When Emily Frances left WPIX in 2010, she was the morning entertainment news anchor at the New York CW affiliate.
As our sister site FishbowlNY reports, Frances is now a mother of two and an internet entrepreneur based in Tel Aviv.
A lot can happen in a few years. Back in 2010, Emily Frances was the morning news entertainment anchor at WPIX and trying to get pregnant through In Vitro Fertility treatments. Today, she is the mother of two young children and a Tel Aviv-based Internet entrepreneur.
Advertisement“My husband and I are loving Israel,” Frances tells FishbowlNY after moving there from New York in September. “It is the best place to raise children. Israel is a kid-centric country where money is truly invested into playgrounds, kids activities and schools.”
“We love the fact that family is so important here,” she continues. “People have careers but the careers don’t define them. After [my four-day-a-week, intensive] Hebrew classes, I ride my bike to a place called Namal. It’s the old Tel Aviv port and has been gentrified like the Meatpacking District. I sit outside at a cafe and write my blogs, optimize my videos and do social media for HowtoMomTV.”
Frances’ website, which features celebrity interviews and tips on how to be a great parent, was launched a month after she arrived in Israel. She’s already got a syndication deal with The Bump and more impressively, given the daily demands of being a parent, a whole bunch more interview content to go along with the pieces she has already posted featuring the likes of Dean Cain, Fran Drescher, Denise Richards and Kelly Rutherford. “I filmed almost all my interviews and stand-ups in New York during my second pregnancy,” Frances explains. “I interviewed Cain and Boris Kodjoe when I was in LA during my second trimester, when I was still able to fly.”
“I have a library of 50 videos ready to go,” the Malibu native continues. “Yes, I am intense and worked hard. I’m releasing approximately one new interview per week and plan to film more interviews the next time I’m in the states.”
To prepare for HowtoMomTV, Frances took Mediabistro’s Social Media Bootcamp earlier this year. She also has set up a mini-studio at her Israel home so she can appear, as her venture grows, on U.S. TV and elsewhere as an expert guest. Frances, via Israeli-born husband Ami Blashkovsky, was already well familiar with her new home before the move. But she wants to remind everyone that there’s a very different way of life unfolding each day beyond the strident media headlines.
“It’s a bummer that because of the media’s portrayal of Israel, the world does not really get to experience what Israel is really like,” she notes. “Life here is nothing like the way many Americans imagine.”
“It’s very European and people do not live in fear. When you live here, you simply don’t feel anything about politics, military or enemy neighbors.”
Blashkovsky has two older sons from a previous marriage, both of whom are also now in Israel. He worked in commercial real estate in New York and is looking to continue pursuing that in Israel as well as other opportunities with friends and colleagues.
[To connect with Frances on Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook and-or Instagram, look for @HowtoMomTV] Previously on FishbowlNY:
Mediabistro Ad Leads Elizabeth Chan to a Very Kardashian Christmas