It has been just a few weeks since Ali Vitali started her new job anchoring MSNBC’s “Way Too Early” at 5 a.m. And so far, the experience has been, in her words, “exceptional.”
“I think for me, the most important thing in the Trump era is [figuring out] how we can help people start the day when some of the topics can get pretty dark, and there can be a lot of them being thrown at you at once,” Vitali told “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski. “So, it’s booking reporters and guests that I know are experts and can just help people understand [what’s going on] — without any of the buzz words and pomp and circumstance.”
Brzezinski spoke to Vitali, who has spent a decade at NBC News covering politics, campaigns and Capitol Hill, about the new gig, her morning routine, her best advice to young people and more.
Below are the biggest takeaways:
On the advice Mika gave her upon accepting the new job:
Ali Vitali: “The advice was just focus on what’s in front of you, which is really hard when you’ve done a million things all at once for so long. But it was honestly the best advice that I needed to hear… Opportunities are amazing, and I think being able to proactively say “yes” to them is such a gift. But I undervalued, I think what you said to me in that phone call right before I started the show, that this idea of ‘this is your job.’ But the other parts of your job are taking care of yourself, making sure that you’re seeing your friends, your family, that you’re going to your workout class…That’s your opportunity.”
On her wakeup routine:
Ali Vitali “I’m getting up at 3 a.m. But I’m using the bowl of cold water that [Mika told me to put my face in every morning]…It’s actually great…And it’s really good for your skin. And when I wake up, my outfit is laid out the night before. I act like I’m a toddler going to elementary school. But then the skin care piece is the most important to me, and it’s ritualistic. So it feels like you’re doing the same thing every morning.”
On her best advice to young people who want to work in media:
Ali Vitali: “I think you just got to start. I do a lot of these kinds of informational calls with kids who are still in college, and they’re wondering how they can get involved. I was a bad journalist. I didn’t do the college paper, but I was always asking questions, and I was always finding new ways to talk to people. New Orleans [where I went to college] was a fantastic place for that, because it’s a city full of stories, but then coming here, it was just, how do I get into a newsroom? How do I talk to people? How do I make connections and just try to chart a path. And the biggest and most important thing, I tell people, is taking one job that you’re not sure if it’s right, doesn’t mean that that’s the be all and end all. You can find a bunch of different paths, you just got to start.”
On her Know your value moment:
Ali Vitali: “Valuing your time. And it came right after the [Elizabeth] Warren campaign, while I was covering it during 2020. Their campaign manager used to say ‘time is the only resource that you can’t get back.’ He meant it from a campaign and strategy perspective. But I started figuring that out once time slowed down during the pandemic, and realizing that you have your health for only as long as you have it. You have your family, you have your friends, and you need to cherish those things and so honoring my time being able to proactively say yes, but also proactively say no, was a really impactful light switch moment. And I didn’t have it for the first eight years of my career.”
A fun fact about Ali that you may not know:
Ali Vitali: “This is a weird one. I know this show loves baseball…but I’ve actually never eaten a hot dog.”
