“Prosecco and St-Germain. It’s my favorite cocktail,” says Joy Reid, MSNBC’s jack-of-all-trades anchorwoman of AM Joy since 2015, with a laugh on how she’s coping with the current political climate. It’s this easy, effervescent attitude and style that has captivated Reid’s viewership, which outpaced rivals CNN and Fox in year-over-year growth by a wide margin. “The news is not exactly good news,” explains Reid, “if we can have a little bit of fun in terms of how I present the information and the fashion, the clothes, the hair, the makeup, it gives the viewer something other than dour sadness to focus on.” Livening up the screen, Reid regularly wears directional ensembles in bold colors and Pop Art–style prints. “I look for interesting patterns or something colorful that will go well with chunky jewelry,” says Reid, who meets me on her one day off at Locanda Verde dressed in a simple Vince Camuto shift dress and a soft Kenneth Cole leather blazer.
“TV is a visual medium, so I feel like it’s part of the job to present a full package of yourself,” explains Reid who joked that shopping for ensembles can prove to be tricky in the area surrounding NBC News’s Rockefeller Center office. “You have to avoid the triad,” says Reid, laughing. “J.Crew, Banana Republic, and Michael Kors. Since we never have time off, the anchors will troll the stores. I bought a Michael Kors dress [and fellow MSNBC anchor] Alex Witt wore it.”
One way that Reid mixes things up is with jewelry. “I made friends with a woman named Margo Morrison,” says Reid as her eyes light up. “She is somebody, who after age 50, changed her life and started designing jewelry. I fell in love with her jewelry and her story.” Another jeweler with a similar tale is Opal Stone, that is her real name Reid assures me, whose pieces have also been sported by Beyoncé. “She’s Jamaican and fabulous,” adds Reid, who became a fan of Stone’s work through Instagram. Reid often switches up her pieces based on the pattern or color of her dress, rotating between statement necklaces, punchy earrings, or the odd bracelet. “Funky, unique, one-of-a-kind pieces,” says Reid.
However, there are moments when even Reid’s optimism is tested, especially in the current political sphere. “It’s more your tone and less your clothes,” explains Reid, who rarely does costume changes, so to speak, at work but recalls the evening of the George Zimmerman verdict. “It was one of those things when I did feel like the clothes had to match the moment,” says Reid. “It was a somber day for our audience and there are times when the whole presentation does need to match the moment.”
So how does Reid, who maintains the same considered tone in her tweets as she does on television, view the current leader’s penchant for posting online? “I just think it’s unwise,” says Reid, who previously worked in politics as a press secretary. “Our nightmare was that the candidate would say anything unscripted. When you’re President of the United States, everything you say is policy and everything you say has the potential to destabilize the planet. It’s just not a medium that was meant for a President to use the way he uses it.”
But Reid is quick to point out that it’s not all doom and gloom. “We focus a lot on the third of the country that voted for Donald Trump. We forget two-thirds of the country opposes [him] and 65 million people voted for the other candidate,” adds Reid with a smile. “It makes me proud of the country that so many people want to hear the information.” And with Reid at the wheel, it’s always delivered in style, seven days a week. So what exactly does she wear under her news desk? “Saint Laurent gray platforms,” says Reid excitedly. “I treated myself to not one, but two.”
Catch Joy Reid's interview with Hillary Clinton tomorrow at 10 AM EST and then again for the Global Citizen Festival at 3 pm EST.