Adrianne Baughns-Wallace | |
---|---|
Born | Adrianne Eugene Thomas 1944 |
Nationality | American |
Education | University at Albany, SUNY Majored in communications |
Honours | Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame (2000) |
Adrianne Baughns-Wallace (born in 1944) was a television journalist, the first African-American television anchor in New England, and a member of the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame. [1]
Baughns-Wallace was born in The Bronx, New York, [2] and raised in New York City. [3] She was educated at St. Colombo School, Washington Irving School, and University at Albany, SUNY, where she majored in communications. Before becoming a broadcast journalist, she worked for a telephone company, an automobile agency, and an airline. [2] She also served as a pharmacy specialist in the Air Force. [3]
Baughns-Wallace began working in television in Albany, New York, in 1973. [4] In August 1974, she left WAST in Albany and joined WFSB in Hartford, Connecticut. Her initial work at WFSB included writing and presenting the 7:30 a.m. News Sign and being co-anchor of its noon Eyewitness News broadcast. [2] In October 1978, Baughns was named co-anchor of WFSB's 6 p.m. Eyewitness News broadcast, [5] becoming the first female anchor of an evening newscast in Connecticut. [6] She left WSFB in June 1982 to launch a TV production company of her own. [4] The departure was a lifestyle choice. "I really needed to define for myself what my son needed and what I needed for our lives," Baughns-Wallace said. [7]
After leaving WFSB, in addition to being an independent TV producer, Baughns-Wallace was the host of Essence, a program for black women that was broadcast on WPIX in New York City. [6] In 1983, Baughns-Wallace joined the staff of WTNH in New Haven, Connecticut, tasked with helping to begin Newscope, a program that blended local stories with nationally syndicated material. [6]
In the late 1980s, Baughns-Wallace became director of Operation Fuel (OF), a nonprofit, private institution. OF, a program of the Christian Conference of Connecticut, provides funds (via a checkoff program of Connecticut Light & Power Company) to help the poor, elderly, and disabled to pay their utility bills. A 1996 article in the Hartford Courant's Sunday magazine commented, "... she's found her mission and purpose in life ..." [8]
In 2001, Baughns-Wallace was director of financial education for the Connecticut treasurer's office. Her job entailed teaching citizens of Connecticut about responsible financial planning. A newspaper article described her as "part facilitator, part advocate and part cheerleader." [9]
Baughns-Wallace is divorced from her first husband and has a son. [4] Her second husband was Lenzy Wallace, a manager of diversity and change at ITT Hartford, [8] who died in 2021. [10]
In 2000, Baughns-Wallace was inducted into the Connecticut Women's Hall of Fame, [11] "an honor given to those who have broken the barriers for women in a job, doing most of their work while in Connecticut." [12] Her credentials included being the first African-American TV anchor in New England and the first female TV anchor in Connecticut. [12] She also received the National Council of Negro Women's Distinguished Service Award. [4]
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