Today we’d like to introduce you to Shanika Wright.
Hi Shanika, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
My story begins in a small town called Thomasville, Georgia. I always excelled in writing/English-related courses, and I enjoyed those classes the most throughout my early education career and into my high school years.
My high school, Thomas County Central High School, offers a state-of-the-art Broadcasting/TV course that is in high demand among students. It was something I wanted to be part of since I entered my freshman year, but since it was always full, I didn’t actually get involved in the class until my junior year. I was also dual-enrolled at Thomas University during this time, so my time between the high school and college campuses was split.
Once I finally had the chance to be a student in the Broadcasting class, it opened my eyes to a whole new world, quite literally. In that course, we had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience producing the school’s newscast, which would be shown to the entire school. Students also worked on long-form video projects, gaining extensive hands-on experience in video production from pre-production through post-production.
So, from the backend to being in front of the camera, it was a program that was ahead of its time, especially in Georgia. I realized that video and news production were careers I could see myself pursuing after graduating from high school. I also have to give a special shoutout to the broadcasting teacher, Mr. Randy Young. His passion for the field was something he poured into every student he encountered. He also made sure that, even though I had a late start in the course, I could still complete it and receive my certificate.
So, he is a major reason I chose to pursue broadcast media in the real world.
Once I graduated high school (and college for the first time with my Associate’s Degree) in 2015, I attended Georgia State University (aka the REAL GSU…. State forever, Georgia Southern NEVER LOL) to pursue my Journalism degree. Although it was my first year at GSU, I was technically considered a Junior thanks to the credits I earned at Thomas University. So, I had the chance to jump right into my major courses- thank goodness, because I got to skip the pre-requisite classes that involved math! During my time at GSU, I learned many foundational skills that have carried me through my career, even to this day. I learned and applied skills through my involvement in on-campus organizations, including The Signal Newspaper and the GSTV’s Panther Report. And my experiences there also helped me land an on-campus job with the School of Social Work as a video editor for the last 9 months of my GSU undergrad experience.
In my last semester, I landed an internship with the number one news station, WSB-TV/Channel 2, which was a huge deal, seeing as I was, for some reason, super confident in myself. It was the only internship I applied for, which was actually crazy of me to do, seeing as I NEEDED an internship for college credit, so if I didn’t have one secured… yeah, I was about to be, as the kids say, COOKED. But I was so confident that the Channel 2 internship was mine that I wasn’t stressed at all. Thank God, it worked in my favor. But, looking back on it now as a “real” adult, I’m like, “Girl, be so for real, you could’ve played yourself SO BAD!” I guess that a fully developed frontal lobe does make a huge difference. Through my internship experience, I learned a lot about what I did and DIDN’T want to do. It was a valuable experience to interact with heavy hitters in the local news world, like THE Jovita Moore (RIP to ATL’s News Queen), Fred Blankenship, Tom Regan, and so many more. From running scripts to anchors to shadowing reporters in the field, it was truly an eye-opening experience, for sure. With that experience, I learned that I didn’t want to pursue the news reporter role I thought I wanted (or, more so, felt I had to). So while I gained a lot of clarity about how the industry operated, I was then hit with the confusion of, “Okay, so what do I WANT to do with this Journalism degree??”
Fast forward to graduation in Spring 2018, and I’m like, “This is exciting… but what’s next?” I went back home to Thomasville after graduation and then came the ‘post-grad depression’… because literally I had no idea what was next for me. I’m a broke college grad with a Journalism degree who’s trying to get her foot in the door- where do I start? So, after what felt like the longest four months of my life, of sending application after application and getting what felt like hundreds of “no’s”, I finally got a “yes”!
I received an offer to be a producer at WCTV in Tallahassee, Florida, which just so happened to be a 35-minute commute from my hometown. So, it really worked out for me because I didn’t have to make a big move for my first job. After nearly two and a half years of working as a newscast/web producer, I had learned A LOT about the industry in a short time. From devastating hurricanes to mass shootings to literally a global pandemic, that role put me in a position where I could either sink from the heaviness of the workload/mental load or swim through it- and I’ve always been up for a challenge.
As the world slowly recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic, I was burnt out from the news world. I’m such a happy-go-lucky kind of girl, yet I’m constantly immersed in the negative things happening in the local community and across the world. I needed a change of scenery. In early 2021, I saw a job posting for a Lifestyle Show Producer in Huntsville, AL. It seemed like a role that was perfect for me because I LOVE working in television production, but the life of a news producer was draining me emotionally. So, I applied, and it was the biggest risk I had taken in my life at that time. I was scared to move 6 hours away from home, but I knew it was a risk I had to take. After getting great advice from my amazing mom (shoutout to Laquanda) and my great friends, I was up to take that risk.
So, I was offered the job and accepted it, and in April 2021, I said goodbye to WCTV in Tallahassee and hello to WAFF in Huntsville! It was just the change of pace I needed. Being a part of WAFF 48’s lifestyle show, Tennessee Valley Living (TVL), has been a highlight of my life both professionally and personally. My job is to highlight all the good and innovative people and happenings in my new community. I was nervous about moving to Alabama because, you know, history… but I fell in love with the Rocket City so fast. It felt like home immediately, and I was surrounded by great people who accepted me into their friend groups almost instantly. Not only did I get to produce and highlight good things happening in the community, but I also had the chance to be on-air more!
My on-air experiences usually consisted of fun features, ranging from taste-testing sweet treats to exploring local hot spots. Then, I pitched the idea for an on-air recurring series of my own. The aim was to highlight local musicians in our area, giving them a platform to share their stories and showcase their talent. My manager greenlighted it at the time, and the series, ‘Sounds of the Valley’ was born! With this series, I’ve had the chance to sit down with some of the most talented people in our area, and some of those interviews have led to organic relationships beyond our time on camera together. It has truly been the biggest honor and pleasure to have the opportunity to interact with so many amazing people through what I call my “passion project”. I always joke that I’m the side quest queen, because truly, none of this is in my actual job description; I’m literally just a producer on paper. But, in reality, I’m a newscast producer, video editor, on-air personality, digital content producer, and more. All of these things, while still maintaining actual part-time jobs outside of my work with TVL.
In my over five years in Alabama, I’ve also worked a part-time job for most of that time.
My first part-time job was at a local HBCU, Alabama A&M University, where I worked in the library behind the desk. I was in that role from October 2021 to March 2026. I loved working there and interacting with the staff and student workers, who felt more like family than work associates. It was another way for me to interact with people and learn more about my community.
My second and current part-time job is working with Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Tennessee Valley (BBBSTV). It’s actually my full-time job that piqued my interest in that organization. Our show hosted a few representatives of BBBSTV to promote their upcoming event that honors mentors, and I was in the control room during that interview. I was so touched by the nonprofit’s mission that I literally said aloud, “I would love to work with them somehow if I had the extra time.” No joke, fast-forward to the next week, and I see a job posting for a Part-Time Marketing & Recruitment Specialist for whom? Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Tennessee Valley. I felt like it was fate at that point, so, as much as I loved working at AAMU, I felt a calling to be a part of BBBSTV’s mission. I landed the gig, and now, I feel even more connected to the community I serve.
I feel so blessed to be able to help share the stories of so many different people from so many different backgrounds. Because, at the end of the day, I feel like EVERYONE has a story worth sharing. A lot of the time, you have no idea how deep someone’s story runs until you ask the right questions. And, I feel like we, as a society, would be more understanding and able to extend grace to others if we took time out to learn more about a person’s backstory.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
I feel like everyone’s journey has a few bumps in the road. Sometimes, you may have to reroute from your original destination; sometimes, you have to go in a completely different direction altogether. I feel like there were times when the road felt like there was no final destination. Sometimes I still feel like that. I think this life is an ever-changing journey with pit stops along the way. I do feel like my path was made a bit easier early on because of the choices made before and early in my career. I do believe my mother’s push for me to do dual enrollment in high school made my overall education journey A LOT easier. College was actually a breeze for the most part when it came to the education part. I graduated from GSU a year or so early, which actually could’ve been even sooner if I had chosen to take summer courses. So, I extended my time in college because I wanted to, not because I had to.
However, I do feel like societally, the cards were never in my favor in other aspects of life. As a dark-skinned, black woman from the South, wanting to pursue a television career… sometimes it felt a bit far-fetched because there wasn’t much representation of women who looked like me in the field I wanted to be in. So, at some points, it felt like uncharted territory I was entering, and I was truly hoping for the best. There were a lot of things I truly relied on faith, not on what I saw, because it would’ve been so easy to get spooked out of even trying, since I didn’t see that representation. I will say, interning at Channel 2 helped change that perspective a bit, because I was witnessing Black people in the industry not just survive, but thrive. So, that helped me gain more confidence to go after what I want (once I figured out exactly what I wanted, LOL). I wanted to serve as someone other young Black girls can look up to if they ever feel like “there’s not a place for me in this industry.” Because, yes, there absolutely is a place for you to shine your light.
Once I landed my first job, the learning curve of realizing “this isn’t college anymore,” hit HARD.
Producers are the unsung heroes of television. This job is HARD. You are literally the conductor of the train that is the newscast. You have your hands in every aspect of the show. You have STRICT deadlines to get things done before showtime. You HAVE to end the show on time. There are so many things to juggle as a producer, and when you’re a brand-new producer, the pressure is even higher. Every mistake feels like you’re going to lose your job, LOL. So, the first few months of my first producer job were a trial-and-error period. Every day, I was praying to just have a good show. But of course, with live television production, anything can happen. That’s even something you have to learn on the job. So… there were a lot of tears of frustration those first few months while I was still getting a grasp on the whole ‘producer’ thing. But once again, I’ll choose to swim in every situation where sinking is the alternative. So, those struggles led me to better communicate with the veteran anchors/producers there about how I can be a better producer. And, eventually, the shows started getting easier to produce and smoother to booth. I had become a producer who was trusted to handle high-stress situations. So those early challenges actually helped me become better at my job and even as a person.
I feel like the growth I experienced in my first post-grad job led to me having an easier transition into my role as a lifestyle producer because by the time I got to Huntsville, I had already learned how to deal with chaos with grace, so the “stress” that came with producing a lifestyle show felt like light work, if we’re honest. The struggles I face now fall more into having a lot to do and not enough hours in the day. From juggling jobs to maintaining personal relationships, I feel like this season of struggles is more about time management than actual technical difficulties.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
I have been working in television production for about 8 years professionally. (Almost ten years in the game is insane, it still feels like I JUST graduated from college, to be honest LOL). Over the course of my career so far, I’m most proud of the impact I’ve had on others through my work. There have been so many times where we would wrap up an interview, and local musicians would thank me for making a series like ‘Sounds of the Valley’ because it shines a spotlight on the talent that’s right here in our own backyard. And, it always feels like I should be thanking THEM for trusting my team and me to share their stories with our community. It’s the biggest honor when I’m told that I make people feel comfortable sharing their truths. I think that’s one of the best compliments and biggest rewards: people can sense the positive, genuine energy I try to pour into others.
Tennessee Valley Living has given me some of the most memorable moments of my career so far, from meeting THEE Dolly Parton herself to going on adventures around the area I most likely wouldn’t have experienced if I didn’t hold this job. I just love the opportunity to connect with so many people and to see a part of their world. From working behind the scenes to turn a blank rundown into one that highlights the community each day to fostering meaningful conversations on camera, I truly feel blessed to have these experiences.
I think that’s what sets me apart from many other producers. A lot of the time, producers are confined to the news station’s walls and the control booth. But, in my position, I feel like I’m not put into a box. I have the freedom to pitch content ideas I can also front, without having to hand them over to “official” on-air talent. I think that in itself is something that’s rare in this field, especially this particular market that I am in. I feel like I get the best of both worlds: the satisfaction of producing while still being able to get out and engage with the community on camera.
My work has also led to me having other opportunities I never expected- like emceeing local events. My friendship with someone I interviewed, Sharona Henderson, led her to trust me to serve as a co-host for her inaugural ‘Mystrata’ event. It was my first time having done a live gig, and while it was nerve-racking, it was a challenge that was so rewarding. Another connection then asked me to serve as the host of a fundraising gala for a local organization with the goal of preserving and expanding the Scottsboro Boys Museum in Decatur. So, once again, my work leads me to worthwhile side quests! Call me a side quest queen at this point!
What were you like growing up?
I think it’s hilarious that the person I am now is a complete 180 from how I was growing up. When I tell people I was shy and quiet growing up, and they’re like “…GIRL, be serious.” And I’m like, “No, I’m so serious. I was actually super shy!”
No one believes me. My parents and other family members can confirm that I was, in fact, the shyest little thing!
I was a good and quiet baby. I gave my parents literally no problems and always maintained A or A/B Honor Roll. I never really asked for help with homework.
However, they DID have to convince me in pre-school that I needed to open up some or they were going to hold me back. So, that forced me to be a little more social early on. I was still pretty shy throughout most of my school years, but I somehow still made friends easily. I was still a homebody in high school, and I was completely comfortable in my solitude, which I think comes from growing up as an only child. The older I got, the more I came out of my shell, for sure.
My mom always brings up how different I am as an adult from how I was as a child to everyone she encounters who only know me from my college/adult years.
I have to give my mom, Laquanda Wright, a lot of credit for how I turned out, because she’s always been in my corner through the good and bad days. And she made me feel like I could do anything and everything I put my mind to. I also think she plays a major role in my communication style, which is understanding yet VERY direct. So, I thank her for pouring so much into me throughout my entire life.
She STILL pours so much into me, even as an adult, and I appreciate that support so much. I do thank both of my parents for giving me a foundation to succeed early on.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sincerelyshanika.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amour_shanika/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shanika.wright.9/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/shanika-wright-7023b3100
