Timberly Whitfield

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Timberly Whitfield

Born Kansas City, Missouri
Residence New York City, New York, U.S.
Occupation Talk show host
Website
Timberly Whitfield official site

Timberly Noe Whitfield is an American Talk show host and TV personality who most recently hosted New Morning with Timberly Whitfield for six seasons on Hallmark Channel. Jeff Weber, president and CEO of Lightworks Producing Group, responsible for producing the program, told Jet Magazine: “What makes Timberly so unique is her honesty, integrity, candor and warmth; that really comes through the television set.” [1] Whitfield is represented by Mark Turner of Abrams Artists Agency.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Born in Kansas City, Missouri, U.S., her United Methodist lay missionary parents (who were also civil rights activists and Black Panthers) moved Whitfield and her brother to Tanzania, East Africa, when she was six.[2] Her father developed programs to aid the local villagers in the optimum utilization of their land, while her mother taught them how to balance their families' meals and how to read and write.[3] As a Swahili-speaking eight-year-old, Whitfield taught English to local Tanzanian children. The family later lived in Nigeria.[4] Living in three countries and traveling to more than twenty others in her young lifetime provided Whitfield with a wealth of experiences not afforded to most.[5][6]

[edit] Career

Each weekday morning, from 2002 through 2007, Whitfield hosted the award-winning, magazine-style television series New Morning with Timberly Whitfield.[7] Originally launched in a half-hour format, the hour-long program featured uplifting stories about people who see their life as a journey of meaning and purpose, and strived to help its viewers begin their day inspired, focused, and renewed. On December 28th, 2007, the show concluded its six-season run on Hallmark Channel with its 541st episode. Since then, Whitfield transitioned to the Internet where, at FaithStreams.com, she regularly posts her “Video Reflections.”[8]

Between 2004 and 2007, Whitfield was the focus of several radio media tours wherein she was interviewed on dozens of radio stations throughout the U.S. In December of 2007, she appeared on the cover of the U.K. magazine Lifescape Magazine, where she was also the subject of the feature article.[9]

Graduating with a master’s degree from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she was honored with the John M. Patterson Award, Whitfield quickly rose in the industry. Beginning as a general assignment reporter for a local cable news program in New York City, she later worked as an associate producer/writer for Bolthead Communications Group, where she produced two documentary series: The 80’s (chronicling major international news events of the decade for MPI Home Video) and In Search of the Dream (broadcast on A&E Networks, the six-part series documented the African-American experience).

Whitfield’s early credits (on both sides of the camera) include co-hosting The History Channel’s Field Trips USA and Year by Year for Kids, and interviewing celebrities (ranging from Oprah Winfrey and Gwyneth Paltrow to classical performing artists) for A&E Television Networks’ Breakfast with the Arts .[10] For over seven years she served as programming executive and producer for several series on A&E. Other credits include:

  • In Search of the Dream, “Poem (Episode 3),” voiceover, A&E Television Networks.
  • The Great American Woman, narration, Wolfington Productions.
  • Eating Disorders, narration, Hourglass Productions.
  • Ellen Tracy Celebrates 50, reporter (in-store video), Vanity Fair.
  • Live Your Best Life, reporter (promotional video), O, The Oprah Magazine.
  • Community Line News, general assignment reporter, Paragon Cable.
  • Live By Request, producer, A&E Television Networks.
  • Open Book, supervising producer, A&E Television Networks.
  • OM: Mind, Body & Spirit, host/producer, True Colors Entertainment.
  • A&E Arts Update, reporter, A&E Television Networks.
  • Business World News, reporter, TVA Productions.

[edit] Personal life

Whitfield is married to Robert Allen, a former lieutenant in the New York City Police Department.[11] Collaborating to write and develop sitcoms and dramas for television, the couple lives in New York City with their daughter, Raina, whom they are raising in the Jewish faith.[12]

Whitfield is a vegetarian[13] who works out in the gym almost daily.

A few years ago Whitfield returned to East Africa and, in five arduous days, successfully scaled Mt. Kilimanjaro to its 19,340-foot snow-capped peak.

Whitfield is a member of New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT), the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), and the Producers Guild of America (PGA). She has also been a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters of New York City.

Frequently in demand as a guest speaker, in late 2007 she delivered a speech at the Green Festival in Washington, D.C. Speaking from the vantage point of having grown up in countries where limited resources required an environmentally aware life, Whitfield examined the many different ways in which mainstream media has gone green.

[edit] Education

[edit] Training

  • Media coaching: Marty Berman, Lilyan Wilder, Nancy Reardon.
  • Acting and improvisation: HB Studio (Marc Pascal, Karen Ludwig, Susan Patrick), Larry Ellis.
  • Vocal coaching and singing: Sam Chwat, Juilliard, HB Studio (Susan Patrick, Ann McCormack).
  • Dancing (African, hip-hop, jazz, ballet): Steps on Broadway, Djoniba Dance & Drum School, Broadway Dance.

[edit] Television and Other Media

[edit] Press

[edit] Articles by Timberly Whitfield

[edit] Speaking Engagements

[edit] References

  1. ^ Waldron, Clarence: "Timberly Whitfield: Host of Daily Show ‘New Morning’ on Hallmark Channel,” Jet Magazine, June 25, 2007.
  2. ^ Whitfield, Timberly: "5 Things I Learned from Growing Up in Africa . . .." Positive Thinking Magazine, January/February 2008.
  3. ^ Chapman-Mushnick, Melissa: “Defying Boundaries,” Lifestyles Magazine, Summer 2007.
  4. ^ Paschal, Jan: "Her Destiny: Upbeat News," Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism Alumni Journal, Winter 2007.
  5. ^ Jiles, Jennifer: "Host of Hallmark Channel’s 'New Morning' and Clark College Alum Helping to Change Lives, One Viewer at a Time," Clark Atlanta Magazine, Summer/Fall 2006.
  6. ^ Ritchie, Kathy: "Faith, Race & Family,” Child Magazine, June/July 2007.
  7. ^ Eversley, Melanie: "Who Does She Think She Is? She’s Timberly Whitfield, Journalist and Woman of the World." Sister 2 Sister Magazine, March 2008.
  8. ^ Eversley, Melanie: "Who Does She Think She Is? She’s Timberly Whitfield, Journalist and Woman of the World." Sister 2 Sister Magazine, March 2008.
  9. ^ Weeks, Alexia: "There’s So Much Good Happening in the World,” Lifescape Magazine, December 2007.
  10. ^ Chapman-Mushnick, Melissa: “Defying Boundaries,” Lifestyles Magazine, Summer 2007.
  11. ^ "Ms. Whitfield and Mr. Allen". The New York Times, August 17, 1997
  12. ^ Goldstein, Alison: “In Her Family’s Footsteps: Broadcaster Draws Inspiration from Tradition”. B’nai B’rith Magazine, Summer 2007.
  13. ^ Weeks, Alexia: "There’s So Much Good Happening in the World,” Lifescape Magazine, December 2007.

[edit] External links