In the spotlight:
Celebrity chat with Ingrid Hipkiss.
Newshub Live At 6pm weather presenter Ingrid Hipkiss, 46, is a self-confessed obsessive list-maker. She lives in Auckland with her cameraman partner Jack Tarrant and their sons – Hunter, 12, and Brody, eight. Hipkiss spent a year in Japan when Jack had a contract to play rugby there. Before she became a journalist she worked as a legal executive.
What do people always ask you about the weather?
Well I always get asked, ‘What’s the weather going to do?’ They want to know what’s happening a long time in advance or at a specific location at a specific time. So that would be unreasonable expectations, just how far in advance and how accurate down to the location of their friend’s wedding at two o’clock in three weeks’ time. Or ‘I’ve got my kid’s birthday in a month on a Monday afternoon. What’s the weather going to be like?’
Tell me about your childhood.
I was born in Whakatane so I had a typical 70s small-town childhood. Mum’s in law and Dad was an engineer. I actually started out going into law as well. I did legal executive work, which is like a paralegal. I went overseas when I was 21 and worked in London law offices and temped. I travelled about but I’ve always really liked writing. So I used to do these – back in those days – long letters home. When I got home I thought, ‘Do I study law properly or do I do something else?’ I’d met a lot of really miserable lawyers over the years. I liked the systems of law, but then I came across the communications degree at AUT and I thought I’d have a go at that.
Your instagram account says you’re an ‘obsessive list maker’. Please explain.
There was some guy’s book I read and he said, ‘Your brain is good for coming up with ideas but it’s not good for storing them’. That really rings true for me. I’ve got too much going on in my head and I can’t think straight or function, so my thing is you just brain dump into some sort of list. So I’ve got ‘to-do’ lists for the day, the week, the month. Multi-layered lists. It also probably just comes down to that love of writing. If you can
capture a thought in writing, then you can stop worrying about it.
Your instagram account also says you’re an ‘aspiring minimalist’. Tell us about that.
It’s the same kind of thing really. It’s like having that clutter in your brain. Having clutter around me, I just find it such an energy drain... If you’re surrounded by clutter, to me it’s like a visual ‘to do’ list. The whole thing is, if you love it, you use it and keep it. And if you don’t love it or use it, you get rid of it.
What has being a working mother taught you?
Working is very important to me. That’s what it has taught me. I did do a year in Japan with Hunter (when he was a baby). So I went over thinking, ‘This will be great’. But it was so isolating. I just had no idea of the cultural differences.
Was it really hard?
Yeah, very hard. I really missed work. I think the main thing is I have to have a balance. I need both. That’s still a really hard thing to admit as a mum because there is still judgment that comes down on you if you don’t want to spend every waking moment looking after the never-ending needs of your children.
What is the best thing about being a mum?
I don’t know. It almost defies logic. There is so much that is really hard about it and it’s also just the richest experience you can ever imagine. You’ve got these amazing little people in your life that you have just got a connection like no other with. It’s pretty phenomenal. I just love the experience of getting to know them as they become their own little people. When they come out and say something really wise you’re like, ‘Oh my goodness’.