Monica Pearson Biography
Monica Pearson is an American television broadcast journalist who retired from WSB-TV Atlanta in 2012 after 37 years as a news anchor. Pearson currently hosts a weekly radio program on KISS 104.1 FMM and continues her Closeups interviews on www.wsbtv.com/monica.
Monica Pearson WSB-TV
In 1975, she joined WSB-TV as the first lady and first minority of Atlanta to anchor the day-by-day, 6 p.m. Fresh news. She also docked at 4, 5, and 11 p.m. News, appearing on 4 and 5 throughout her career.
She began her career at The Louisville Times newspaper, then got a position in the public relations department of Brown-Forman Distillers, before joining WHAS-TV in Louisville for three years as a reporter and later anchor.
Monica Pearson Age
How old is Monica Pearson? Monica is 76 years old. She was born Monica Kaufman on October 20, 1947, in Louisville, Kentucky, the United States of America. She celebrates her birthday on October 20th every year and her birth sign is Libra.
Monica Pearson Height | Weight
Pearson stands at an approximated height of 5 feet 3 inches (1.60 m). However, details regarding her other body measurements are currently not available.
Monica Pearson Husband
Pearson is married to a former DeKalb County assistant police chief John E. Pearson Sr. in 2005.
Monica Pearson Daughter
She is the mother of Claire Patrice Deveaux and stepmother of John E. Pearson, II.
Monica Pearson Education
Pearson attended and earned her B.S. degree in English from the University of Louisville. Monica also took part in the Summer Program for Minority Groups at the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University in New York City. Since her retirement, she graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Georgia with an M.A. in Journalism and Mass Communication, on August 1, 2014; taught at Atlanta Metropolitan State College, and wrote a column for Southern Seasons Magazine.
Monica Pearson Family
Pearson is the daughter of the late Maurice Jones and Hattie Wallace Jones Edmondson. Just like her mother, during her formative and high school years, Pearson attended Catholic schools. Her mother, who worked her way through school, attended a prestigious boarding school for black women at St. Mary’s Academy in New Orleans, Louisiana. Her mother was also one of the first black women to work at the Louisville Post Office.
Monica Pearson Salary
The annual salary for Pearson is projected to be between $24,292 and $72,507 or an average hourly wage of between $10.15 and $31.32. For a journalist in the USA, this is according to our monthly salary figures.
Monica Pearson Net Worth
Pearson has an estimated net worth of $1.7 million. This includes properties, capital, and income from her. Her career as a television personality is her primary source of income. Monica has earned a good fortune through her diverse sources of income but chooses to lead a modest one.
Monica Pearson Retirement
Her post-retirement pursuits amount to a career that exceeds the careers of some currently working journalists. Pearson retired in 2012. At age 65, Pearson returned to school to expand her experience from an academic perspective, receiving a master’s degree in journalism and mass communication from the University of Georgia in Athens in 2014.
Monica Pearson Breast Cancer
Monica was diagnosed with liver cancer in December and had surgery on January 29th to remove more than half of her liver. She had opted not to reveal anything until now since she did not want others to feel sorry for her. She needs to persuade people to go to the doctor. This isn’t her first battle with cancer. Pearson beat breast cancer in 1998, which was discovered following routine mammography. She claims that the liver regenerates, but she still feels exhausted easily after three months of recovery.
Monica Pearson Awards | Achievements
- Pearson has earned several accolades and honors for her distinguished bodies of work, 33 local and regional Emmys for anchoring, reporting, and her Closeups, and an Emmy for an exclusive interview, that garnered national recognition, with Georgia Congressman John Lewis in 2008, who changed his U.S. presidential support from Hillary Clinton to Barack Obama.
- After announcing her retirement, she was also honored by Georgia lawmakers, the City of Atlanta, and Fulton County for making history in the state and for her service to Atlanta and Georgia for nearly four decades.
- In March 2012, the bi-partisan Georgia delegation to the U.S. Congress honored her on the floor of the U.S. House. “Monica Pearson with WSB television in Atlanta, Georgia is indeed a true pioneer and a trailblazer in television news,” Rep. David Scott said on the House floor.
- Among her many awards, she was awarded the Legacy Award from the National Association of Black Journalists in 2012, the Atlanta Hawks Basketball Team Trailblazer Award in 2013, and also in the same year, the Interdenominational Theological Center presented her with the James H. Costen Award for Excellence in Civic and Community Affairs.
- In 2015, Pearson was awarded the Richard M. Uray Award of Excellence from the National Broadcasting Society, and the Women’s Leadership Exchange awarded her their Compass Award and Alpha Epsilon Rho.