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Guest: Julie Makinen (journalist, editor, newsroom leader, and local news advocate)

Julie Makinen has done the rare thing in journalism: she’s worked at the highest levels of national and international newsrooms and chosen to bring that experience home to local journalism in the Coachella Valley. In this episode, Julie walks through her unexpected path from Stanford human biology major (med school was the plan… until it wasn’t) to a career that took her from the Washington Post to the LA Times, the New York Times ecosystem, and reporting/editing roles across Hong Kong and Beijing before leading The Desert Sun newsroom in Palm Springs.

Jason and Julie also dig into the big question: how local journalism survives now and what philanthropy, community support, and organizations like the Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation can realistically do to keep reporting alive. CVJF’s mission includes celebrating journalists, funding more reporting, and connecting the public to the work.

In this episode

• How a Stanford biology major became a lifelong journalist
• The internship moment that changed everything (Washington Post “big league” initiation)
• Why foreign correspondence is exhilarating and clarifying
• What it’s like running a newsroom covering a massive desert region with limited staff
• The uncomfortable truth about philanthropy supporting for-profit newsrooms
• Why “going nonprofit” isn’t a magic fix
• The business mistake that trained audiences to expect “free” news
• Why great journalism takes teams (not just solo newsletters and podcasts)
• The mission and future of the Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation

Mentioned in the conversation

Coachella Valley Journalism Foundation (CVJF)

• CVJF’s mission: promote and support sustainable community journalism in the Coachella Valley.
• CVJF’s Hall of Fame honors media professionals and supports the future of local reporting.

Hall of Fame keynote: Tonya Mosley
Tonya Mosley co-hosts Fresh Air alongside Terry Gross.

Call to action

If you care about local reporting—city halls, schools, public safety, water, development, the stories that shape daily life—support the people doing the work.

• Learn more, donate, and get on the CVJF mailing list: https://cvjf.org/
• Check the Hall of Fame page for the latest event details and tickets https://cvjf.org/cvjf-hall-of-fame/

And wherever you live: find a local journalism support org, subscribe to a local outlet you trust, and show up. Local news doesn’t survive on applause.

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

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This week’s episode is a little different. Instead of a traditional “journalism pivot” story, Dorothy Lucey and I sit down with Marianne Williamson, presidential candidate, author, spiritual teacher, and longtime activist, to talk about what happens after the title, the role, and the identity fall away.

Her newest book, Midlife Awakening, reframes what we’ve long called a “midlife crisis” as something else entirely:
not a breakdown… but an invitation.
not an ending… but a shift from me to we. 🤝

We talk candidly about:
🔥 Why midlife can be a beginning, not a collapse
💡 Letting go of fear-based and survival-driven identities
🧠 How to interrupt the treadmill of anxiety with purpose and service
❤️ Why “love is active” and showing up matters now more than ever
🕊️ Forgiveness—especially after political disappointment and betrayal
⏳ That moment when you realize: “We were out… and now we’re in.”

One of the most powerful moments comes when Marianne opens up about the aftermath of her presidential campaign—the resentment, grief, and anger she carried, and the deliberate work it took to forgive. Not to excuse what happened. Not to forget it. But to refuse becoming “a bitter, angry old woman” trapped by grievance.

It’s an honest, unsparing conversation about choosing inner freedom over righteous fury—and why that choice is essential if we’re going to stay engaged, awake, and useful in this moment.

If you’ve ever walked away from a career, questioned who you are without the role, or felt the pull to become something deeper—this episode will land. 🎧🌵

👉 WATCH the full interview playlist on YouTube (Life After News)
👉 LISTEN wherever you get your podcasts
✅ SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss what’s next
📲 SHARE with someone navigating their own “what now?”

#LifeAfterNews #MarianneWilliamson #MidlifeAwakening #DorothyLucey #ChasingFaith #Forgiveness #SecondAct #Reinvention #Purpose #FaithInAction #Identity #MidlifeShift #Activism #Podcast #YouTubePodcast #WatchListenSubscribe

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.

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Happy New Year and welcome to the first episode of the year. Jason Ball sits down with longtime TV journalist and beloved morning-show personality Lisa Breckenridge to talk about what happens when the newsroom chapter ends, but the storyteller isn’t finished. Lisa opens up about her unexpected exit from Fox, the identity shift that comes with leaving television, and the advice Maria Shriver gave her in a makeup room that helped change everything.

Lisa shares how the very thing many journalists once resented—social media—became her new platform, her new community, and a real business. From cold-DM’ing brands like she used to mail out tapes, to building a content mix rooted in her personal “pillars” (inform, educate, entertain, inspire), Lisa breaks down how she turned Instagram and TikTok into a money-making career with more freedom and a better quality of life.

Along the way: a viral on-set scooter crash that landed on TMZ, a candid conversation about reinvention at midlife, and why she created “Happily Lisa” after years of covering difficult, sometimes haunting stories in news.

In This Episode

• The shock of being “restructured” after 18 years at Fox and what it does to your sense of self
• The Maria Shriver advice that reframed social media as something you own, not the station
• How Lisa learned to monetize: media kits, engagement, and outreach (and why brands now come to her)
• What “Happily Lisa” is really about: choosing joy after seeing the darkest parts of humanity
• Building a sustainable creator business: long-term partnerships, UGC, and doing the work yourself
• The unglamorous side of entrepreneurship: invoices, tracking deliverables, and learning the business muscle
• The Good Day LA era and why that time in television felt like “lightning in a bottle”
• The infamous live-TV scooter crash (and what happened after)
• What’s next: long-form writing, newsletters/Substack, and getting paid to travel (Africa + dream-train goals)

Memorable Moments

• “This is your platform. It’s something that’s yours.” — the Maria Shriver turning point
• Lisa’s honest laugh about midlife, reinvention, and building a career on her own terms
• The scooter crash story: live TV chaos, concussion, and an accidental viral moment
• The shift from hard news to “sharing the happy” and why that choice mattered

Connect with Lisa

• Instagram / TikTok: “Happily Lisa” (search @HappilyLisa)

More from Jason / Life After News

• Follow the show for new episodes and behind-the-scenes updates
• Jason’s newsletter (Beehiiv) + Palm Springs-focused writing

Closing Notes
Jason closes the episode with an open invitation: Maria Shriver, if you’re listening, come on the show. And next week, Jason’s taking a short break to visit family in Arkansas—expect “greatest hits” from the last year of Life After News while he’s away.

Subscribe / Review / Share
If you enjoyed this episode, follow Life After News, leave a review, and share it with someone who’s navigating a career pivot of their own.

Let Life After News inspire your next chapter. Because leaving the news doesn’t mean the story’s over—it means a new one’s just beginning.