In 2010, rescuers saved 33 Chilean miners trapped for more than two months in a San José mine while 1 billion people around the world watched with bated breath. And on the scene reporting live — in both English and in Spanish — was NBC correspondent Natalie Morales.
“After the miraculous rescue operation, the Chilean president gave a speech, which I simultaneously translated live on MSNBC that evening,” Morales says. “The ability to speak to people in Spanish and to be able to share the passion and all of the emotion of the story to our audience in the U.S. was an absolute highlight of my career.”
Born in Taiwan to a Brazilian mother and Puerto Rican father, and raised in Spain, Brazil, Panama, and the U.S., Morales’ multicultural upbringing was rich soil for a fruitful journalism career. Still, she had modest expectations.
“I saw myself with a career in journalism, but I always thought it was going to be in local news,” Morales says. “I never dreamed I would be the first Latina news anchor at the Today show — a person people would tune in to watch Monday through Friday on a main network.”
But she was. From that point on, when breaking news happened, the refrain became: “Send Natalie.” She was off and running.
And she hasn’t slowed down. Today, Morales is a correspondent on CBS’ 48 Hours, owns a production company, and has plans to launch a podcast. It’s an active schedule, and that suits Morales just fine. Active is a mode she knows well.
A LIFE IN MOTION
An athlete in her younger years, Morales played soccer, volleyball, and softball in high school, and ran long distance in her spare time.
“My high school didn't have great running teams, so I always did it on my own,” Morales says. “It was great therapy for me. I would just get lost in my thoughts. So when I went off to college, I continued running for my own mental health.”
Once she graduated and moved to New York, she joined the Road Runners Club and started training for 5Ks. Those 5Ks became 10Ks, which then became half-marathons, which ultimately became marathons. Six marathons (and a few triathlons) later, Morales — now 53 — says it may be time to retire her racing bib and focus her energy elsewhere.
“I would love to still be able to compete like that, but unfortunately, I have too many injuries now,” she says.
Plantar fasciitis and piriformis syndrome may have curbed her mileage, but she’s quickly pivoted to other workouts such as weight training, Pilates, and hot yoga. In addition to working your muscles, she says, these are all disciplines that force you to breathe and focus and be in tune with your body, which is part of what drew her to running.
“I may not burn as many calories, but to me, it's more about endorphins and getting the weight-bearing exercise we all know we need in our 50s,” she says.
Best of all, her shift in exercise priorities has opened up space in her life for a practice that challenges both body and mind: horseback riding.
BACK IN THE SADDLE
As a kid, Morales longed to own a horse, but her dad’s Air Force career meant a move every few years, making it logistically difficult on top of expensive. So once she was an adult settled in California, it was time to realize her long-held desire. She started riding. And during the COVID-19 pandemic, the saddle became her sanctuary.
“It's true when they say horses are great therapy,” she says. “Horses really force you to be your best self when you're on them. They’re intuitive—they pick everything up. You have to learn how to let go and tap into the connection you have with this beautiful, powerful animal, and be gentle and soft—not just with the horse but with yourself.”
Riding has felt like a “great awakening” she says, not only for the emotional balance it’s brought to her life, but also for the way it challenges her mind.
“When you compete, you have to memorize courses, which may change at the last minute,” she says. “Sometimes there are 11 jumps, sometimes there are eight. And sometimes you suddenly hear an announcement over the loudspeaker saying, ‘Rider, you're off course.’ I did that in my first competition, and it was so embarrassing."
But that embarrassment only made her more passionate about sharpening her skills, which in turn, she says, is helping keep her 50-plus brain sharp. These days, she says, she’s better about staying the course.
CULTURAL PRIDE, WITH A FOCUS ON PREVENTION
Growing up, Morales’s home was filled with the aroma of her family’s cultural dishes. The kitchen was a comfort, and the familiar smells helped ground her whenever her father’s job took her family to new cities and countries. Food was formative enough, in fact, that in 2018, Morales created At Home With Natalie, a cookbook full of healthy recipes with a Latin twist.
“I wanted to keep some of those traditions and memories of the recipes that I grew up with from my Puerto Rican and Brazilian background, but those foods can be really heavy, fatty, and fried,” Morales says. “So I found a way to create all of those feelings of home and the foods that I grew up with and preserve some of the memories of those moments of sharing dinner at the table.”
She’s all too aware that with all the richness of cultural inheritance also comes some risks. Her family has a history of high blood pressure and diabetes, and her father had a massive stroke at 52. It’s shaped her outlook on healthy living as she’s gotten older.
“My parents didn't grow up in a generation where they would work out or go to the gym or even do a lot of physical activities,” she says. “So it was very important for me as I began to love and embrace sports as a teenager to realize I feel so much better and have more energy when I work out.”
Another priority: yearly physicals, vaccines, and preventative screenings. She’s diligent about mammograms because of a history of breast cancer on her mother’s side, and she “gifted” herself her first colonoscopy on her 51st birthday.
“There was a time in my life where I wasn't keeping up with my physicals and doing all the testing I needed to do, but in my 50s, I’m absolutely on it,” Morales says. “I know life is busy and it’s easy to forget. But I’m at a point where I’m figuring out ways to relaunch myself, and I want to bring my healthiest, best self to the table.”
