Wendy's wonder 'I'M LIVING MY DREAM LIFE'

The newsreader has rediscovered her true calling after some knockbacks

- Fleur Guthrie

Sharing her story of resilience is resonating with other Kiwi women.

Last summer, Wendy Petrie was adjusting to her eldest daughter moving to America and fearful that being a fill-in newsreader would be the only work to ever come her way.

A year on, she’s walking into 2023 – and indeed our Weekly photo shoot – like Wendy version 2.0. Animated, upbeat and wearing a black Led Zeppelin T-shirt, she’s fresh off a plane from Invercargill after giving a keynote speech to 200 women in the dairy-farming network. 

Yes, it was nerve-wracking and she did worry she wouldn’t have anything interesting to impart to them. But it turns out, no matter what industry a woman is in, we all face the same challenges.

“When I was first asked, I thought, ‘What do I know about dairy farming?’” admits the mum-of-three. “But I gave a message about resilience, and encouraging women to reset and reimagine their future after a pretty tough couple of years.”

It’s something Wendy knows a lot about. When the popular broadcaster very publicly lost her role as an anchor for 1 News At Six due to Covid job cuts, she worried she wouldn’t find other work.

“All I’ve ever done for the last 14 years is read the news,” she says. “I felt so fearful of the future. So it’s been really empowering this last year to start doing more diverse roles that see me do things way outside my comfort zone.”