When you see PIX11’s Julie Millet lob a tennis ball with a racket in one hand while speaking into a microphone in the other, you know she’s a high-energy, fully engaged reporter. Her animated style was on full display during coverage of the annual Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day at the U.S. Open in Queens, which aired on PIX11 in August 2025.
For Millet, 39, becoming a morning show reporter and fill-in traffic anchor for PIX11 News in New York City is a dream come true. “It’s so special to be at PIX11, I still pinch myself sometimes,” Millet says. “It’s a station I grew up watching. My third or fourth week on the job I was reporting from the sidelines of the Thanksgiving Day Parade, and I could hardly believe it. I thought ‘Wow. I’m really doing this.’”
Julie Parise Millet grew up in Millwood and graduated from Horace Greeley High School in 2005. She recalls her childhood fondly and remains close with many of her early friends. “It was wonderful growing up in Millwood,” Millet recalls. “I’m very grateful to my parents who chose to raise me here and all the hard work they did to make that possible.”
“My friends now are the ones I met as a youngster in school or in the neighborhood,” Millet notes. “We’d play outside at the condo development with many other kids my age. Those were the days before cell phones.”
Even as a youngster, Millet was an avid writer, keeping a daily journal. “I always loved writing and knew I wanted to be a writer – I just didn’t know in what form,” Millet says. “A few years ago, my parents found a couple of my old journals written when I was in elementary school. As I got older, I journaled less and less.”
Millet recalls how the teachers at her high school went out of their way for their students. When she was in the ninth grade her interest in writing sharpened when she took a literary journalism course. “I remember thinking, ‘This might be it,’” Millet notes. “I started to wonder if being a newspaper writer was the way to go, but I ended up taking a different path.”
That path took shape at Providence College in Rhode Island, where she majored in political science and minored in writing. During the summers, she interned at WCBS-TV in New York City. “I really got into the news that summer,” Millet recalls. “And after I graduated college, CBS offered me a job as digital producer and editor.” It was a job she almost turned down.
“I was thinking about just spending the summer with friends,” she says. “But one of my girlfriends told me, very directly, to take the job. I’m so glad I did–it turned into five years.” During that time, Millet also worked at 1010 WINS and WFAN, gaining experience at two of the country’s top radio stations.
To move in front of the camera, Millet knew she had to start in a smaller market. She landed a job in Augusta, Georgia, as a morning reporter and anchor at ABC affiliate WJBF-TV. “I wanted to be on TV telling stories, but in my business, you have to start out by going into a smaller market to get the experience,” Millet explains.
Her two years in Augusta proved formative. “It was a wonderful experience,” she recalls. “Augusta is a military town and for one story I remember we joined the Army at Fort Gordon for two days as boot camp participants. It was very eye opening and we got a real taste of military life – they did not go easy on us.” Her military coverage earned her an honorary commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army.
From 2015-2018, Millet was a reporter for CBS 58 in Milwaukee where she advanced from morning reporter to daytime lead reporter. While there, she met her husband Joseph and won a Wisconsin Broadcasters Association Award for breaking news coverage of a blimp crash at the U.S. Open in Erin, Wisconsin.
She later worked as a freelance reporter in Philadelphia for WFMZ-TV, the country’s 4th largest television market before heading to WAVY-TV in Norfolk, Virginia. At WAVY her investigative reporting on inconsistent data for missing persons cases, led to new legislation. “The numbers being reported about reuniting families weren’t accurate,” Millet explains. “We found the issues were technical errors, not intentional, but it still led to legislation that changed how cases are handled.”
Millet also earned an Associated Press award with a fellow reporter for their special series at WAVY-TV about the Virginia education system. “This was a five-part piece about changes in the educational system that had to do with Critical Race Theory, which had been in the news a quite bit,” Millet recalls. “We looked at what was going on, how it impacted funding for education and the teacher shortage because teachers were leaving the profession. For about a month we did in-depth research and spoke to current and previous members of the state education department. We interviewed both sides of the controversy. It was important to hear both sides.”
Despite the accolades, Millet says the most impactful stories are often the most difficult. “Covering the worst day in someone’s life–especially when it involves a child–is never easy,” she says. “Those life experiences have taught me how to connect with people in very real ways.”
Millet was six months pregnant with her son Jack and on maternity leave from WAVY-TV when she got offered a job at WPIX in New York City. “I knew I wanted to come back home,” she says. “Starting a new job as a new mom was a big transition. I didn’t know anyone at WPIX at the time–it was quite an experience.”
Millet worried she’d have to sacrifice her career if she wanted to become a mom. But her early morning schedule has her arriving at the station at 2 a.m., lets her balance career and family life.“My hours allow for the best of both worlds. I get to do a lot of work while my child is asleep and when I get home, sometimes exhausted, I do get to spend time with my son. It’s incredibly fulfilling. I have it all as a mom and a news reporter, a dream I’ve had for a long time.”
After emotionally taxing assignments, that balance matters even more. “Sometimes the stories are hard to shake,” Millet says. “But coming home and hugging my son right away makes a difference.”
Recently Millet, her husband Joseph and son Jack, 2 ½, moved into a house right down the road from where she grew up.
Whether Millet is reporting on protests, traffic, the weather, holiday preparations or medical issues, she has clearly distinguished herself as a versatile journalist dedicated to report news to the greater community. “We never do it for the awards,” Millet notes about herself and fellow reporters. “We do it to help people. That’s what I love about my job.”
