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EPS 43. Tracking Storms on Air, Managing Chaos at Home
- Christi Gmyr Coaching
- Apr 28
- 36 min read
She's an award-winning meteorologist who forecasts storms every weekday morning for viewers across Upstate New York. She's confident, composed and camera-ready before most of us have had our fist cup of coffee.
She's also a wife and mom of three girls. Like so many other working moms, she's constantly juggling a busy schedule, family demands and household needs while trying to squeeze time for herself into days that never seem to be long enough.
In today's episode of Overcaffeinated and Out of Effs I sit down with Emmy Award winning meteorologist Kate Thornton from NewsChannel 9 to talk about what working motherhood really looks like when your career is in the public eye.
Together we talk about:
What viewers don't see behind those early morning forecasts
Unique challenges moms face while working in a public-facing career
Marriage and parenting in a dual-career household with both partners in the same demanding industry
The added pressure of never truly being “off”
What Kate wishes more people understood about working moms in high-visibility roles
Kate talks about the pressure of public success and private overwhelm, reminding us that even the women who look the most put-together are navigating their own personal struggles you can't see. We're all doing the best we can, and some days are going to be harder than others. We're all absolutely allowed to be human.
Find Kate at:
[00:04] Christi Gmyr: Welcome to Overcaffeinated and Out of Effs, the podcast for burned out, career-minded moms who are ready to stop pretending everything's fine and feel like themselves again.
[00:15] I'm your host, Christi Gmyr, burnout coach for moms, licensed therapist and mom of two. And I'm here to help you reclaim your energy, your identity, and your peace of mind.
[00:25] Whether you're lying awake thinking about the 87 things you didn't get done or silently resenting the people you love most,
[00:32] This is your space to feel seen, supported, and not so alone.
[00:36] So grab your coffee, hot, cold or day old, and let's get into it.
[00:47] Hey, everybody, it's Christi.
[00:49] Welcome to Overcaffeinated and Out of Effs. Before we get started, I want to make a quick announcement and let you know about something that I am very, very excited about.
[00:59] It has always been so important to me to be able to support you moms in a way that works best for you and that is obviously going to look a bit different for everybody.[01:08] I do offer coaching which is incredibly helpful, but depending on your timing and availability, budget, learning style, or just where you are in your journey, you might need something different.
[01:19] So I want to provide you with other options as well.[01:23] And so therefore I have been working very hard behind the scenes and have officially added a resource library to my website.
[01:32] So in addition to my full comprehensive burnout course, you will also now find new mini courses on specific topics such as understanding burnout, setting boundaries, time management,
[01:43] communication, resentment, guilt,[01:46] all the things that we talk about here.[01:49] So if you do want focus support in just one area that is now available for you.[01:54] And then you will also find free resources, short training videos, you know, different kinds of things, things like that to help you manage some of the most common challenges that working moms face.
[02:06] And this is just the beginning. I will be adding more resources over time. I'm already working on some other things behind the scenes, so please just, you know, visit back, be on the lookout for those things as well because my goal is to give you the tools to meet you exactly where you're at.
[02:24] So you can find all of these things on my website at www.christigmyrcoaching.com. Just click on the resource library in the menu. The link and the spelling are in the show notes for anybody who wants to check out.
[02:36] Okay, now on to today's episode.
[02:42] In today's episode, I'd like to welcome our guest, Kate Thornton.
[02:46] Kate is an award winning meteorologist earning two New York State Emmy awards with nearly two Decades of experience forecasting weather across upstate New York.
[02:56] You can catch Kate's forecast every weekday morning on the morning news on NewsChannel 9.
[03:02] Kate's husband is also part of the NewsChannel 9 team as a co-host of Bridge Street and together they have three daughters.
[03:09] Kate has a passion for the weather and explaining the forecast to the NewsChannel 9 viewers.
[03:15] One of her favorite things to do is to visit local schools to share her love for weather and the importance of stem to young minds.
[03:23] So I'm going to guess that pretty much anybody who is from the Central New York area is already familiar with Kate.
[03:30] As we just mentioned, she's on the news every day telling us the weather forecast.[03:35] Plus, for those of you who are active on social media, she's always posting reels and helpful information.
[03:40] She's always making herself available to help us moms in our local mom's Facebook group.
[03:45] And even for those who don't know her personally, I'm sure so many feel like they do because she's just, you know, so personable, she's so relatable.
[03:54] And for full transparency, I do want to share that Kate and I do know each other personally. She is one of my dance mom friends.
[04:02] Our oldest kids have danced together for over seven years now. It just seems so crazy to me that they've been dancing for that long. And so I can just tell you that, you know, she's just such a genuine, supportive mom off screen as well.
[04:14] And when I asked her to be on this podcast, you know, she didn't hesitate. She was just so happy to help because she truly, truly cares about all of you moms.
[04:21] So anyways, I have invited her here today. She's going to share her story as a working mom in a demanding, high visibility career and specifically how she manages that with caring for her family and her of her three busy girls and her husband.
[04:38] So Kate, thank you so much for being here today.
[04:43] Yes, I'm so excited to have you.
[04:45] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: I'm excited to be here.
[04:47] Christi Gmyr: Do you mind? Can you just start by telling us a little bit for the people who, you know, maybe they've only seen you on TV in the mornings? Like how would you describe this season of your life right now?
[04:58] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Oh, chaos.
[05:00] Chaos and exhaustion. You know, it's, I'm in a point in my career where I just, when I think I've reached a good point, it just keeps elevating and evolving. In a business like news,
[05:14] you have to evolve with it because the people the way are getting their information and their news and everything you have to go with the time. So it's keeping up with that while also maintaining keeping up with my family and how demanding it is and my kids getting older and getting more involved with things and with it all kind of coming to together.
[05:33] It's like my own natural disaster going on.
[05:36] My own hurricane I have to chase and channel well.
[05:41] Christi Gmyr: And yeah, in motherhood, with a career, just in general, I know for so many people is so chaotic. I mean, you described it as a hurricane, which I feel like that is just so relatable for so many people.
[05:51] But you know, obviously, you know, on the outside, especially on tv, it does appear like you have had this super successful life. You've obviously done very well in your career.
[06:00] You just won your first two Emmys, which is so exciting. Congratulations for that.[06:04] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Thank you.
[06:05] Christi Gmyr: And then, you know, you have your, your marriage with your husband and the cutest little girls and everything just looks so amazing. And I'm just wondering behind the scenes,
[06:14] what does a typical weekday actually look like for you?
[06:19] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Oh, it's, it, it's exhausting. Like I said before, my day starts, my alarm goes off at 2 in the morning.
[06:27] Actually 1:45, if we're being honest. That's the first alarm. And then I hit snooze from there. Depending on what I got to do. Do I have to shower? Do I not have to shower?[06:36] If I have to shower, do I have to wash my hair? Do I not have to wash my hair? All that runs through my mind and then I am out the door by 2:30, 2:45 in the morning.
[06:45] So I can be at work at 3 in the morning.
[06:48] So I'm at work and ready to go and having to be on in the middle of the night when most people are sleeping, which is not a normal thing.
[06:57] It's not normal, but I have to keep reminding myself that that is the sacrifice that I'm making to be able to be present for the demanding afternoon hustle and bustle of my children.
[07:11] If I were single and had no kids,
[07:14] I could go to bed at 5, 6 o' clock and get the 8, 8 to 9 hours of sleep if I wanted to. You know,
[07:20] great and everything. But you really have to learn how to prioritize and manage your time wisely, how you're spending your time and commitments outside of work, with work.
[07:32] And you really have to be aware of what you can handle and what you can't, which I'm still struggling with.
[07:41] Christi Gmyr: Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry.
[07:42] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Well, just it's. My day starts so early and then I'm home. People will be like, well, do you take a nap? I try to because I'm usually as long as I don't have to do the new news,
[07:52] then I'm done with work by 11:30 and that's when I pick up my 3 year old from daycare. And then it's just me and her until the older girls come home from school.
[08:01] So I have that little bit of window in the afternoon. As long as there's nothing else going on, I can try and sneak in a nap as much as my 3 year old will let me,
[08:10] like, go, go, go, go, go. I mean, you and I know the dance.
[08:13] I'm like very well. Well, we are basically living our lives at the studio and then also take care of our other children to get them involved in things. And so it's,
[08:23] yeah, it's, it's the, it's that work is my me time is the only time where I can just focus on myself and what I need to do and get done and where I don't have to be mom for a moment.
[08:36] And yeah, even though I work with my husband.
[08:39] So like my me time.
[08:41] Christi Gmyr: Well, and I imagine, I mean, you talk about the schedule and how early you have to get up and my gosh, you must be so exhausted. And then on top of that, like you said, the rest of the world is on a very different schedule.
[08:51] I always feel so bad when a stand spons get chatting about competitions and whatnot.
[08:56] You're sort of silent. And then they were like, oh wait, I think maybe Kate sleeping. Then the next day you are responding to all those messages because you are. Your schedule is just like so different.
[09:06] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: I have to respond at 2:30 in the morning after I've woken up to all the group texts, missed messages. I'm like, oh, what did I miss while I slept? I was like, oh, I'm gonna wait until at least 6am to respond to this.
[09:20] Christi Gmyr: Well, we appreciate that. And also if you did respond early, I feel like we sort of deserve it because we're doing it to you on the other end.
[09:28] So. Okay, so obviously, you know, you have a very non traditional daily schedule and routine.
[09:33] When you think back to earlier in your career, I'm curious like how, how things have changed for you since then in the sense of like,
[09:40] what did you think balance would look like once you, once you made it, once you had kids and then,
[09:46] I mean, did you find that that did change as you got more established?
[09:49] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Yeah. So I mean, going way, way back to
my early days So I was. My first job was at Fox 40 W I C Z in Binghamton, New York. And I was the weekend meteorologist.
[10:01] And I was an MMJ or a multimedia journalist three days a week. So I would have to go out and be a news reporter.
[10:09] And if you're an mmj, that means you're doing it all.
[10:12] You are filming everything. You're doing the interview. There's no camera guy, there's no photographer. You're shooting, you're editing, you're writing. You're putting it all together completely by yourself. I went to school for weather.
[10:23] I did not go to school for journalism. I did that after the fact.
[10:26] Because back in the Great Recession of 2008, 2009, when I graduated college, there were no jobs. It was super competitive in the news world. You had to start at the super duper duper small cities.
[10:38] And for weather, you had to be willing to do news because all the openings were weekend meteorologists, weekday reporting. I was like, I don't know how to report.
[10:48] I don't know how to. So I had a. I had to go back to school and learn that. And that was the how I landed my first job.
[10:55] And at that time, our station was unique, where we only had an evening newscast, we didn't have a morning newscast. I was dreamed of making. It would be weekday more basically where I am now, like doing weekday mornings, because I felt like my personality and my delivery match more of a morning news program as opposed to an evening newscast.
[11:16] But when you're in your early 20s and you're in a tiny city that's also a college town, I mean, you're basically treating it like it's your master's and it's just an extension of college.
[11:26] You know, you're thinking it as training ground to make it to that next next step.[11:33] So that's how it works when you're in news. Not so much now. I feel like a lot of just the way the business has changed. But, you know, we're talking 10, 20 years ago,
[11:42] you started these small cities and the goal is to keep going up and up and up in market size, in city size. The dream of being New York City, Chicago, L.A.
[11:51] national,
[11:52] you know, I never really had those big, big dreams. I.
[11:56] I grew up not too far from New York City, and people ask me, oh, don't you want to go work at WABC in New York? And all? I'm like, no,
[12:03] no, that is too much for. I know what I can handle. And I know that would just be too much of A pressure.
[12:11] And being on the national spotlight like that, like, no, I'm not, I'm not interested in that. But I knew I wanted to be bigger than Binghamton.
[12:20] How do you start to gain in salary a little bit, although you're still like hardly any money in TV at all. But it, that's just how you kind of grow and grow and grow.
[12:28] So then once the Syracuse opening came about, it was a great. I'm moving up in market size. But still weekends. And not only the best part, not only was I weekends, I was weekend morning and weekend night.
[12:41] Christi Gmyr: Oh, my goodness.
[12:43] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: So I was working 12 hour days. I worked 5 to 9 in the morning and then 2:45 to 11:45 at night. Saturday and Sunday.
[12:51] Christi Gmyr: Wow. Turnaround.
[12:53] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: That was it.
[12:54] Doing that shift for two years was the best preparation for motherhood I could have ever had. Because it trains you to be on and to be able to function on.
[13:04] No sleep.
[13:05] Yeah
.[13:06] Christi Gmyr: Oh, my God. You really had to hustle.
[13:09] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Yeah, that was, that was intense.
[13:12] Christi Gmyr: Well, and she. Oh, I'm sorry.
[13:13] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Go ahead. No, no, no, no, you're fine.
[13:15] Christi Gmyr: Well, I was just going to say. And then to your point, it sounds like you were doing all of that, you know, before kids,
[13:20] um, and then kids come into the picture and everything, of course, changes again.[13:25] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: It changed big time after that. We had changes in our weather office. We had a retirement. And I saw an opportunity to get off weekends. I was like, hello,
[13:34] can I, can I take one of the weekend or weekday spots? And they were like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, come and do,
[13:42] like, put together an audition tape for us. I was like, but I, but I work here. They're like, yeah, yeah, but it's part of it.
[13:48] I had to actually audition for my current job at eight months pregnant.
[13:52] Oh my gosh, eight months pregnant.
[13:55] It was so stressful. And we had our changes happen while I was on maternity leave. And my maternity leave, I, at the time, there was no New York state leave.
[14:05] I only had the short term disability, which was like, what, $800 if that.
[14:10] I couldn't afford to be out. And not only was all this, all these changes happening, I felt like I had to get back ASAP to get my career back on track and to keep going, climb, climb, climbing, all by six to seven weeks postpartum.
[14:24] So there's like all that going on. It was a very, very difficult time in my life because I was navigating this newborn baby who depended on me for everything,
[14:35] trying to figure out what this baby needs from me, how to do it, trying to figure out the breastfeeding and all of it. It was just not that that's. Summer of 2016 was just.
[14:46] It was a whirlwind. It was an absolute whirlwind.
[14:49] Obviously, being so grateful and having the new baby was great and having this opportunity to go to weekday mornings, but dealing with the exhaustion, with the new motherhood, the changes in my body and everything,
[15:04] it really messed with me mentally.
[15:07] Not in a good spot mentally with the postpartum and everything. It was just.
[15:11] I distinctly remember an afternoon crying on my kitchen floor because my boss didn't like the dress I was wearing. They don't like us wearing patterns or a dress with a pattern.
[15:25] Now, he was nicest, nicest man ever. So I'm pretty sure this was coming from a higher up opinion, not necessarily his, just to kind of remind me that they like us wearing patterns.
[15:36] But of course, in my mind, I'm like, oh, I'm so.
[15:41] I can't fit in there. This is the only thing that fits, you know, that in Mean girls, when we had George is wearing the sweatpants and they're like, you can't wear that.
[15:49] She's like, it's the only thing that fits. Now that's what was. That's what it felt like to me. And that I just.
[15:55] It was, it was.
[15:57] I look back at that time and that was just a lot of changes that I had to work through.
[16:05] Christi Gmyr: I mean, well, new motherhood is obviously hard, of course. You know, I mean, when they're. And when you're a brand new mom, especially when you haven't been through it before.
[16:12] I do feel like there are so many things that nobody tells us about, so many things that we're not prepared for. Like, everybody sort of tells you it's going to be hard, but until you've actually been in it, you don't really know what hard looks like.
[16:24] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Yeah.
[16:24] Christi Gmyr: Until you've like had that experience. Yeah.
[16:28] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Two life changes thrown at you so quickly and all. It was just. I did not handle it well at all. I mean, I look back at that time and it was just.[16:36] I'm like, wow, I survived.
[16:39] Christi Gmyr: Well. And then once you finally, you know, you went back to work, you said, you know, a few weeks later you were thinking about all of this again. You know, I'm curious, like, what surprised you most about not just about being a mom, but being a mom while maintaining your career?
[16:54] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: It was interesting. I had to take on kind of a whole new identity almost. It was like, okay, you know, I was, you know, the, the quirky meteorologist. You know, I was the only girl, you know, try to take that on.
[17:06] But I was like, oh, now I have this role of mom.
[17:09] And it actually made me approach my job differently because I was, I was, I was realizing the product and everything. Then in our news content,
[17:22] I was looking at it in a different lens. I was looking at it more of not so much like, oh, you know, oh, that, that headline had a typo and that, like little things like that.
[17:32] You know, I saw more as a consumer and as a mom. How would I relate to this?[17:38] Christi Gmyr: How.
[17:39] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: What do I need to know to get. Does my kid need to wear a winter coat or the spring coat? Do I put my foot down and tell them, no, you're not wearing shorts, it's 20 degrees outside.
[17:49] Or do I get.
[17:50] So becoming a mother, it,
[17:53] I think it made me a better meteorologist because I'm able to understand my audience better. Yeah,
[18:00] I didn't have that intuition beforehand.
[18:04] Christi Gmyr: Yeah, well, it sounds like it really just gives you some insights and perspective, like in a way that maybe the average person isn't necessarily thinking about. I mean,
[18:14] for me, I'm not always gonna fight that battle. I might just let them go out with their shorts in the cold weather. But I definitely hear what you're saying. So then,
[18:23] well then in terms of not just being a working mom, but being a mom in such a public facing career, were there any challenges that you dealt with specifically related to that?
[18:38] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: There's part of where, you know, you go to your kids school events and you have people that recognize you.
[18:43] Christi Gmyr: Yeah.
[18:44] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: And you have to kind of tread those waters carefully because you want to protect your privacy a bit and like your kids privacy. But also you have to be the happy, like,
oh, hi, nice to meet you.
[18:55] Christi Gmyr: Da, da, da.
[18:55] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: But there's a little bit of my mind where I'm like,[18:57] I'm also here trying to do this with my children, you know, and so it's trying to maintain a little bit of that balance and boundaries, if you will,
[19:07] which can be tricky. And then of course, you know, I have two young children that, you know, sometimes are not on their best behavior out in public.
[19:15] And so you get the whole meltdown in Target and you're just, oh, we've all been there.
[19:22] You know, you, you have that too. And you're looking around like, oh, I hope no one's recognizing me right now. Or like, I need a discipline or be stir and whatever.
[19:32] It's the whole like, oh, gosh, this person's judging me.
[19:36] I do feel a Lot of that when I'm out in public, there's that little bit of added anxiety.[19:42] And then, you know, and also with being in the public eye, if you will, you don't know who you're going to run into. You don't know what people's intentions are.
[19:50] 9 times out of 10, I would say 9.8 times out of 10 people are so nice and genuine. But, you know, in the day and age that we live in, you just, you can never be too careful about anything.
[20:00] So I really try to limit how much I have my kids involved in things. Although my oldest, she's, you know, she's already commercial of everything. She's been on TV since she was born pretty much it seems she has
[20:15] Christi Gmyr: the personality for it, though.
[20:16] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: He really does. And so I try to just kind of protect that a little bit, but also give her some growth to kind of explore, then let her relish in it.[20:24] Yeah, I just try to do with a little bit of a protector, protective layer over it too.
[20:28] Christi Gmyr: Well, and even, you know, you were just talking about, you know, that example of kids having a meltdown in public or like in public, in a Target or whatnot. And something that I, again, I think so many moms have experienced, so many moms can personally relate to.
[20:41] But now you're talking about it is like multiplied, right? Because.
[20:46] Because you're essentially,
[20:48] you know, on camera, so to speak, like anytime you leave the house, like, and so you're always being mindful of who might be out there, who might. So it's not just like, oh, is this person judging me?
[20:57] But is this person going to recognize me and also be judging me? It sounds like you deal with a lot of that. So, yeah, I'm curious, like, how do you,
[21:04] like, how do you work through that? How do you cope with that for yourself?
[21:07] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: It's so hard. So many, like my I. What I don't want is to have someone have an interaction with me. If I'm just like in a moment and they go back and tell their friends and family, oh, I ran into Kate at Target.
[21:21] She is not as nice as she seems to. That that's fear is that someone's going to catch me in a moment or I'm going to be overthinking it and maybe overcompensating.
[21:32] And I'm really like, wow, that case, she really is like, stay away from her. You know, I have that fear of.
[21:39] Because I've always been a people pleaser my entire life, you know, been like, well, why doesn't this person like me, why did you know, everyone goes through that. They all start when we're kids and going through high school and everything, you know, and that doesn't stop when you're almost 40 either.
[21:53] And so there's, there's that level to it. So it's just really trying to be aware of the situation, aware of your surroundings. And, you know, sometimes they're going to catch me having to tell my kid, hey, you're being naughty.
[22:07] No tablet and having down. There's been many times where I've had kids, like kicking and screaming and I'm just like,
[22:14] kids, man. You know, and they're just like, oh, Ben there. Usually it's the grandparents, like, oh, I've been there before.
[22:21] They're usually in solidarity. I'm like,
[22:24] it's like the firemen carry, you know,
[22:26] trying to drag them. And it's just you, sometimes you got to do what you got to do and it's just like, well, this is what it is today.
[22:32] Christi Gmyr: Well, no, absolutely. You know, and it's interesting too because, you know, you're talking about people pleasing, you know, you're talking about being really mindful of, you know, how you're being portrayed, you know, when you're out in public and whatnot,
[22:45] because you do have an image, you know, that you're trying to protect. But then of course, on the other side of it, you know, you have been doing these Facebook reels.[22:52] You know, you have been very active on social media,
[22:55] which I just love watching those. And I feel like with a lot of those,
[23:00] you really,
[23:02] you really keep it real and you show us different parts of your life,
[23:05] including some of the messier parts. And you do that intentionally. You're not just getting caught off guard on a target. Right? And so I'm curious, like, how,
[23:14] like, what sort of prompted you to want to show some of those behind the scenes moments, even when maybe it does look a little bit messier.
[23:22] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Well, I think, you know, we live in such an age of, you know, the influencer phase and stage of Instagram and social media and everything, and everything looks so cookie cutter and perfect on paper.
[23:34] You know, people do like Instagram versus reality. Even sometimes the reality of it is maybe not quite so real.
[23:40] So I just, I try to peel back the layer a little bit, be like, listen, I'm not, I'm not an,[23:45] I'm not trying to be an influencer. I'm not trying to tell, you know, comment like, and I send you this link to these jeans. You know, that's, that's Not. That's not me.
[23:53] My job is to. Okay, if you're interested in how I'm navigating my stage of life, because maybe you relate because you're a working mother also.
[24:02] Christi Gmyr: Cool.
[24:02] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: I'll tell you how I kind of do things and how I screw up also.
[24:06] Christi Gmyr: But also, there's a lot of just
[24:07] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: the weather information aspect of it and the daily update to my stories that actually all stemmed from a poll that I took in one of the large Facebook moms groups a couple of years ago because I was getting so sick and tired of people posting weather questions and just being so off base and not correct and just not being so smart about things.[24:31] And I'm just like, oh, my gosh. Why,
[24:33] why, why? Why do you think this is? Okay, What? I was just. Especially when it came to winter weather.
[24:39] And so I put a poll out there. I was like, hey, shameless plug, here I.
[24:46] Here I am. I am here. If you. What? How do you get your information?
[24:50] Because people will post screenshots of their stock weather app.
[24:54] Christi Gmyr: I remember seeing that.
[24:55] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Yeah, I remember.
[24:57] I'm like, how are you getting information? Are you actually watching me on tv? Do you get your information more? Do you like, on a social media aspect on your apps?[25:07] Like, how would you best get your information?
[25:10] And what's the best way that I can get that info across to you? And so many people and I offer different,
[25:17] different solutions.
[25:18] And one of the highest ones was like a quick insta story,
[25:22] because I think that's what a lot of people do. They pull up their Facebook or their Instagram apps and they're checking their stories first.
[25:28] And I was like, huh?
[25:29] I'm like, oh, how am I going to work this into my already crammed morning?
[25:33] Christi Gmyr: I only have.
[25:34] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: I have a very limited amount of time. I come in at 3 o', clock, I have to forecast, and then I have to shocker. News flash. I do my own hair and makeup.
[25:43] I like to tell the joke. I have two stylists. My right hand and my left hand.
[25:49] Whenever people are like, oh, they do your hair and makeup for him. Like,
[25:53] they. My. My hands. Yes, they do.
[25:56] And then my mom buys most of my dresses for me or I'm buying them secondhand on Poshmark. That's how the glamour, the, the glamazon goes on there. But I'm like, huh.
[26:05] Well,
[26:06] I got time. When I'm doing my hair and makeup, I just put the phone because that was when, like, the whole get ready with me phase was really starting to pick up.
[26:15] I was like, you know, why don't I just kill two birds with one stone?
[26:19] Just put the camera up, I'll just talk and I'll tell people what they need to know in those, you know, 60 second clips or whatever. And then I'll tell them like, hey, this is what I'm going to be talking about in my newscast later, so I hope you're watching.
[26:32] And then I'll continually post like the most important takeaways of whatever's happening that day, that week, you know, what people are interested in. On my actual Facebook page itself, my Instagram, I leave more for like lifestyle stuff.
[26:45] I don't really whether posting on there like in the actual feed, if you will,
[26:50] besides the stories. And that's where all came from and it's really taken off. I can't tell you how many times I run into people and they say, I just love watching you do your makeup in the morning.
[27:00] I love watching your Get Ready with me. I love watching this. I get more comments about that than me being on TV at all.
[27:08] And it's on a weekly basis. I get these two to three a week.
[27:11] Christi Gmyr: Well, and I will say, you know, so you talk about just this ease for people. So like part of my morning routine is I have, my youngest
one has always been a terrible sleeper and for years now I'm just up with him before the rest of the family.
[27:24] And so part of our routine is we get up together.
[27:26] You know, I get him some breakfast and then I go sit down with my coffee and my phone and I pull, I pull it up and check my email and do a few things.
[27:33] And as soon as I open social media, there you are giving a season tips and things that we need to know for the day. And it's just, it's right there and then I don't even have to look it up.
[27:43] And then I'm there telling my husband like, oh, this is, this is what Kate says, this is what's happening.
[27:48] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: And because I'm doing them at four in the morning, they're like, it's like at the top of everyone's feed or the little circle is like my face is the first circle usually and people.
[27:56] So it's like easy, you know, get in, get out, go about your day. If you're able to watch me, fantastic. But if you can't,
[28:03] at least I told I did my job by telling you if you need your umbrella or hey, you're going to be buried under a foot of snow later today.
[28:11] Christi Gmyr: Well, and just even like interesting things that aren't even necessarily to the day. Like just the other day you posted something about,
[28:17] you know, by the end of the month we're going to have this much more daylight, you know, and I was so, like an extra like over an hour, I think you had said.
[28:24] Yeah, that's such a hopeful thing to look forward to.
[28:27] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: The dead of winter when it's. So when the weather gets like this, once we get to the especially, I mean, we're having one of the winterest winters we've had in, oh, gosh, I think since 2017, 18, 19, somewhere around there.
[28:42] I mean, this, it, this, this is a winter and it's been a while. And so I think a lot of people are really starting to feel, I know, me personally, I'm like, oh,
[28:50] okay. Like we're really getting to the grind here. I look for that optimism and try to find a little bit of positivity to kind of help anyone get through they're having a tough time.[28:59] If they're dealing with the seasonal depression or anything like that. I'm like, well, guess what, in less than a month it's gonna be sunny at 6 o' clock at night.
[29:07] Christi Gmyr: So there you go.
[29:08] Yeah, yeah.
[29:10] Well, no, and I definitely think that that is super helpful because to your point, winters can be so long and sometimes you just need a little bit of light,
[29:17] a little bit of, you know, hope that it is going to end, you know, that we're going to be through it soon. And so all of those things I think are,
[29:24] you know, I know they're helpful for me, you know,
[29:26] so I'm going to switch gears just a little bit. You know, we've been talking a lot about, you know, a lot of the challenges you've been having and, and things having to do with your career and whatnot.
[29:34] And I'm interested in hearing too about how you are taking care of yourself because you do have so many demands that you're dealing with. So with that in mind, you know, we talk about boundaries all the time.
[29:45] You hear that word everywhere and that looks different for everybody, you know.[29:49] And so I'm curious, like, what are some of the boundaries that you've had to put in place in order to take care of yourself and everything that's going on in your life?
[30:00] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: One thing that I try to make a priority, I, I've been not great about it lately. But now just in the last couple of weeks, kind of going back in, we are fortunate where we have, I call it closet gym.
[30:11] We have like a little closet that was turned into a makeshift Gym.
[30:15] Christi Gmyr: There's a.
[30:16] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: There's. It's not fancy. There's like a treadmill and elliptical and like two hand weights in there, you know, and it's enough space where if I got to do something, I really try to make an effort my last half hour.
[30:26] So I work my eight hours. So instead of taking a lunch and a half hour lunch, I just work straight through eight hours. And then that last half hour I go into closet gym and then I try,
[30:35] you know, get 20 minutes of whatever and. Because I know that's kind of my only opportunity to do that uninterrupted by a tiny human for the rest of the day.
[30:44] Because when I leave work, I have to go pick up my youngest and then I'm with her the rest of the day. Now, once everyone is school,
[30:50] that will be different. I will have more opportunity to do all that. But I've been really into kickboxing lately. I had this fall schedule and everything fell off with that.
[31:00] So I just recently just started making that a weekly priority for me to get back to doing because, oh, do I love punching stuff that I'm allowed to punch.
[31:10] It's a good. It's a good release,
[31:12] but also boundaries with not over scheduling myself with work things.
[31:17] Last year I kind of stretched myself a little thin with. I love doing school visits. I absolutely.
[31:23] It's my favorite thing. There were times where I overbooked my weeks and things were popping up where I was getting sick or a kid was. One of my kids was sick and I had a schedule and I just got a little bit.
[31:32] So I've been better about prioritizing, making sure I have enough buffer between school visits to make sure that I'm not overstretching myself, but also not being fair and not being fair to the schools I've committed to.
[31:44] And then like something comes up and then my schedule's too full to get them. You know what I. Oh, yeah, yeah. So I've been better about scheduling those,
[31:52] but also making sure that if I am taking on anything that's outside of work hours that I can actually logistically do. There were a couple of things last year. As wonderful as they were.
[32:04] Sometimes it was. It was. It was a little trickier than I thought because of just coverage, you know, whether because sometimes my husband is busy or he has something going on and so just trying to juggling.
[32:14] But I mean, it all works out, but it's just.
[32:17] It's just kind of managing my time a little bit, especially on off work,
[32:22] off work time well.
[32:23] Christi Gmyr: And you Mentioned, you know, your husband. Right. So he's obviously in the same industry also very demanding, I would imagine. I guess I don't know his routine, but I'm sure it's also probably a little bit crazy.
[32:34] And so how,
[32:36] now that there are two of you doing that together, how has that shaped the way that you guys split your responsibilities at home?
[32:42] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Yeah, it's really changed. So 10 years ago, when we had my oldest, we were complete opposite shifts.
[32:48] So worked out with I was three to three to noon, and he was three in the afternoon to midnight. So we didn't need childcare, we didn't need to pay for a sitter or anything like that.
[32:58] So it worked out really well. We didn't really see each other because we didn't have same days, days off, but so that's how we were able to really split the responsibility there.
[33:08] Well,
[33:09] fast forward Covid happens all the way. We had to do work completely changed. I was pregnant with my second,
[33:16] and his company that he worked with, his old news station, they restructured everything and laid a whole bunch of people off, including him. And so that really threw a monkey wrench in us just getting to a point in our careers.[33:29] I was, you know, doing better in the morning. He was, you know, even though he was on weekends, he was still, you know, making an okay salary for him. Like we were getting to a point and all of a sudden and everything just gets ripped away.
[33:41] And that was a very, very low point for us in our lives, in our marriage. We just had a baby and just trying to figure everything out, trying to figure out his career,
[33:52] because what he thought he was going to do for the rest of his life has now been taken away from him.
[33:56] So that was really, really difficult for us to pivot on. And it took a few years.
[34:04] It took at least two to three years and another kid,
[34:07] we had another child on top of all to really kind of find our footing again. And now things are finally back on stable ground. I think within this past year,
[34:17] now that he has a normal job, because before when he was doing sports,
[34:22] he. If he were still doing that to this day, he would not be able to pick up our daughter from dance. If he too, he would not be doing the golf league that he likes to do once a week, or even the hockey league that he does once a week because he would have to work all of these mornings.
[34:37] So it was like they. When it happened, everyone said, it'll be a blessing in disguise. It'll be a blessing in disguise. It takes time.
[34:44] But we finally got there. He's working a 9 to 5. He's doing the normal job hours.[34:50] Now we have to pay for daycare, but that's okay. We found an amazing daycare person, so that kind of works out. But we've really been able to manage our home life a whole lot better, I think.
[35:04] We weren't saving the money on no daycare, but we were able to be home as a family evenings.
[35:10] We're able to be home together and do things on the weekends. You know, that. That makes a huge difference. And he's back on TV every single day. Is it sports?
[35:18] No, but he's. He's killing it. Doing really, really fun stuff on his show, though.
[35:23] Christi Gmyr: Well, obviously, you know, daycare and the stress of, like, paying for that, like daycare, I know, can be a huge financial stressor for a lot of people. And money is obviously a huge consideration.
[35:34] But to your point,
like, there's also a lot of value in having time and having the ability to, you know, be with our kids and do the things that we enjoy and things like that.
[35:44] And so it sounds like you guys have really been able by, you know, by taking on daycare and maybe having to deal with that, but you're getting all these other benefits too, to go along with that.
[35:54] Oh, absolutely.
[35:55] So then obviously, you know, it's the two of you, you know, managing these things at home. But, like, what about. What about your support system? Right? We talk about how important our support systems are.
[36:04] You know, we can't do everything by ourselves.
[36:07] And so what is your support system like? And how important have you found that to be juggling the demands of your life?
[36:14] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Oh, I say it all the time. It's a common phrase. It takes a village. It really does.
[36:20] I don't. My parents do not live locally. They live three hours away. And my in laws live in Florida, so we don't. We literally have no family nearby. I think I have a cousin who lives up in Fort Drum.
[36:32] Christi Gmyr: Yeah.
[36:33] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: But that's it. So by making the connections with our next door neighbors are amazing. Our next door neighbor is like our girl's second mom. I had a second mom who was my babysitter growing up because both my parents were working parents an hour away.
[36:50] And so Loe is my second mom. I spend more time at her house, like. And so our next door neighbor has kind of taken on that role for our girls that I had growing up.
[37:01] So without that, I don't think we could survive at all. They've become like our. Our designated second family, which is Amazing. But also we've gained some amazing connections and friendships through our kids.
[37:14] Like in dance, you know,
[37:16] there's been times where I've been in a, I've been in a pickle and I've had to call upon help whether I have a friend who is maybe a stay at home mom.
[37:23] I'm like, hey, I got something, I have to do this. I just need like two hours to go to, you know, do you mind if I, you know, pick up this or do this?
[37:31] And there's been times where, yeah, you like, you've helped me out by grabbing my oldest from, you know, and like help me transport because I had to do something work related or whatever.
[37:40] And so having that support system in friendships and it's not hard, it's, I should say it's not easy to make that.
[37:50] And there's so many people that do not have that support system.
[37:53] Christi Gmyr: Yeah.
[37:54] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Through friendship, family or by hire, whether you have to hire a nanny. And not everyone is privileged to afford that and do that.
[38:03] And so we're, we're fortunate that we've been able to make those connections because I, I know many people who don't have that at the, at their disposal.
[38:11] Christi Gmyr: Yeah, no, I hear you and I do agree with you. I think that that is something that is so important and so many people struggle with. We also don't have a lot of family locally, you know, so I,
[38:20] I completely get that 100%.
[38:23] And to your point, like it does, it takes, it takes a village. Sometimes our village looks a little bit differently. But,
[38:30] but yeah, and that's why I do, I think it's so important that all moms are out there, you know, supporting each other and helping each other out because it is so, so hard and we are all,
[38:39] we are all in it, you know.
[38:41] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Yeah.
[38:41] Christi Gmyr: So what is something that you wish more people understood about working moms specifically in high visibility roles?
[38:50] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: We're all just trying to get through a day to day just like everyone else.
[38:55] And there are times that are easier than better, obviously in my role specifically just because I have to handle the weather.
[39:03] A lot of people have a lot of opinions about the weather. And if you're off by 2 inches of snow, oh, people will be mad about that.
[39:12] And so it's, it's handling that while also trying to juggle the demands of home life where, okay, a snowstorm is coming. My work life is going to be very busy.
[39:22] Maybe I have to put in longer hours, but oh, guess what? Now my kids can. School is also closed.
[39:26] Christi Gmyr: Yeah.
[39:26] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: So it's it's juggling those two aspects. Whereas my coworkers,
[39:31] they don't have young children in school, they don't have to deal with that. And so I have a little bit of a different variable and challenges compared to my other amazing men that I work with.
[39:43] They're fantastic. But I, I have different challenges than we do. You know, like they don't have young children to take care of. And our, even our newsroom, there's not many that are parents.
[39:54] Like our whole morning crew, myself and my two co anchors, all of us have young kids around the same age. So we all kind of get it, which is great.
[40:01] But yeah, when bad weather happens, that's where things can get get a little, little dicey.
[40:06] Christi Gmyr: And that sort of brings us back to the topic of the support system. Right. I would imagine in situations like that, that's going to be incredibly important for you.
[40:15] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: I've had a call upon be like, oh, it's a two hour delay. Can you, can the girls come to your house and get the bus from your house or.
[40:22] I am, work is great. I, they probably don't love it, but they're like, okay, you got to do what you got to do. Sometimes we have to bring them into work with us.
[40:30] Christi Gmyr: Yeah.
[40:30] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Call it Camp News Channel nine.
[40:32] Christi Gmyr: Well, that.
[40:33] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Oh, go ahead.
[40:34] Christi Gmyr: I'm sorry.
[40:34] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Gotta do what you gotta do.
[40:35] Christi Gmyr: Yeah, you do. And it sounds like you were so fortunate that your employers are understanding. I mean, like to your point. I mean, maybe they're not always loving it because they don't make a habit.
[40:46] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: It's like very rarely does it have to happen, but like, sometimes it just does. Like, there was one time I had to work a Saturday night.
[40:53] I agreed to it weeks ahead of time, but we didn't have an available babysitter.[40:59] And I think,
[41:00] I think my husband was working like a play by play game down in Binghamton. So he was gone earning money to pay for dance.
[41:08] And it was like, oh my gosh, I have to work a shift that I don't normally work.
[41:12] And I literally had no one to watch the girls. I was like, come on, you're coming with mommy to work. And I stuck him in the conference room. I was like, stay here, I'm done recording stuff.
[41:22] And I came in and like, I think my youngest drew crayon on the wall. And I'm like, oh my gosh.
[41:30] But we were able to clean everything up and all that, but it was, it was pretty funny.[41:35] Christi Gmyr: And now you have a story to tell.
[41:36] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Now I have a story to tell.
[41:38] Christi Gmyr: Oh my gosh. Well, I have to tell you, this has all been so interesting and again, I know that so many people,
[41:44] especially in central New York, already are familiar with you and follow and I know that they're all going to really appreciate having this little insight into behind the scenes, into your life.
[41:54] Before we kind of wrap up though, I'm wondering where can listeners go to learn more about you and your work?
[42:01] All these like things that we've been talking about, social media and whatnot, people who maybe aren't familiar, where can they go to find those things?
[42:06] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: Yeah, if you go to Facebook, just search meteorologist Kate Thornton. And on Instagram,
[42:13] a bit embarrassing. I. I'm still on the fence of whether I should change my Instagram handle or not because it's my old screen name from when I in high school.[42:21] Instant messenger, which is at Hurricane Chippy.
[42:25] It was an old high school nickname on cheeks and hurricanes because I loved hurricanes, you know,
[42:31] but even if you just look up Kate Thor in Columbia, that's my legal name,
[42:36] you'll find me on there. But the handle is at Hurricane Chippy. Oh, you'll find everything I post on there and all that.
[42:44] Christi Gmyr: Okay. So thank you. And then of course I will make sure that that information is available in the show notes for anybody who wants to look up and find Kate and follow Kate.
[42:54] So for the burned out moms who are listening,
[42:58] I'm wondering if there is anything else that you would want them to know, like if you could leave them with one final message, one final piece of advice, what would it be?[43:09] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: It may seem like you're falling and crashing, but you're not.
[43:12] As long as there's a roof over your head,
[43:16] people are eaten, people are closed. And you survive the day you survived. Was it perfect?
[43:23] Probably not.
[43:24] How many birthdays do you get?
[43:26] Maybe one a year, if that.
[43:28] Christi Gmyr: You know, even that seems generous.
[43:31] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: If that.
[43:32] As long as you show up for the ones who depend on you. But you got to show up for yourself too. You can't forget about yourself and don't be afraid to lean on your people if you got people in your corner.
[43:44] And if you don't try and not try, but trying to think,
[43:54] if you don't have that support system, just know you're still doing great.
[43:57] I know it may not seem like. And it's so cliche. Everyone says it all the time, like,
you're doing great, mama. It's like,
[44:03] no, I'm not.
[44:04] Christi Gmyr: But it's important to hear it.
[44:06] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: It is important to hear it. It is. And to give yourself grace. It's something I have to tell myself, too. I'm very hard on myself.
[44:13] Christi Gmyr: I'm very.
[44:14] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: I can be very flighty and flaky and forgetful. And I get really agitated and annoyed with myself because I feel like then I'm letting down the family unit if I forgot this appointment or forgot to book this and do that and all.
[44:26] And it's just like, you can only handle so much.
[44:29] Christi Gmyr: Yeah, yeah. No.
[44:30] Meteorologist Kate Thornton: And I think still alive at the end of the day, that's a win.
[44:34] Christi Gmyr: Well, and I appreciate you saying that because I do think that it's something that so many people struggle with, and it's important you talk about it being cliche. Cliche. But I do think people often forget that.
[44:42] And it's important to have those reminders. And it's just, again, another reminder, too, that we all sort of struggle. Nobody's lives are perfect.
[44:49] And,
[44:51] yeah, we're. We're doing the best we can. And as long as we have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies, clothes on ourselves, on our kids, you know, we are.
[44:59] We're doing. We're all doing a great job.
[45:02] So. Okay, well, thank you again so much for being here. I know you are, like, super busy, and then.
[45:08] So I really, really do appreciate it.
[45:10] And then, as always, for the moms who are listening, if any of this resonates, if you found any of the things we talked about today to be helpful or valuable, please share this podcast with any other moms that could use some additional support, because we're all in this together.
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