Juju Chang’s Wake-Up Call

By Chris Ariens 

Juju Chang got her start at ABC News as a desk assistant. Now, nearly 20 years and three children later, she’s got a new gig as the news anchor on “Good Morning America.”

“I’ve been a caterpiller all these years and now I’m a butterfly,” Chang told TVNewser this afternoon.

Chang and her husband, former NBC News boss Neal Shapiro have three sons under 10 years old. Mornings at the Chang-Shapiro household are about the change.

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“The hardest part of this job is knowing that my kids are going to school without me,” Chang says. She’s even installed Skype on a kitchen laptop so she can make sure the boys are eating their breakfast.

“I told my 9-year-old, ‘I’m going to see if you’re eating your eggs or not.'”

The news anchor job at a morning show is multi-faceted: reading headlines, fronting segments and field reporting. Chang will do all three. She’s been reporting, on-air and off, for ABC News since 1992. But after the birth of her first son, she went part time for ABC’s “20/20.” “I drew a hard line at my family,” she says. “I thought that’s what I needed to do to be a mom.” A few years later, she returned to ABC full time.

Most recently Chang has been working on online projects combining her reporting background and motherly exploits. “Sadly,” says Chang, she’ll have to give up the Web show to concentrate on her new GMA family.

“All four of us bring a certain strength to the team,” she says of Robin, George and Sam. “It sounds corny, but I really want to be a valued member of the team.”

Spread your wings, butterfly.

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