Miki Turner

Miki Turner is a photo journalist, businesswoman,^[1] and the first regularly-featured African-American female sports columnist at a major metropolitan daily newspaper.

Early life

Miki Turner grew up in the Cincinnati, Ohio suburb of Wyoming, where her family were among the first residents. She is the daughter of William and Dorothy Turner. Her father, a Pullman porter, died in 2009. She has two older brothers, Gary, an award-winning educator and Billy. A third brother, Kenny, died in 1994. Miki Turner was educated in the nationally ranked Wyoming Public School system. She participated in the band and drama department. As a child she was very interested in art, photography, music, movies, television and cooking. After high school she attended Hampton University, majoring in mass media arts. She hosted the popular radio show Miki's Mellow Minutes and was president of Women in Communications, Inc. her senior year. Her other activities included intramural athletics and photographer for the school yearbook. She was Miss Girls Athletic Association her freshman year; and Miss WICI, her senior year. She received her B.A. from Hampton, her M.S. in photojournalism from Boston University and was a Maynard Institute for Journalism Education fellow at the University of California-Berkeley.

Career

Miki Turner's journalism career began as a general assignment intern at The Kentucky Enquirer. From there she worked as a sports writer/photojournalist for several weeklies before enrolling at Boston University (BU). After BU she moved to New York City, working for several companies before heading back down the coast to Hampton, VA, to accept a position as public relations director for the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association. After completing her fellowship at Berkeley, she became the first African-American female to write a regularly featured sports column at a major American daily newspaper in 1989 while at the Oakland Tribune. She went on to cover pro and college teams for the Orange County Register, before switching gears to cover entertainment for several outlets including: Satellite Orbit/Satellite Direct, TV Online, The Ft. Worth-Star Telegram, Essence, Ebony and JET. Turner has also worked for ESPN.com, where she was one of the architects for Page 3, and as a producer at ESPN Hollywood.

Journey To The Woman I've Come To Love

Journey To The Woman I've Come To Love, Turner's first book, is a photo book featuring celebrities as well as extraordinary lesser known women. The book asks one question: "at what point did you fall in love with yourself" and has been embraced by women worldwide. It was published in January 2013. Her second book tomorrow, debuted in January, 2014. It features portraits of children from around the world.

Personal

Miki Turner was born on January 3 in Cincinnati, Oh. She is single and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Among her many honors are an NABJ Award; Kodak International Newspaper Snapshot Award; DAISY (Distinguished Achievement in Inspiring Youth) from the U.S. Girl Scouts; Women of Excellence Award from Wiley College and the Hampton University Legacy Award.

References