Cwe see Mia Ceran in a bar in Milan, in the morning. Having settled her two children Bruno and Lucio, aged 2 years and 7 months, she has read the newspapers carefully (it is part of her job), she has time to I Woman. Until last spring Mia was on TV with In your shoes on Rai Due. But as the second birth approached, surprising herself more than her audience, she said: “Enough, I can’t do it”, and ended the broadcast early. But she didn’t stop with The Essential, his daily podcast which uses quick language to tell one or two news stories of the day, almost always from foreign countries, and almost always little followed by the Italian media.
Mia Ceran has an international background, speaks five languages, has been working since she was at university, she is a contemporary and metropolitan woman. He lives in his time, which is that of the Millennials. A coffee, a smoothie, and we are ready to start.
The Essential it is one of the most listened to podcasts in Italy. The secret?
I like to think that it helps to go beyond the headline of a news story, adding a summary of previous episodes. Thanks to social media I have direct feedback, listeners write to me. 90 percent ask me to talk about foreign affairs. The podcast creates a community, it’s not something as distant as TV.
How do you select news?
In the morning I read Italian newspapers. In the afternoon I go to foreign sites, I have 4-5 reference ones. When I locate the news, I look for two or three sources. I write in the evening. In the morning at 7 Will Mediawhich produces it, uploads it to the platforms. The Essential It’s a great professional novelty. I had always made TV in the traditional way. With the podcast I rediscovered my passion for journalism in a new space.
Mia Ceran, 36 years old. Photo by Nicola De Rosa. Stella McCartney Winter Collection 2023 coat. Giorgio Visconti earrings and rings.
When was this passion born?
I studied Economics at the John Cabot American University in Rome, because the idea of seeing myself in a solid corporate context reassured me. But when I did my internship at CNN in 2006, I thought: this is my job.
What memories do you have of the internship?
During that period there was a decisive event for me: the Football World Cup, won by Italy. Hearing the screams of the fans in Rome, from a CNN van, was a crazy emotion. But above all it was a moment of identity. I was born in Germany to a German father and a Bosnian mother, two somewhat nomadic parents who took me to live between Sarajevo, Miami and Rome. I didn’t belong anywhere. That evening I felt 100 percent Italian for the first time. I said to myself: I want to find my way here. And so I did.
Was the internship the turning point?
Yes, even if I later made others. I left university with fairly clear ideas about the world of work. I waited two years before the opportunity arose: the CNN correspondent moved to Mediaset and was creating his team. She offered me a position as a collaborator for 1000 euros gross. Meanwhile I had signed with a company, I was earning more. I was hesitating.
What made her change her mind?
My mother. She told me: you’re young to make an economic choice, I’ll give you the difference. I went to Mediaset, she never gave me the difference. But her push was fundamental.
Mia Ceran has two children: Bruno, 2 years old and Lucio, 7 months. Photo by Nicola De Rosa. Calcaterra shirtdress and miniskirt. Like Me earrings and rings by Giorgio Visconti.
What is your relationship with your mother?
I saw it again with new eyes when I understood, as a parent, that what really matters with children is the example. I recognize a real woman who was an example of tenacity and consistency. Example is the only thing that matters to her. When I hear my son say thank you, I know he learned it from us. My mother has always followed the principles that inspired her.
His TV career began at Mediaset.
I did my internship at Tg5, then I started working at La7. Once the program ended, I was unemployed. Until Andrea Vianello, director of Rai Tre, called me to propose the first hosting, ad Agora. I remember a great insecurity, the fear of not having all the skills to make it.
A very feminine insecurity, don’t you think?
Certain. But over time I won it. Today I know my worth. It wasn’t like that at the time.
She uses a paper diary. What relationship does it have with technology?
I like it when I see that my daily life improves. As for social media, I don’t post everything on Instagram. But I think that, for those who have a public dimension, it is a step forward compared to exposing themselves in magazines.
In the spring he wrote a post that was much discussed. Pregnant with her second child, she announced that she would stop. A choice that confirms?
For now the TV is on pause. I have learned not to make predictions. I had misjudged my strength, promising that I would give birth and immediately after that I would return to TV. Instead, I reached the ninth month really tired and I wanted to say it publicly because I understood that I had been a slave to the logic of “you can do anything”. I am the daughter of a woman who managed her work and children with this logic. We Millennials are called to be mothers as if we didn’t work, with a very high bar of the pedagogical value of every gesture, of cooking fresh every day, of always being on point. When we work, however, we have to pretend that the family doesn’t exist. I don’t want to advise women to quit their jobs, I haven’t done it. But the story of these presenters who one day have a belly and the day after giving birth comes back in perfect videos is distorted. All is not well.
What is feminism for you?
It’s solidarity between women. Only if we are in solidarity do we increase our power and fight patriarchy. I don’t like rhetoric, I’ve seen women flaunting feminist slogans and then being very cruel at work. I root for women when they remember others, not when they chase power for themselves. I was lucky, I created precious female alliances. In daily life, since I became a mother I measure myself every day on the fact that moving the bar is up to me. My husband is a manager, a modern father, but I have to overcome the natural tendency to do everything that concerns the family. Feminism is a gym, you have to exercise.
Mia Ceran has a daily podcast, The Essential, produced by Will Media. Photo by Nicola De Rosa. Gabardine trench coat, Fendi shirt and trousers. Giorgio Visconti earrings, necklace and rings.
A woman who inspired you?
Angela Merkel, for her ability to manage power firmly without ever distorting herself, always remaining faithful to the girl from East Germany who was looking for a scientific truth to anchor herself and interpret the difficulties of life.
Mia Ceran, love, family
What is love?
Something that changes every day. Until I was 30 I would have been able to give it a perimeter, today I don’t. Motherhood has changed your perspective. Meanwhile, because you love someone more than you love yourself. But the couple also changes, because more complicity is needed, and compared to the previous storm, love aspires to be more solid.
You have two young sons: how are you raising them?
Returning to the topic of the example. The first thing is to see how the male of the house behaves. The father must be a model of how to behave with women and how to deal with daily ménage. I grew up with my mother, who, since she was separated, did almost everything herself; this is why it comes naturally to me to think that some things are my job. Feminism helps me exercise. For example, my husband and I work from home. When he closes the door, no one dares to enter, while I still have to fight to make it clear that I have the same right. However, the comparison with other women helps me. Motherhood is a glue, it helps to form a team.
What wouldn’t you give up?
To kindness. In this fast-paced, always competitive world, it is a great resource to reach out to someone for free.
How do you define your generation, in three words?
Individualistic, disappointed, resilient.
What do you envy or reproach Boomers and Gen Z?
I envy Boomers for having lived with the prospect of perpetual improvement. And I criticize them for not being able to convey to us the idea that resources were not infinite. They thought that everything could be bought, when that wasn’t the case. What can I reproach young people for? They find themselves with a planet to save, a devastating economic situation. We Millennials grew up with the idea of ”if you put your mind to it, you can do it”, and it was a great deception. We have been betrayed, but now we must not betray Gen Z.
What book would Gen Z read?
Crossroads, by Jonathan Franzen, because I think that the topic of generational transition is the most complex thing we are called to do. In particular for us Millennials, who are a “ferry” generation between those who have had everything or almost everything – the Boomers – and those who risk having very little inherit – Gen Z – or at least that’s what they feel.
Have you ever committed yourself to any cause?
Never in politics. I have been collaborating with AIRC and UNHCR for years. Different themes, which I feel close to.
The myth?
Annalena Tonelli, the lay missionary from Forlì who I learned to know thanks to Annalena Benini’s book, Annalena. One who dedicated her life to helping others, first in Kenya, then in Somalia, fought to take lives from devastating diseases and loved everyone, especially the least, as if they were her children, she who had no children . A powerful maternal love, like that of Mother Teresa.
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