National Association of Black Journalists Ethel Payne Fellow. Summer 2007. Reported from South Africa and Malawi on the surge in black church missions to aid Africa economically, and establish assorted links between blacks on that continent and those in the West.

Alicia Patterson Foundation Fellow 1998-99. Spent 12 months reporting and writing about “Maids in America.”

One in a team of Newsday reporters, photographers and editors awarded the Pulitzer Prize for covering the crash of TWA Flight 800 in 1996.

Also have received awards from the Texas Associated Press Managing Editors, Long Island Press Club and New York Association of Black Journalists

American Society of Journalists and Authors
National Association of Black Journalists
New York Association of Black Journalists


November 2005 to present. Freelance journalist. Contributor to Newsday, DailyYonder.com, TheRoot.com, Essence, SHRM.org, Diverse: Issues in Higher Education, Jet, Raleigh News & Observer, and other print and online publications. Also have written for Ms., Vibe, The Crisis, Niaonline.com, Today’s Child, Odyssey Couleur, among others. Subjects range from how to run an eco-friendly industry to finding one’s way back to a faith-filled life, from the parenting strides and misadventures of gay dads to absentee fathers reuniting with their children. Have ghost-written magazine pieces for several celebrity writers, singers and clerics.

August 1989 - November 2005. Newsday. From April 1999 onward, wrote articles and columns for the features section. General assignment reportage included articles on a national campaign to persuade black couples to marry; a domestic workers cooperative aiming for better wages and working conditions; the resurgence of performance poetry as social/cultural/political protest; efforts to draw more racially diverse audiences to Broadway; collaborative divorce. Previously covered municipal government, the New York State Legislature; education; social services; various assignments for the national, travel and food desks.

June 1985 - July 1989. Fort Worth Star-Telegram. Reporter.
September 1982 - July 1985. Wichita Falls (Texas) Record News. Reporter.

Texas Christian University, B.S. in Journalism/Poli-Sci
School of Visual Arts Continuing Education Photography Courses
Poynter Institute “Best Practices in Multimedia” Intensive