My journey in journalism began in high school and continued through my college years at the University of Arkansas to this present time. I started a niche public relations business, with my first clients being Arkla Gas Company and St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center. I was interested in public relations at KATV.

Because of my journalism background, when I applied for an open position, I was instead offered the opportunity to report and anchor news and frequently co-host a morning talk program with Donna Axum, an Arkansas beauty queen. Becoming only the second black television reporter hired in Little Rock, Arkansas, at KATV-Channel 7, an ABC affiliate, was a privilege.

I later joined WLS-TV in Chicago as a reporter, news anchor, and, for a period, interim talk host for a popular morning show, AMC Chicago, which later became the Oprah Winfrey Show. I covered a broad range of news stories, one of my more memorable being the opportunity to cover Chicago’s first black mayor, Harold Washington.

Through the ABC-7 lens, I met some of the finest people in the world. My colleagues Bob Petty and Sun-Times columnist Vernon Jarret were at the top of the list.

As I stepped back from television to begin a family, I accepted opportunities to work in less time demanding government jobs—Cable Commissioner, public relations director for government offices like the Chicago Park District, and later as the Chief Communications Officer for Chicago Public Schools. At CPS, we rebranded the schools, increased enrollment, and established the school’s first nonprofit, Children’s First. In urban areas, losing a child to violence is regrettably not rare, so we raised money to help disadvantaged families with burial expenses if needed. We also launched the Chicago Educator as a CPS television program and a newspaper.

New opportunities led to executive roles in corporate communications, broadcast as general management of a UHF station and a producer and talk host in Memphis, Tennessee, education leadership as a vice president at Chicago State University, and continuation in the nonprofit space, eventually becoming a Certified Nonprofit Executive (CFRE).