Meet Hayley. As one half of The Lee & Hayley Show, there is a great chance that you’ve seen her on television or on social media bantering back and forth with Lee Cruse, or maybe even breaking a golf club. Growing up just outside of Nashville in Lebanon, Tennessee, Hayley found herself loving the news from a young age. As a graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, Hayley interned at NewsChannel 5 in Nashville prior to landing her first job in broadcasting at WBKO in Bowling Green, where she anchored the morning and mid-day news. After progressing from reporter to weekend anchor to weekday morning anchor while there, she then moved onto WATE 6 news in Knoxville where she served as weekend morning anchor. After having doors open for an opportunity to return to the Bluegrass, Hayley quickly jumped on the chance to join WLEX as the morning anchor a few years ago. Now, along with Lee Cruse at ABC 36, she is enjoying her new role as a daily talk show host where they feature celebrity and musical guests, current events, comic sketches and human-interest stories.
Going from covering hard news to having a show with your name in the title proves that hard work can help you reach amazing heights. We can’t wait to see where her career takes her!
Thanks, Hayley, for the great energy and entertainment that you provide each day along with the many laughs that we all need!
Questions:
Q: How long have you lived or worked in Lexington?
A: I’ve been here since 2014 when I moved here to be the morning anchor at LEX 18.
What led you to your current career?
A: I feel like my whole life people always told me I needed to do something in front of the camera. I guess because of my personality people said I needed to be an actress or on the news or something. I could never be an actress because I’d just start laughing and couldn’t be serious. I took one acting class in college wanted to die. It was so horrendous and so embarrassing. But I grew up watching the news. Both of my siblings would sleep until the last minute before school and I’d be downstairs watching the morning news with my mom when I was in elementary school. I’ve always loved the news for some reason. I love, even amongst my family and friends, sharing juicy gossip and news with them. Finally about my senior year in high school I thought, “Maybe these people are onto something.” Even though I have a big personality, I do feel like I come to life when I’m in front of people. I feel like I can finally relax and am very at ease and at home when I am performing. I don’t have to think about myself or anything else for a while. I just get to relax.
Q: What is something that you would like people to know about your job?
A: Probably a couple of things. First, broadcasters are expert multitaskers. A lot of people don’t realize how much is going on while you’re actively on television speaking. There is always someone talking in your ear. You’re always watching the clock to see how much time is left in the segment and gauging if what you’re doing is interesting or if you should drop out of it. You always have to be thinking 3 steps ahead and also 3 steps behind and how to possibly clean up a mistake that was just made. It’s never only what you’re hearing. Another thing is that just because a show may only be 1 hour, it’s weeks of work in advance to create that hour. We don’t just show up and go on TV. It can be intense and is a lot of work. It also takes a lot of people. Lee and I are nothing without our staff. They are invaluable.
Q: What is your favorite restaurant in Lexington and what is your go to order?
A: I love Carson’s. It’s so good! What I get depends on if I want to be a sloth or if I’m going to the gym later. I either get the soup & salad or the chicken fried chicken. Lately I’ve been on an extreme Skyline bender. I’d never had Cincinnati style chili until I moved to Lexington. I’d hear people talk about a 3-way and I was like, “Pardon?!? I’m not interested.”
For brunch I always love to go to either First Watch or Wild Eggs.
Q: If you could travel to anywhere in the world, where would you go?
A: I’ve always had a dream of going to Greece. I finally went to Europe last year on a girls’ trip and it was a dream. We went to Paris and London and it was everything I thought it was going to be and more. If I could spend every dime I had on traveling, I would. I also feel like we miss out out on how varied, vast, and miraculous our country is. It takes a long time to fly across this country! There are so many landscapes and cultures, so I’m huge into traveling in just the United States.
Q: What is your favorite thing about Lexington?
A: I think how similar it feels to home. I’m a big home body and resist change at all cost. Whenever I’ve moved anywhere, it’s always been a hard transition. But Lexington isn’t that different from middle Tennessee from a people, culture, and landscape perspective. It’s very similar to where I’m from. It became home pretty quickly.
Q: What is something you take family or friends to do when they visit from out of town?
A: Keeneland and any of the distilleries. My favorite tour to take them on is Buffalo Trace because of Freddie. His grandfather and father both worked there too, so he’s a 3rd generation employee. He was even in a documentary called Neat that’s all about bourbon and what lead to its surge in popularity. So if you visit Buffalo Trace, ask for Freddie to be your guide. He’s amazing.
Q: How have you spent your time during the quarantine & social distancing?
A: Something I have spoken pretty openly about is mental health. I’m very open about the fact that I struggle with pretty extreme anxiety and I do think that it is one of the hardest aspects of my life. But I also think it’s one of my biggest blessings as well because it’s helped me grow in so many ways. I think that’s what has made me better on television than I could have ever been. Something people always say to me is, “Sh*t could just be hitting the fan and you’re just like, ‘Whatever’.” That’s because in my mind, sh*t was already flying through the air. I was already in the middle of a disaster so when it actually happens, I’m like, “Thank God, something I can finally attach my anxiety too!” I think it’s made me a better broadcaster because I perform well under pressure and in the midst of disaster.
The last year of my life has been challenging professionally and I think it’s been the hardest year of my life mental health wise as well. Over the last year I’ve really not been taking the best care of myself and I’ve been avoiding a lot of things. Quarantine was finally the break I needed to get back to my healthy coping mechanisms, seeing my therapist virtually and just taking better care of myself. I feel like I’m in a much better place mentally now. When quarantine first began, I know myself and everyone I knew were just complaining about missing our old ways of doing things. But I think for me, it was a shift in perspective that maybe this isn’t the worst time in our lives because we were all forced to look inward. It’s such a rat race and it’s such a productivity competition in our culture that if you aren’t accomplishing something every second of every day, you’re a failure. I think I’m now in such a better place emotionally, mentally, and physically than I’ve been in a long time. I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.
Q: What do you feel is an essential part of your routine that contributes to your overall well being or mental health?
A: I know it sounds so simple but it’s so effective, but deep breathing. When I’m feeling particularly pent up and anxious, taking deep breaths really gets me re-focused and re-centered.
Q: If you could have lunch with any living person, who would you choose?
A: Natalie Morales or Kelly Rippa. Both are so beautiful and relatable. I would love to hang out with them. I think they’d be exactly as I thought instead of feeling like I was hanging out with a couple of celebrities.
Q: Who’s your go-to band or artist when you can’t decide on something to listen to?
A: Being from the Nashville area I’m a huge country music fan. Kacey Musgraves, Miranda Lambert, Dierks Bentley, and Chris Stapleton are some of my favorites. But I can listen to anything from any genre. For me it’s all about the lyrics. I love every genre though.
Q: What’s something that is on your bucket list?
A: Just to travel the world. I love seeing things I’ve never seen before.
Q: What is your favorite TV show?
A: I love Frasier. It’s a comfort show for me. Some people put on Friends or Sex and The City to play in the background, but for me it’s Frasier. I don’t care what episode it is, Niles is my king. I also love anything true crime or crime procedural show. If it happens to be British, even better.
Q: If you were cast in a movie, who would you choose as your co-star?
A: There are so many. Probably Matthew McConaughey. I think one of the greatest movies of all time is How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days. It’s so stupid but I love it.
Q: If you could give advice to a group of people, what would it be?
A: Over the years I’ve had a lot of interns that have come through the different stations I’ve worked at, especially at LEX 18, we had a lot of interns. Sometimes I think interns get overlooked and so I’ve always tried to put myself in their shoes and never get annoyed with their questions. I try to help them in every way and be really honest with them. I was an intern once so I know how you can feel stupid and in the way. So anyone that’s trying to make it in news, just know that your first couple of years are going to be horrible and that’s OK. Those two years are not forever. More than likely you’ll probably start out a station with some horrible equipment and working really horrible hours, but you’ll learn so much. Whenever you get unsatisfied with your current position or schedule, remember how lucky you are to have a job because they are few and far between. Keep things in perspective!
