TV presenter and entrepreneur Anna Daly talks to Elle Gordon about taking on new challenges, shaking things up and her new gig on RTÉ's Future Island.
Anna Daly has experienced a lot of change in recent years, most notably her decision to leave her job as anchor on Virgin Media's Ireland AM last year. She explains her reasons to shake it all up with a smile.
"I suppose I did a lot of early mornings. I did many years in breakfast TV, between reporting for years, traveling the globe doing junkets, interviews and travel features and everything else. I subbed for Sinead Desmond on the weekday show as an anchor initially, and then I pitched the idea for the weekend version of Ireland AM because there was no full-time slot for an anchor on the weekday show; Sinead was playing a blinder. I always say this to students in schools, 'If the job doesn’t exist then you get to create one.’
"I loved being in at the start of something. I got to be anchor and I did it for five years. We tripled the ratings target we were given, but I just got to a point, particularly during Covid, where I wanted to do more. With the contracts in Virgin, you can’t take up new opportunities. At the same time, we're in a position where my husband Ben Ward and his family lost Mothercare, their family business, so it was a time that I suppose spurred big changes."
From a challenging time came new ventures. "I launched my brand Little Bliss because I had been thinking about it for years and that time was a real kick up the arse for us, you know, a real wake-up call. I pulled out of all the bits and pieces that I had been working on. It was a shock, but I pulled it together and got the courage to launch my own brand. It started working very quickly and it gave me a sense of confidence that actually, I can go freelance, do telly and run my own business, and have a bit more freedom in my life."
When it comes to pursuing things Anna seems determined to follow projects that interest her. "I have made it very clear. I want to work on projects that excite people and that they engage with and that create water cooler moments the next day. I have interviewed a lot of people and I have done a lot of TV items, so for me it is about doing something that I haven’t done before.
"I love live TV and that is exactly how the opportunity to present Future Island came to be. This show is about the future, it is about sustainability, it is about all sorts of stuff: beauty and skincare. It reminds me of a show when I was a child called Tomorrow’s World about looking into the future. Yes, it is an educational family show, but it is also done in a smart and fun way. Everything about it is super interesting to me."
Dealing with curiosity and questions about the world is something Anna is used to, with three boys at home – Rhys, 5, Euan, 9, and James, 11. "My kids ask questions all the time and I haven’t a clue! So I either have to make up something very creative or pretend I am making a coffee in the corner of the kitchen while I am googling it.
"But what they do is make you question stuff that you don’t question yourself. They see the world with different eyes, and they don’t have the same cynical mind-frame as we do as adults, so that’s what makes it so much fun."
I wonder if going after what she really wants, in her TV career and her business, has made her happier?
"When you have your own business, it is daunting, but it’s liberating at the same time, it absolutely was the right time for me to do this. I think everything that happened kind of crystallised things for me: that I absolutely love telly, I want to continue doing telly, but I want to be able to get creative with it. Maybe some documentaries, maybe there’s a chat show in there and of course, Little Bliss. It’s busy but I am loving it."
