People know Morgan Radford as the co-anchor for NBC News Daily and a former face on Al Jazeera America and ABC News. But the seasoned journalist has acquired a few more titles as of late: author and mother of two.
A North Carolina native, Radford is currently in a season of expansion. Her family of three is becoming a family of four as she and her husband, David Williams, are expecting their second child in May of this year. For many women with thriving careers, having kids can feel like both a blessing and a setback. For the Emmy-nominated co-anchor, it is an opportunity.
“I feel so much more productive, so much more creative,” she tells ESSENCE. “I feel like the wind is just at my back,” Radford says. She recalls once being afraid of telling her boss she was pregnant, worrying it would be seen as a “reduction in professional capacity.”
However, the Harvard grad says the opposite turned out to be true, referring to motherhood as the “most expansive thing I’ve ever done.”
“It connected me more to the world. It made me more productive. I wrote a book. I’ve never had this many stories submitted for Emmys. My show has had the highest ratings it’s ever had, more viewers. So in many ways I feel like motherhood is part of my success story,” she explains.
The TV personality gave birth to her first child, Adelana Marcia Radford Williams, on Feb. 2, 2023, and says becoming a mom is the most healing thing she’s done. Baby number two was unplanned, but a pleasant surprise nonetheless.
The jump from one to two children can be precipitous, though. After all, each child has different needs, and a larger household often demands greater capacity, especially from moms. But Radford is excited about the ways baby number two will bring more abundance into her life.
“This is an accumulation of experience,” she says. “It’s an accumulation of wisdom. It’s an expansion of expression. When I think about having baby number two, I just think of more life, more love, more family, more creativity. But it’s also more lessons, right? Our kids teach us things, and I cannot wait to see what this second little blessing teaches me.”
Raising bilingual kids is a priority for the growing family, whose daughter currently attends a French school. In their household, which is nothing short of a cultural melting pot, they exclusively speak Spanish. Radford’s paternal side of the family has roots in Jamaica and Cuba, while Williams has Nigerian heritage. And yes, Adelana is also learning the Nigerian language of Yoruba, thanks to her grandparents.
“I want her to be a culture carrier,” Radford explains. “I want her to understand language and culture, respect for elders, our history, [and] our sacrifices for freedom. That’s really important to me to pass down our cultures and protect them and help them survive through the generations.”
That desire inspired her first book. In the midst of growing another human, she was burning the midnight oil writing her novel Now Then, which will be published by HarperCollins in May 2026. The Spanish language release of the book will come a few months later, in August. The novel follows Liliana Soto Walker, a Harvard student who uncovers her mother’s secret past, fleeing the Cuban Revolution while on a journey to self-discovery. Loosely based on Radford’s life, Now Then interweaves historical events, the importance of family heritage, and how culture shapes our past and present.
The journalist describes the process of writing her novel as “a gift” and one of the most exciting things she’s done. She drew from elements of her family’s history to put pen to paper, and the book’s crafting sparked conversations around identity, race, and Blackness. Timely, considering these are conversations we’re in the thick of as a nation.
“Every day Americans are now having active discussions about our relationship as a country internationally,” she says. “And so this conversation and writing this at this time was such a beautiful way for me to be able to interact with the world and give shape to some of what is happening.”
Not only is the book an ode to immigrants and the stories they hold, but it’s also a heirloom of sorts for her children. At the eleventh hour, Morgan asked her editors to add a letter to her daughter to the manuscript.
“I think that letter is really a conversation to my daughter about why I wrote this book, what I hope the legacy of this book is to her and to the world at large,” she says. “I hope she looks at it as soon as she’s old enough to read and understand the concept of romantic love.”
Tenacity, determination, and partnership have all contributed to Radford’s success in this season. She says Williams, whom she married in Cartagena, Colombia back in 2022, supports her dreams, even if it means waking up at midnight to discuss the Cuban Revolution.
The almost-mom of two also adds, as we enter this season of love, that of all of her accomplishments, she’s most proud of how they treat one another.
“We treat each other really well. He treats me really well. He sees me, he understands me, he listens,” she says. “He’s always engaged and present. And he believes in my dreams, and he helps me strategize with my dreams.”
Radford adds, “Our partnership has really launched me. It gives me a safe place to come home to so that I can also fly and be free in the world, but always retreat to a safe place.”
Now Then is available for pre-order at MorganRadford.com.