Tannya Joaquin has retired from Hawaii News Now "for now" to become a "momtrepreneur."
Upon advice of her physician, she took medical leave starting in January and has decided not to return.
While your columnist has no accurate count, no other news anchor in the history of this column’s reporting on the local media industry has ever drawn the number of queries that Joaquin has.
Her contract expired at the end of March. She cleaned out her desk in the newsroom May 16.
Joaquin had health concerns that took her out of action, but her health is getting better. "It was unexpected, going out on leave," she said.
Trying to "do it all" as a working mother and TV news anchor, whose visible-to-the-public on-screen schedule was just a small fraction of her workday, had taken its toll on her overall health.
"Basically my whole day was that deadline pressure."
Monday’s Floating Lantern Ceremony is an example of that. Joaquin worked the previous three Floating Lantern Ceremony broadcasts and said it was "an honor" to co-host "such a moving ceremony."
However, while the public sees the Monday broadcast, they don’t see the Saturday dress rehearsal or the Sunday dress rehearsal or other advance preparation required after an already full week of work.
Nor does most of the public see "all the extra stuff that comes with being an anchor," she said, such as weekend events serving as emcee for this, that or the other event, all of which takes time away from family.
She knows she is far from unique as a working mother, in this regard. "I don’t get a free pass for that."
Her son, Kaimana, is 6 soon to turn 7 and her daughter, Hana, is 3.
Seeing her prepare her "TV look" one weekend, Kaimana protested, "but you’re not supposed to work on Saturdays," she recalled.
During her medical leave, "my son said to me, ‘Mommy, you want to know the good part and the bad part of you being on Hawaii News Now?’ out of the blue," she said. He told her "the good thing is that lots of people get to see you, but the bad thing is that you don’t have time for us," she said.
"It was really becoming an issue. So much so, and not just the guilt, but physically, my well-being," and it was "manifesting itself," she said. "I understand why newspeople with kids at a certain age reach this crossroads," she said.
She withdrew from her media friends and colleagues during her leave "because I didn’t want to feel like I was letting ‘my TV family’ down. I needed to focus on myself, and my family."
Part of that focus was spent doing CrossFit, an intensive workout that she called her "sanctuary," and which she still does.
Since pretending to do radio shows as a 5-year old in Atlanta "with the thickest Southern accent," she has lived her dream in TV news, Joaquin said, reporting from the White House, as well as from Rome for the canonization of St. Marianne. She’s proud of being nominated for an Emmy Award for reporting, for breaking stories such as the molasses spill in Honolulu Harbor, and grateful for being able check off her bucket list that she’s played a news anchor on "Hawaii Five-0."
Joaquin appreciates being embraced by local viewers, especially given that she came here from the mainland. She worked for each network-affiliated TV station in Honolulu, including a college internship at KITV, her six years at KHON-TV, first as a reporter, then morning and then evening news anchor, and then in 2009, at KGMB-TV, which later became the three-station group known as Hawaii News Now.
"One of the things I’m looking forward to doing now, is traveling more," she said. At this moment she and her immediate family are in Nevada visiting extended family.
Work-wise, she will continue to write her column, "Tannya’s Take," for Honolulu Star-Advertiser sister-publication MidWeek, because it’s a positive task she enjoys, and is another way to tell stories she wants to share that she hopes will effect positive change.
She also will continue working to support Gr3en Energy, a kale-based organic energy drink business founded by her husband, Alan Joaquin.
When she does come home and run into people along the way, "I will say that I’m retired (from TV) for now, to be a momtrepreneur, but I’ll still be telling stories," she said.
"I don’t regret walking away from the news. I do regret not being able to say ‘thank you’ to all the viewers," Joaquin said.
Reach Erika Engle at 529-4303, erika@staradvertiser.com or on Twitter as @erikaengle.
