Well suited: Melissa Stokes finds her newsreading role an ideal fit for her family lifestyle.
1 News At 6pm presenter Melissa Stokes talks about motherhood, her Chinese heritage and wearing custom-made clothes on television. Sarah Nealon reports.
If you are an avid news watcher, you’ve probably seen Melissa Stokes reading the weekend bulletins on TVNZ 1.
Presenting 1 News At 6pm on Saturdays and Sundays is the main job for Stokes who started at TVNZ in 2001 as a Breakfast reporter.
The experienced television journalist fills in for other current affairs shows when required but working weekends affords her precious time with her children during weekdays.
“I never thought I’d be able to be a mum like that because I thought I would probably have to go back to full-time work,” says Stokes, who is a mother to Freddie, aged six, and Hugo, aged eight.
“I feel really pleased that I get to have that because now I see that as quite an important thing. Like I might not get the weekend time but I get all that after-school time with them.”
While it may seem she has the ideal work-life balance, Stokes, 41, isn’t quite so sure.
“I never know if I buy into it because I think everything is always a juggle and everyone has to choose what works for their family,” she says.
“Do I have it? I think I’ve got it as best as I can have it at the moment in that I really love my job and I love going to work and I’m still challenged. I’m still learning new things but it still enables me a great deal of time at home with the kids.
“But, like anybody, we’ll go through stages where everything comes at once. My husband will be away and I’ll be doing extra work and it feels like maybe you’re not getting it right but I think you’ve just got to do what you can. Because I know that I’m in a really fortunate position
because when I’m at work, generally it’s my husband with them or one of the sets of grandparents. “My work hours are pretty great for the kids whereas I know a lot of families don’t get that choice.” Stokes, a former Europe correspondent for TVNZ, was partly inspired to become a television journalist thanks to a family member. “I had an uncle who was a journalist for TVNZ years ago but then he was a political reporter under the Muldoon era and I don’t think Spencer (Jolly), my uncle, got on very well with Muldoon,” recalls Stokes. “So he ended up going to Channel 9 in Brisbane where he was their political editor for years so when I would go over there he would take me into the Channel 9 studio. “I remember being 18 on another trip and he took me in there and Wally Lewis, who is the king of league, was presenting their weather.” Stokes’ parents didn’t work in the media industry but instead owned fabric stores. Her first job was working for them as a teenager. “Dad always says he fired me and I always say I quit,” she laughs. Stokes grew up in Tauranga and describes her childhood as idyllic. “I was a really sporty kid,” she says. “I played almost every sport you could imagine. I did a lot of competitive running as I got older so my parents would trip us round the North Island so I could run in cross-country races. It was a really awesome life.
“We grew up in a cul de sac so you know you’ve got all your kids on bikes going round and round and round every day.” At age 16, the family moved to Christchurch. It was in this city where Stokes finished high school, attended broadcasting school and landed a gig as a Breakfast reporter.
“Mum made all my clothes and even when I started at TVNZ she would make my suits which my other friends thought was hilarious. They’d say, ‘Did Gill make it?’ We used to call her ‘The House Of G’,” says Stokes.
While her mother Gill may have the skills to make clothes, Melissa does not.
“I’m the most impractical person,” she says. “I think it skipped a generation. My mother is an amazing sewer (seamstress) and an amazing cook. I can cook but I cannot sew. I still have to call Mum up and she helps me do all the kids’ school craft projects.”
Melissa has Chinese heritage from Gill’s side of the family. Gill’s mother is part-Chinese.
“Nana Peg died just a little while ago,” says Stokes. “I think she was 93. She’s half-Chinese which I find really fascinating.
“She didn’t really talk about it a lot because growing up, it wasn’t a great time to not to be a white New Zealander so my mum and my family don’t know heaps about it.
“But two of my aunties have been doing a family tree and they’ve been back to the Chinese village where she was from so it is really fascinating and I’ve met my Chinese cousins. I’d really like to find out more.”
“I never thought I’d be able to be a mum like that because I thought I would probably have to go back to full-time work.”
– Melissa Stokes