Reporting on 9/11 from New York as a budding young journalist was "turning point" in Nuala McGovern's career

The move came after her sister made an application for a green card on her behalf, and the stars aligned, as it was living in the States that catapulted her career to new heights.

After a stint working as a presenter and producer for Adrian Flannelly's radio show, she joined WNYC, on which she served as a producer on the Brian Lehrer Show.

Speaking to EVOKE, Nuala recalled: "I stayed there for nine years. It was a time of great change in America. I suppose one of my biggest stories would've been 9/11, and after that, both the program and the station became even more valuable than it was beforehand.

"Because it was a two-hour daily talk show, Monday to Friday, [discussing] all the issues - local, national, international - America going through this period of great change.

"I mean, I can't believe it when I look back at it now, but it's almost 24 years ago. It kind of boggles my mind, but it was a turning point in news, coverage, and international relations."

An event that brought the world to its knees, Nuala witnessed 9/11 firsthand, living and working in New York. She told us: "Where I worked, in that particular station, that morning, I was looking out the window and just saw one of the twin towers explode.

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The World Trade Center attacks, 2001.

"I didn't realize the plane was coming from the other angle at that particular time, I thought it was a bomb or something, but it was literally on our doorstep.

"I think that was probably one of my career turning points, you know, when you look back, you might see some of these times that, because I had to step up, take on a more responsible role, the station, the program, people were just hungry for information and discussion and whatnot."

As a journalist that has been in the thick of a number of chaotic and hectic world events, Nuala considers herself a level-headed person that's able to put her shock and disbelief in side, and focus on the task at hand: reporting, and getting fact-checked information to the public.

The Dublin woman told EVOKE: "It's really interesting when you reminisce and dwell on what you remember, but some things feel so serious in your memory, and I sometimes wonder are they accurate, because so much is happening at those times.

"But I do remember seeing it and calling down to the newsroom to say that a bomb had gone off or something had happened. I also had younger producers than me at that stage, so I did feel protective of them as well because of what was happening in front of them.

"There were some people who wanted to run down towards the World Trade Center, and we were trying to broadcast on air. I think when the first plane hit, we were still really calm, but I remember when the second [plane] hit, it just changed everything," Nuala, who now hosts BBC "Woman's Hour", continued.

"I always remember seeing one of my colleagues' knees jerking up and down really fast because she was so nervous. People wanted to leave, and then we knew, of course, this was not an accident, that it was intentional, and we still stayed very calm."

After making the decision to leave the "calm and quiet" building, Nuala remembers walking out into "total mayhem" of debris, ash, and shell-shocked people, which she describes as "the strangest feeling".

"But I am a calm person by nature, I am pretty good, I think, in a crisis," Nuala continued. The journalist remembers keeping her head down and getting on with reporting the news, without realizing "the whole world was watching".

The journalist and her team carried on reporting and bringing updates to the public until the wee hours of the following morning, 1am she recalls.

And while she believes reporting on 9/11 from New York to be one of the "turning points" of her career, Nuala says of other career milestones: "I think each step you take along the way is really exciting.

"When you get the first internship, or get the first paying job, whatever, I think all of those are really important," she told EVOKE.

After landing a role in the BBC, Nuala recalls thinking: "If this isn't making it, I don't know what is", adding "because it's such a wonderful job that every day is a joy."

"Lots of people quanitfy or judge 'making it' in different ways, but I feel that delighted to be able to stay working in [journalism], because jobs disappear, it can be difficult to land them, land some of the more comfortable ones, ones that feed your soul, your mind, and give you great opportunities for learning and meeting extraordinary people.

"So, the fact that I've been able to do that for now, let's be honest, 27 years, is pretty good," Nuala concludes.

* This article was originally published on Evoke.ie.