“When I was growing up, my mom always instilled in me that you can do whatever you want to do as long as you don’t give up on it. You can literally do anything in this world. I just don’t take no for an answer. And I took that and I ran with it,” Chief White House Correspondent for OAN, Monica Paige [Luisi], told Barrett News Media over a Zoom call.
Born and raised in New Jersey Paige says she was raised in a traditional household. “Both my parents are always present. They’re still together. You know, they raised me in a very Catholic, traditional Italian household.”
The encouraging household allowed Paige to figure out early on in life what she wanted to be. “I was maybe about five years old, we would always put ABC7 Eyewitness News on just to watch the traffic, to see what my dad would going to be coming home from work. I remember seeing Liz Cho and being like, ‘I want to be that woman one day.’ I love her. I thought she was so pretty. And I was like this little five-year-old kid. That’s when I knew in my heart this is what I wanted to pursue for the rest of my life.”
Her path from Monmouth County to the White House was fraught with friction.
“When I was going through school, I did not get along with many kids. I was always kind of like the odd one out of the group. I never fit in. Girls never really want to be friends with me. I always felt different than everybody else, and I don’t know what that was like that.”
Bullying was a trend that followed Paige through college. However, it never deterred her from her goal of becoming a reporter. “I just learned that maybe I just wasn’t born to fit in, and that was just my purpose on this Earth. So eventually, going through school and stuff, and trying to find my place in this world, I just focused on what I wanted to be when I got older.”
Influenced by Bill O’Riley, Paige attended Marist College. She interned at Entertainment Tonight before getting her first job in the industry.
“Daily Mail was my first job out of college in New York City. I was a video producer for about two and a half years and that was tough. It was just the commuting between Jersey and New York because I was living at home. It was just really tough.”
The round trip three-hour commute was taxing but it became alleviated during the pandemic while Paige was working from home. “Then I was like, ‘This is not what I want to do for the rest of my life. I think I need to start taking action and taking control of my life.’”
Paige added, “I eventually started my own podcast, The MonFather Podcast, and I was doing that from home for a little bit because I needed a creative outlet.”
