MICHELLE: I cultivated a love and a passion for the outdoors activities while anchoring news.
The resignation of K24 news anchor Michelle Morgan to venture into extreme sports journalism did not come as a surprise to those who know her. Without prejudice to TV news journalism, Michelle’s adrenaline was too much to be contained on set. In fact, news anchoring was some type of side hustle for her.
Her social media platforms are replete with photos of a girl on the move – engaging in one extreme challenge after another. At one time she was involved in a motorcycle accident, but this did not deter her quest to conquer the world.
Michelle, who on January 14 opened her own bar in Westlands, Nairobi, known as the Alchemist Bar, resigned from K24 on Thursday February 25th, and will now be hosting her own show, Xtreme Outdoors Africa (XOA). “I’m really excited to announce that I’m gonna be the host of this amazing show called XOA (Xtreme Outdoors Africa),” Michelle, who worked briefly as business reporter-cum-news anchor at Citizen TV.
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“It was a very amicable separation, but I just reached a point in my life where I think it is important to be true to myself,” she said in a recorded video posted on the internet. “Being a news anchor has been my job for the past few years but during that time I cultivated a love and a passion for the outdoors activities.”
To her colleagues at K24 and Mediamax generally, not many eyebrows could have been raised despite the recent happenings there that saw the company ease out several employees. This was purely a case of a lady ditching her comfort zone in pursuit of her passion.
Indeed, many are the days, especially on Fridays, when she would arrive at DMS Place along Kijabe Street riding a motorbike and enter the newsroom in a rider’s kit with a helmet in hand for a briefing on the day’s 9pm news.
It is from there that she would then proceed to freshen and have a change of clothes in readiness for the bulletin. On February 9, Michelle, a graduate of Middlesex University in the UK, reposted a Goldiebox photo of Bessie Stringfield, who was born on the same day in 1911 in the US and for obvious reasons.
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According to the tribute, Bessie was the first African-American woman to ride solo across the United States. During WWII, it added, she was also one of the only civilian motorcycle couriers to ride for the US military. “She broke barriers for women of colour everywhere, and was inducted into the American Motorcyclist Association for Superior Achievement by a Female Motorcyclist!”
It was clear acknowledgement of her heroine and, perhaps, a pointer to where she was headed. On her blog and Facebook page, Michelle, who also worked at Ebru TV recently acquired by Mediamax, describes herself as someone who loves to travel, exploration and adrenaline.
“I want to share my wild and free escapades with you. Whether I’m on my motorbike on an adrenaline fuelled expedition, traveling seeking new encounters and inspiration, or capturing the art of life through photography and film,” she writes.
XOA is a television series that follows its thrill-seeking presenters on exhilarating adventures across Africa.
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