Fredricka Whitfield Biography
Fredricka Whitfield is a renowned American journalist and news anchor currently anchoring the weekend edition of CNN Newsroom from CNN’s world headquarters in Atlanta. She has an award-winning broadcast career that spans over 30 years.
Fredricka Whitfield Age
How old is Fredricka Whitfield? Fredricka is 58 years old as of 2023. He was born on May 31, 1965, in Nairobi, Kenya. In addition, she celebrates her birthday on May 31st every year.
Fredricka Whitfield Family | Parents
She is the daughter of Olympian Mal Whitfield, a renowned American middle-distance runner. Her mother is Nola Whitfield. She further has three siblings; two brothers Malvin Lonnie Whitfield and Ed Wright, and a sister Nyna Konishi.
Fredricka Whitfield Education
Whitfield joined Paint Branch High School in Burtonsville, Maryland later graduating in 1983. She then enrolled at Howard University’s School of Communications and graduated in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism.
While still at Howard University, Fredricka served as a news anchor for campus radio station WHUR.
Fredricka Whitfield Husband | Children
Whitfield is married to her husband John Glenn since 1999. John is the director of photography at The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The couple is blessed with a son born in January 2005 and fraternal twins. The twins are; daughter Nola and son Gilbert Glenn born in November 2012.
Fredricka Whitfield Career | CNN
Before joining CNN, Fredricka worked as a correspondent for NBC News. She served as an Atlanta-based correspondent for NBC Nightly News between 1995 and 2001. In addition, she hosted other NBC programs including Today where she was a morning and afternoon anchor as well as an assignment reporter.
Prior to joining NBC, she had worked for various stations including; WPLG-TV in Miami, KTVT-TV in Dallas, News Channel 8 in Washington D.C., WTNH in New Haven, Connecticut, and WCIV in South Carolina.
Since joining CNN in 2002, she has been dynamic, covering a wide range of stories. Some of her notable stories include the Cuban-Haitian refugee crisis in the 90s, the 2000 Bush-Gore presidential race, as well as the Kosovo War refugee crisis.
Still, on the list, we have the Afghanistan War, the 2008 Inauguration of President Barack Obama, the Atlanta, Beijing, and London Olympic Games, and the 2016 Presidential primary races and Democratic National Convention.
She is a great beneficiary of early life exposure to global living and awareness. Born in Nairobi Kenya to her Olympic-medalist dad gave her varied exposure. Her dad later became a career United States diplomat for over 30 years. She further lived in Somalia as a child and also in France as a college exchange student.
Over her career, she has earned numerous awards and honors. In 2000, Fredricka earned an Emmy award nomination for long-form storytelling. Her other notable awards include;
- 2002 Howard University School of Communications Alumna of the year Award
- 2004 Alfred I. DuPont Award-winning team for CNN’s coverage of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia
- 2005 George Peabody award for CNN’s live coverage of Hurricane Katrina
- 2008 NAMD Communicator of the year
- 2008 Howard University postgraduate achievement in the field of Journalism
- 2009 NYABJ long-form feature
Fredricka Whitfield Net Worth
Whitfield has an estimated net worth of between $1 million – $5 million. His income is mainly attributed to his successful career as a broadcast journalist.
Fredricka Whitfield Salary
Fredricka earns an annual salary of approximately between $56,500 – $120,798 from her current job as a news correspondent for the CNN Newsroom in Atlanta.