Though it has been a while since Katie Couric was at the helm of a network news broadcast, she hasn’t let her career in media go stale. In fact, Ms. Couric, 67, said she had never been busier.
She and her husband, John Molner, founded Katie Couric Media, a multimedia company that puts out a daily newsletter, videos and podcasts, including Ms. Couric’s interview podcast “Next Question.”
Ms. Couric and Mr. Molner split their time between an apartment in on the Upper East Side of Manhattan and a house in East Hampton on Long Island.
NEWS HUBS I wake up probably 8 o’clock-ish. I look at my phone and check my messages, then I get sucked into reading a lot of articles on my phone. I read hard news, mostly politics. Apple News feeds me a lot of stories about the royal family and sometimes I check those out, but mostly these days it’s presidential politics. I’m still in bed, but I try not to get too comfortable. I haul myself out of bed mostly because my husband tells me to get up.
SECRET BAGELS We go together to Goldberg’s, which is a bagel place near our house in East Hampton. I usually go back to the city after Labor Day, but most of my work can be done remotely. I’ve been working harder than ever here in East Hampton. My colleague told me she’s going to buy me a T-shirt that says “addicted to the grind.” At Goldberg’s I get a hazelnut iced coffee with milk and a half a Splenda, which I’m trying to wean myself off of because I just think it’s probably not great for you. It’s fun for me to go to Goldberg’s because I know the owner, Paul. Sometimes he’ll slip me a bagel so I don’t have to stand in line. I try to do that on the down low.
HIGH-TAILING IT If it’s a pretty day, we’ll take our coffee to the beach. Before 9 everybody’s there with their dogs, so it’s really fun to watch all the dogs running into the surf and frolicking on the sand. There are little dogs, big dogs. The other day there was a huge Great Dane, like Marmaduke. I thought, wow, that’s a lot of work. As soon as 9 o’clock rolls around there’s a huge mass exodus because you get a ticket if you have a dog on the beach after 9.
BEAUTIFUL BREAD Then we go back home, or I often go to a place called Carissa’s, which is a bakery near our house. It has beautiful pastries, but I usually go on Sunday to pick up a couple loaves of their honey wheat bread, because it’s really good and for whatever reason they only make it on Sundays. When I get home I slice it, put it in a baggie and store it in the freezer.
SHE’S GAME I’ve been playing a ton of pickleball. I’ve made a whole new set of wonderful friends I really like through pickleball. They’re local women, and women from the city, and it’s just been really, really fun. This is not your grandmother’s pickleball. These women are intense. We sweat a lot and burn a ton of calories. They’ve raised my game significantly; I have a killer serve now. I go to Hampton Racquet. The people who run it are super nice, and it’s super low-key and friendly. I’m not a country club person. It’s a very relaxed environment.
INVESTED, SORT OF Sometimes I’ll meet my friend Pat for a walk. I just got a weighted vest, so I’ve been trying to walk a little bit with that. It’s good for bone density. I haven’t quite gotten used to it, but in some ways it feels like someone hugging you when you walk, and that’s sort of nice.
MARTHA, INA … KATIE? Every Sunday is different, but I like to have people over for lunch. It just depends on how tired I am from pickleball, to be honest. I have a really great vegetable garden. I’m sounding very Martha Stewart-slash-Ina Garten right now, I know, but I’ll go pick stuff from my garden. This year we grew a lot of kale so I’ve been making kale salads with dried cherries I ordered from Michigan. It could be kale salad with cucumbers and toasted pecans. I also like to make my own pesto because I grow a lot of basil.
NEWSMAKERS Like many others, I’m pretty addicted to my phone, sadly. In the afternoons I’m reading about what’s going on in the world and talking to our newsletter editor, Sara. The newsletter is called Wake-Up Call. I may send Sarah an article and say: “This is really interesting. We may want to include it tomorrow,” or I’ll ask her about a series we’ve been working on. We’ll talk briefly on the phone. For me, work is fun. It’s always been fun and really satisfying because I’m just naturally a very curious person.
BABY FACE Sometimes in the afternoon I’ll check in with my daughter Ellie on FaceTime so I can see my new grandson. He’s only 6 months old and he’s so cute — he smiles at me on FaceTime. They live in L.A., which is kind of hard, honestly. I’ll also call my other daughter, Carrie, and sometimes John’s kids are here, which is fun because they’re also great.
OBSESSED AND ADDICTED If we’ve had a nice lunch, usually I’ll just make a light dinner. John plays a ton of golf so if he’s playing twilight golf we’ll maybe get a pizza, maybe have leftovers. He tends to go back to the city a little more than I do. If he’s driving back on a Sunday, he’ll wait till later in the day to avoid the traffic, which is horrific. But if we’re together we’ll read or watch something and call it a day. I’m always looking for good series and movies and documentaries. But lately we’ve been watching a lot of news because honestly it’s been such an incredible news cycle and I’m obsessed with the election. Also my husband is addicted, addicted, addicted to “Shark Tank.” He always says, “Let’s watch ‘The Tank.’”
THE CHAMP I go to bed between 10 and 11. I love to sleep, and I usually fall asleep right away. I’m lucky because a lot of people, especially as they get older, don’t sleep that well. But I’m a champion sleeper. I like to say I’d get a gold medal in sleeping.
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