Candace Coleman Profile

Candace Coleman on the surface may seem like your average college student, but there is much more to her that meets the eye.

Coleman, a student at the University of Mississippi and Jackson, Miss native is a very motivated and determined individual to say the least. Coleman who is a lead anchor of the Universities student run broadcast news program "Newswatch" is also the chair of her sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha’s Week Committee. The Week Committee organizes the sorority’s agenda for what programs and events they will be taking part in for the week.

Coleman’s roommate and long time friend Miracle McKennis said that one very important event that Coleman organized for the sorority to participate in was an active shooter training session, with the University police department. The program was to teach students how to respond in the situation that there’s a shooter on campus.

It was really useful because its something that we see on the news, but as students we don’t prepare for, McKennis said.

Coleman grew up in Jackson, Miss being raised by her parents Stanley and Kimberly Coleman. Mr. Coleman is a sheriff of Sharkey County, Miss and Mrs. Coleman works for the city of Jackson Public Schools. Although Candace’s parents were never to hard on her about her grades she always has done well in school, aside from the typical detention here and there for excessive talking.

I didn’t made bad grades, so they never stressed me out about school. I was just a very talkative girl, so if I got in trouble it was always for talking too much, Coleman said.

Coleman’s hard work ethic with her grades from a young age turned into what became eventually became her passion by the time she hit middle school. Coleman attended Peeples Middle School in Jackson, Miss and it was there where she fell in love with video editing.

Coleman was a reporter for the middle school television news team "The Buzz Report." Along with reporting on air for her middle school, every summer while she attended Peeples Middle, Coleman took part in video editing camps. It was here where she learned the in’s and out’s of video editing software and it was at this time when Coleman knew that she wanted her career to involve video editing and television in some way.

“I like being a reporter, but what I really enjoy is editing. I like visualizing the package, seeing what goes here and there and then seeing the finished product,” Coleman said.

Coleman’s role model growing up and the person who made her want to be a reporter on television was “Good Morning America’s” Robin Roberts.

“I loved watching Robin Roberts growing up because she was the first black woman that I ever saw on the news,” she said. 

Although Coleman loves being involved with media broadcasting, an unfortunate reality of being an African American female in the broadcasting field is that there just aren’t many African American female reporters.

Between CNN, CNN International and CNN’s headline news network, HLN, there are only five African American female anchors and reporters out of a listed 87, according to the CNN website.

Knowing that she is at a statistical disadvantage in the broadcasting world by her being an African American female only makes Coleman want to work harder and to prove people wrong. 

“I face obstacles being a black woman all the time. Maybe I didn’t get the job because I’m black, or maybe I only got the job because they need the token black girl. It only makes me want to work harder, it makes me not be a slacker,” Coleman said.

Coleman is not the only one who believes that she is a hard worker and has potential to have a very successful career in the television broadcasting industry.

Nancy Dupont, the faculty advisor of “Newswatch” said “Candace works well with her peers and she is extremely talented, determined and dedicated to her role as a news anchor. She has a good future if she wants to purse a career in broadcasting.”

 McKennis believes that Coleman will make it big some day as well.

“Candace has always had a plan, and she will do whatever it takes to reach her goal,” she said.

Coleman’s ultimate goal is to one-day produce children’s shows for the Public Broadcasting Service. Coleman said her dream is to one day see her name in the ending credits of a show that she produced.

Candace Coleman before she goes on air for Ole Miss's Newswatch