Susie Ferguson’s road to Bloody Minded

Let’s get one thing straight: Susie Ferguson doesn’t like the word resilience.

The path of broadcaster Susie Ferguson’s successful career hasn’t come without obstacles. In her recent memoir, Bloody Minded, the author delves into deep details of her life and career, humbly describing the things she’s had to deal with as ‘her lot’.

But being described as resilient, or hearing others being called that, can feel like more of an insult rather than an encouragement. “People who are having a hard time with life and are being told to have more resilience, perhaps from work, really grinds my gears”, Susie said.

“Why can’t they be a bit nicer? It’s mean, people could just have a bit more empathy.”

Ferguson was in Kirikiriroa recently as a panelist at Hamilton Book Month’s opening event, Public Faces, Private Stories. She was joined by fellow NZ journalists and friends Diana Witchel and Alison Mau, with Chair, Venetia Sherson.

Ferguson said she was flattered to be asked to be on the panel as they shared their published memoirs in front of packed audience at Wintec on Friday, August 1.

It’s no easy feat to release a memoir Ferguson said, with some memories being hard to travel back to. “Going back to when I was a war correspondent and covering disasters was tough. The aftermath of my son’s birth was also challenging.”

She acknowledged that the past carried painful aspects, but there was a therapeutic relief with the passing of time and some changed perspectives.

Ashamed of her exam results at 18, Ferguson recalls her support from her family being “everything”. Her mother and father were in awe of her attempting them after a difficult lead up, but were also teaching her to keep taking opportunities.

Her next step into drama school was far more positive and Ferguson said she felt incredibly lucky to have met her supportive drama teacher and friends over those years.

“You know when you met some certain people that appear and help you turn a corner in a certain circumstance, that was my teacher Debbie – she’s an amazing person who I keep in touch with sometimes. “

Ferguson credits her four years of drama training to opening doors into broadcasting and being fundamental for her journalism work. “Your breathing, your voice work and staying grounded” are all skills theatre taught her.

“They’re both fundamentally about story telling. The way you approach the work is different, but at the core it sits the same”.

Ferguson’s approach is to not plan too much. For her, this is limiting rather than freeing and saying yes to most opportunities has paved her career this far.

“Knowing you are capable and that there are endless possibilities, goes in hand with saying yes. You can always learn new things ”.

When the opportunity arose to going to Iraq, Ferguson said yes. During her eight weeks of reporting, she was challenged in her thinking of what it meant to be human.

“I didn’t have that understanding of what it was, for your life to be entirely upended by political events of war and how people carry on through those disasters“.

Ferguson saw the worst of things, but it also taught her to see the best of things. She carried this approach into her work, to continue to look for the best of things, such as the helpers providing aid – despite the horrific, look for the best.

Ferguson has dared to do things differently and be vulnerable, and this has also flourished into a career of advocacy.

Her podcast ‘The Unthinkable’, which looks at the loss of a baby, won Gold in the Personal Lives category at the 2021 New York Festival radio awards and was a finalist for 2021 NZ Radio awards – Best News/Current affairs.

She has also used her lived experience of endometriosis to become an advocate for Endometriosis NZ, as patron, and helping the organisation speak in Parliament. The condition, which affects 1/10 women in NZ, is where endometrial-like tissue grows outside the uterus, often causing intense pain and fertility issues.

In Ferguson’s memoir, she shares her early struggles with the symptoms of endometriosis, which was not diagnosed for a long time. “The lack of awareness has changed since then. My Mum is a doctor and even then, wasn’t aware of it”.

These days Ferguson is a senior reporter at RNZ, a role she moved to in 2022 after 8 years on flagship news show Morning Report. The more flexible position sees her doing special projects and presenting Saturday Morning.

It’s fair to say life for Ferguson, who lives in Wellington with husband Lee, their two children and dog Rainbow, will continue to be somewhat unplanned – but full of possibilities and new opportunities to say yes to.

You can purchase Ferguson’s book Bloody Minded – War, Womanhood and Finding my voice here and other book stores. Hamilton Book Month continues until the end of August, check out their facebook page for more information.

Julia Bartley is a Year 2 Bachelor of Communication student at Wintec