To those outside the media industry, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner may sound about as exciting as, say, the Annual Celebration of Used Car Salesmen in the Southwest, an event I just made up.
In recent years, and especially during the Trump administration, however, the dinner has had more mainstream appeal, for better or worse. But as NBC News chief White House correspondent and coanchor of Weekend Today Kristen Welker is keen to point out, making a splash or spawning a thousand think pieces on eye shadow isn’t the point.
“The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is about celebrating journalism and free speech,” Welker tells Glamour. “But most importantly, it’s about paying it forward.” The event, which has been lovingly dubbed “nerd prom” by some of its honored guests, takes place tonight, April 29, at the Washington Hilton Hotel. This year The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah will host.
Welker has more than two decades of experience in broadcast journalism, and more than 10 years’ experience covering the White House. But a lot has changed since she was a doe-eyed Harvard grad just entering the workforce. In 2022 the news cycle is 24 hours a day. For Welker, work sometimes starts at 4 a.m., whether sources like it or not. “I'm reaching out to sources at 6:00, 6:30 a.m., waking them up,” she says with a laugh. “I feel bad about it.”
Another aspect of broadcast news that has evolved over the years: Viewers’ relationships with the people who deliver it. With social media, as well as an increasing number of TV and internet platforms, anchors have the ability to connect with viewers in ways that the Walter Cronkites of the world did not. Welker, for example, recently shared her struggle with infertility and her journey to parenthood via surrogacy with her audience. It’s the kind of intimate, personal story she never imagined she’d divulge to millions of Americans.
“As journalists, we are told and we are taught—and I firmly believe—we should not become the story,” she says. “I never imagined that I would open up in that way.”
Read on for why she shared her story, her early-morning schedules, and why she loathes choosing on-air outfits.
Glamour: What is your morning routine?
Kristen Welker: I have three different routines depending on what particular schedule I'm going to have.
When I'm filing for the Today show, I'm up at about 4:30 a.m., usually 4:45, checking my phone, checking with the producers; then I get ready and get into the White House. I’m talking to sources a lot of that time because, as you know, the news cycle is 24/7. A lot of times I'm reaching out to sources at 6:00, 6:30 a.m., waking them up. I feel bad about it.
I file for the Today show and for a range of MSNBC [segments] throughout the afternoon. And then I swap with Peter [Alexander, co–chief White House correspondent for NBC]. I will come home and spend the afternoon portion working from home, working on whatever my Today show piece is the next day. But then I also of course get to spend time with my daughter, Margot, and my husband, John [Hughes], who's been doing a lot of work from home as well. So it's a nice mix.
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On my Nightly News weeks, I sleep a little bit later, maybe until 6 a.m. I work until about seven at night. I'll go through Nightly News and then I race home in time for bedtime.
It's wonderful. I've rarely missed a bedtime. Peter and I feel really fortunate that we've worked out this schedule that allows us to both give 150% when we're at work and then be able to give 150% when we're at home as well.
Now on Saturdays when we anchor the Weekend Today show, I'm up at about 3:30, 4:00 a.m. That's a whole different deal. I'm home by midday.
Wow. So when do you sleep?
I am terrible about going to bed. I'm a night person, but I get up really early. My goal is to try to get into bed by 10 p.m. every night, but sometimes that gets pushed to 11, which is not great. I like to make sure that I know what the big headlines are before I'm going to sleep. And then I like to have downtime—just watch silly TV shows, put Margot to bed, spend time with John, and have a nice dinner with him.
What are those silly TV shows that you're watching right now?
Well, I love The Voice. I'm a big Succession fan…I just started Gaslit. Anything that's the intersection of history and drama. I absolutely love Inventing Anna.
When you were starting out in 1998, news looked very different. Did you ever imagine that this is what your schedule would be like?
One of the extraordinary things about working at NBC is that we do have so many platforms. I'm filing for the Today show and Nightly News and MSNBC and News Now, our streaming platform that allows us to reach viewers where they are. To reach, frankly, a range of different viewers in real time. We're really proud of that, and I'm really proud of all of the work that we've been doing on News Now. Chuck [Todd] and I have been anchoring election specials on News Now, which has been really exciting.
I couldn't exactly have imagined where the news industry would be. I remember when I was graduating from college, I very much wanted to be a correspondent. I wanted to be a White House correspondent. That's been my goal for a long time.
So in terms of what I am doing, I have always imagined this possibility. Now I sometimes pinch myself and think, This is what I dreamed of when I was in college in those early days. And now here I am. I get the incredible opportunity to cover the White House every day.
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What’s your advice to young journalists starting out?
My first on-air job was in Redding, California, very far away from the White House, but I told my news director that I loved politics and wanted to cover it. He sent me out on the political stories. I attended what were the “city council brown bag lunches,” where I would go and cover whatever they were talking about.
I remember one of the big issues was whether or not they wanted to build a community swimming pool at the time. It was a really big deal for that community. I thought, Wow, I'm really getting to report on and cover and understand what it feels like to cover politics at the grassroots level. I learned so much there. My advice for young reporters would be to speak up about your passions and your interests because people respond to that and care about that, and I think they want to help you. It makes you a better reporter.
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You’ve been very open about your personal life, particularly your struggles with infertility and asking a surrogate to help welcome your daughter. Did you ever think that you would be sharing something so personal with such a wide audience?
No, I didn't. Honestly, as journalists, we are told and we are taught—and I firmly believe—we should not become the story. I never imagined that I would open up in that way.
The reason I decided to—I felt like it was important to be honest with our viewers about how we were welcoming our daughter. And I have to tell you, I was really terrified to speak out about our struggles with infertility and to share something so personal. I didn't know people would respond and people were so supportive. What struck me is that I heard from families all across the country, from people who worked at NBC, from friends throughout my life, who said, “I really appreciate the fact that you spoke out because we are struggling or have struggled with something quite similar.”
You recently spoke with Ukrainian refugees who fled to Poland after Russia’s invasion. Mental-health-wise, how do you balance going from a heavy story like that with raising a baby daughter?
There's no way that you can go and speak to Ukrainian refugees and not be personally impacted and, frankly, heartbroken for everything that they are going through. It was important for me to shine a light on the story of the refugees who are in Poland. I think that's such a critical and crucial part of this story. That's part of our job as journalists to get to the heart of the matter and to go and talk to people who have been directly impacted by the stories that we’re covering no matter how difficult it may be personally. I learned early on in local news that covering difficult stories would impact me personally and would be really tough sometimes.
I have spent years trying to work through how you deal with the type of personal stress and mental anguish you may feel for people who are suffering. I think part of that is to go and tell their stories and try to do a good job for them, then to give yourself some space to process it and to have gratitude, frankly, for everything that I do have. I think we've all watched this crisis unfold, and so many of us have had that same reaction of taking a moment to just pay gratitude for the gifts in our own lives. And certainly, you mentioned Margot—she not only helped to inform my reporting while I was in Poland as I spoke to mothers, daughters, families who were suffering, but to really put everything into perspective.
The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is coming up. Is there anything that you are most looking forward to?
I am grateful to the White House Correspondents’ Association for working really hard to try to make it a safe event. That's the first thing.
For me, the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is about celebrating journalism and free speech. But most importantly, about paying it forward. We give tens of thousands of dollars in scholarship money to the next generation of journalists. We celebrate young journalists who are doing great work. For me, that's really the pinnacle of the White House Correspondents’ Dinner and what I look forward to most.
This year we're going to be paying tribute to African American reporters Alice Dunnigan and Ethel Payne, who will be the first recipients of the new Dunnigan-Payne Prize. I'm really proud of that. It's for lifetime career achievement.
Do you have a good camaraderie with your fellow correspondents at the White House?
I love that you ask this. I think people would be really surprised because [the White House] is the most competitive space in journalism in some ways. At the same time, we are all a part of the same community.
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I am quite close with the other White House correspondents. I'm also incredibly proud of the fact that all of the chief White House correspondents [from major broadcast networks], and Peter is an add-on to this, are women: Cecilia Vega [on ABC], Nancy Cordes [on CBS], Kaitlan Collins of CNN. I am so proud of them and so proud to be a part of the sisterhood that is the chief White House correspondents—plus Peter, who we welcome as our brother, by the way. We're all very close.
You kind of hit the nail on the head when you asked me about Poland. That is an incredibly intense assignment…. I think we get through those moments by supporting each other, and that has been the case for years now. Again, I'm just so proud of the fact that the briefing room is filled with an increasingly diverse body of journalists. It's really extraordinary. Which is not to say there's not still work to be done. But when I got to the White House 10 years ago, it didn't look as diverse. So sometimes I just take a moment and take it all in.
You moderated a presidential debate in 2020, and that is obviously a very monumental career peak. What’s next? What’s your next pie-in-the sky aspiration?
I was proud of having moderated the presidential debate in part because it was such an incredible team effort. I'm in such a great place right now; it's hard for me to think about next steps. Again, I talk about the schedule that is so wonderful and allows me to give a lot to my work and to my family at the same time.
I love anchoring the Weekend Today show with Peter on Saturdays. Peter is, yes, my co–chief White House correspondent, but he's also like family. He and his family and our family, we're very close. Maybe [the next goal is to] moderate one more debate? But it was so stressful. It was so stressful. Oh my gosh.
As someone on TV, do you enjoy putting together your outfits?
Honestly, it's one of the hardest parts of what I do. Fashion does not come naturally to me. It just does not. It's the last thing I think about. However, it is a part of my job.
I am fortunate. I talk to friends and get their input. I say, “Tell me if you like this, tell me if you hate this. This looks good. This looks bad.” And they will say, “That looked good on air,” “That didn't look good on air,” “Don't do that again.” We've been doing this now for quite some time because I had to just be honest with myself: I do not have an eye for fashion.
The monochromatic looks, the jewel tones, it feels very classic.
This goes back to what we were saying before, which is that I do see my role not as being a part of the story. So I never want to wear anything that's too loud. For me, it's just if the viewer pays attention to what I'm saying, that's the most important. My clothes are just there as the backdrop. That's how I think about it.
Is there anything that you wish more people knew about you?
I do have this very serious job covering the White House, and I do have a light funny side as well. I think sometimes it's hard to showcase that at the White House, and it's not really the right format. Some of my friends who I've known growing up—they are proud of the work that I'm doing. And then they say, “It's funny, though, because you have this light fun side that doesn't necessarily get exposed when you're at the White House covering very serious subjects.” So I wish more people knew that. I like to laugh, and that's one of the things that I really cherish about my husband. We have a lot of laughs together and all of my friends are people who make me laugh and keep everything in perspective.
Who are your mentors?
One of the biggest ones, and I think about this as we go into the White House Correspondents’ weekend, is Andrea Mitchell. We have a very special relationship. On my first day at the Washington bureau, she met with me in her office and said, “I'm here to support you.” She really meant that. She has really done that. In those early days when I was getting my sea legs in Washington, I would call her and we would talk about sourcing and the best way to work a source and get information and make sure it's accurate.
All of the guidance and mentorship and love they have given me, I have taken that very seriously. So when someone asks to meet with me who's younger, who's just coming on board, I really always try to do that and to make time to speak with and reach out to the younger journalists. I think it's so important because it's easy to fall through the cracks in this industry, in any industry. That’s why mentors are so critical.
