Brodie's Business

After studying journalism at the University of Canterbury, Broadcaster Brodie Kane went on to establish a career in television and radio - working as a reporter on shows like Seven Sharp and Fair Go and as a sports reporter on Breakfast. Until last year she was a co presenter on the Hits Breakfast show in Christchurch with Dave Fitzgerald.  Now she is going it alone and has been working on some very exciting projects, like the re-launch of her very successful podcast, The Girls Uninterrupted (previously Girls On Top) and a new podcast called Kiwi Yarns as well as working on some projects with different brands.

Words: Pattie Pegler Images: Supplied

When I catch up with Brodie Kane on the phone, she’s walking along the beach at Waikuku. No surprises there, Brodie has North Canterbury roots through and through – growing up in Waikuku she was in the Surf Lifesaving Club from a young age and her first reporting job was covering netball for the Northern Outlook.

But many perhaps know her best from her many appearances on TVNZ and until last year she was one of the cheery, bright voices on the Hits Breakfast Show. Then life took a different turn.

“I was made redundant from the radio show just before the first lockdown. And I spent quite a bit of time thinking ‘what am I going to do?’” she says candidly. Never one to shy away from tough situations – she was in the territorial army and regularly competes in endurance sports – Brodie decided the answer was to go out on her own and she set up Brodie Kane Media. And she’s working on all manner of content creation projects with a range of brands as well as producing her own podcast series, providing media training and doing some public speaking.

Whilst it has been a big change and she occasionally misses working with a team, there are definite upsides to her new business. “The great thing is you can pick and choose who you want to work with. It’s the thrill of the unknown,” she says with customary enthusiasm.

She has plans to head back to Auckland in pursuit of business opportunities for Brodie Kane Media but at the moment Covid lockdowns have put paid to that for the moment. “We were supposed to start the drive today,” she says. “But it’ll happen when it’ll happen.

Brodie seems overwhelmingly positive. Has she ever had one of those impostor syndrome moments? “Absolutely,” she replies. “It’s a funny old thing, we’re so conditioned not to celebrate success. You can be up on a high and you can really quickly creep in to an ‘oh God’ moment.” She spent a chunk of her first year in business thinking ‘what am I doing?’ she admits. But asking for help and support can make a big difference.

During her time on radio and television she got used to dealing with a lot of comments online and whilst many were positive, it was often the negative ones that she would dwell on more. She thought it through and came to terms with it. “In a public setting, not everyone’s going to like you. That’s okay,” she says.

But aspects of social media do trouble her, particularly how easily misinformation can be spread online. “I worry that online bullying and trolling are a scourge on our society,” she says. “So I do sometimes fight that corner,” she says. She recently interviewed the director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre on her podcast, Kiwi Yarns, in an attempt to tackle some of the misinformation she had seen flying around about Covid-19. And she’s tracked down and provided facts about Covid-19 and hospitalization rates on her social media.

When she went for her Covid-19 jab, she got dressed up and put it out there on her Instagram platform. When she went for her second jab she wore a sparkly frock and turned up on a Harley Davidson. At a time when Instagram seems to be little more than a shouting match on anything vaccine related, it’s clear Brodie is not intimidated.

But it’s also a bit fun. And we probably all need a little bit more of that Brodie style positivity right now. This is one North Canterbury girl who’s certainly keeping it upbeat. We’re a little bit sad that Auckland is stealing her away.