Finding Heart in Hard News - Looks Like Work, Season 3, Ep 20
When you grow up in a tiny desert town and end up in the Oval Office, there’s more than one story worth telling.
In this episode, I sit down with Yonat Friling - Frühling—Senior Field Producer at Fox News, mother, and one of the most deeply human journalists I know—to talk about what it’s like to witness history from the front row… and still find room for joy, softness, and a good story after a long day.
Yonat has covered wars, earthquakes, terror attacks, and presidential visits. She’s worked in newsrooms where women weren’t expected in the field, and stood her ground anyway. And when October 7th changed the world—and took people she loved—she didn’t look away. She kept showing up. With a microphone. And a breaking heart.
This isn’t just an episode about journalism. It’s about resilience. About the cost of bearing witness. And about how you can have your dream job… without losing your dream life.
Inside this conversation:
Watching the Berlin Wall fall at 9 years old—and knowing she had to be there
Calling every field crew member to apologize after her first day on site
Reporting from the frontlines of October 7th, and losing people on both sides
How journalists build “shields” to survive—and how they learn to dismantle them
What it means to want a family, a home, a life—not just a byline
How vulnerability, mental health, and mentorship are changing newsroom culture
The two questions she asks herself every day (and why they matter)
Yonat asks the kind of questions that don’t just guide interviews—they guide lives:
👉 “Was it a good day?”
👉 “Is there something I haven’t asked that I should have?”
This episode is for anyone who’s ever had to hold it together while the world fell apart. It’s for the ones who keep showing up. And it’s a love letter to the messy, meaningful work of telling the truth—without breaking your own heart in the process.
"If you assume that you already have the no, you already lost. So have the no and try to work around it."
Listen to this episode on Spotify | Apple | Wherever you get your podcasts
Resources & Mentions:
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You’re Gonna Want to Sit Down for This - bi-weekly email packed with lessons and free tools
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