Ponchitta Pierce Biography
Ponchitta Pierce is an American television personality and producer, as well as a journalist, speechwriter, and communication expert. Pierce began her journalism career at Ebony magazine, where she rose through the ranks to become the New York editor and, finally, the New York Bureau Chief of Johnson Publications, the parent company of Ebony magazine.
Ponchitta Pierce Age
She is 81 years old as of August 2023. Pierce was born Ponchitta Marie Anne Vincent Pierce on 5 August 1942, in the United States of America.
Ponchitta Pierce Education
Bishop Conaty High School was her alma mater. Pierce earned a B.A. (cum laude) in journalism from the University of Southern California and also studied at Cambridge University in England.
Ponchitta Pierce Family- Parents
Ponchitta Marie Anne Vincent Pierce was born on August 5, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois. Alfred Leonard Pierce and Nora Vincent Pierce, her parents, were both from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Ponchitta Pierce Career
Pierce joined Ebony and Jet magazines as an assistant editor in 1964. She was promoted to associate editor in 1965. The Black Holocaust Museum remembers a 1966 piece she wrote for a special issue of Ebony on the “Negro Woman,” recalling her phrase “The Negro woman intellectual is easily one of the most misunderstood, underappreciated, and problem-ridden of all God’s creatures.” Her first appearance on television news was in 1967. She began working as a special correspondent for CBS News in 1973 and hosted programs for New York’s PBS station WNET. Pierce also worked for WNBC-TV in New York, where she presented and co-produced the daily television show “Today in New York” from 1982 to 1987.
In 1979, she broke the news that former Vice President Nelson Rockefeller had died of a heart attack while staying at the home of an aide, Megan Marshack. Marshack called her friend Pierce, who called an ambulance around an hour after the heart attack. Marshack had attempted to dress him during that time, as it is thought he died in her arms Pierce has worked as a Roving Editor for Reader’s Digest and a Contributing Editor for Parade. She has contributed to various national magazines, including AARP The Magazine (Modern Maturity), Family Circle, More, Newsday, and Ladies Home Journal.
Pierce belongs to various organizations. She is a member of the boards of directors of the Foreign Policy Association, WNET, the Catholic Archdiocese of New York’s Inner-City Scholarship Fund, Housing Enterprise for the Less Privileged (Help USA), and the Cuban Artists Fund. She is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, The Economic Club of New York, the Columbia-Presbyterian Health Science Advisory Council, and the Advisory Board for the University of Southern California’s Center for Public Diplomacy in Los Angeles.
Ponchitta Pierce Author
- My Soul Looks Back in Wonder
- The Leader of the Future 2
- Keep Going No Mater What
- Sona
Pierce Net Worth
She has an estimated net worth of 1 million dollars.