LEADING THE CHARGE
One’s a highly qualified makeup artist who’s been painting the faces of models, movie stars and TV presenters for decades. The other could be described euphemistically as ‘self-sufficient’, but ‘control freak’ wouldn’t be overstating things. The stand-off is over a mascara wand; that is, who gets to wield it in the direction of the latter’s lashes. And if you think the former has a shot at winning, then you’ve clearly never met Bernadine Oliver-Kerby.
“I’ve just been poked in the eyeball too many times!” jokes the 48-year-old sports broadcaster as she leaps from the makeup chair – mascara firmly in hand – and stations herself in front of a large mirror, the concentration demanded by the task not remotely interfering with her ability to answer questions at a million words per minute.
Not that her multitasking capabilities could ever be denied. A TVNZ alum of 25 years, she spent the better part of the past two decades anchoring TVNZ 1’s weeknight sports news and prime time weekend news while concurrently reading the breakfast bulletin on Newstalk ZB. Also fronting various sports and entertainment shows and presenting live coverage of major sporting events, Bernadine’s gruelling workdays began at 4am and didn’t end until dinner
