she says.
“There was a sense of wanting to provide my child with a good life, even though it meant working weekends and public holidays and odd hours, it was all worth it.
“I look at [her daughter] Jade now, and sure, I might’ve missed out on a weekend here and there, but she’s a very well adjusted adult and I’m so proud of her.”
