About Me
Elaine started her journalism career back in 1994, after a stint on a Carnival station in Leicester which ran for a month. She was asked to read the news and got the bug!. She then quit her job at social services and started a Postgraduate journalism course at the University of Central England in Birmingham, before moving to London at the beginning of 1996.
Following a chance meeting through a friend she ended up reading the news on Black Entertainement Television (BET). She then landed a job at Choice FM news, before becoming its first female News Editor in 1997. While there, she covered some of big stories of the day facing the Black community. This included the Macpherson report, following the Stephen Lawrence public enquiry, the campaign to find a donor for Daniel Degale and the debut of Jamaica's 'Reggae boys' at the football World Cup. While at Choice FM, she interviewed Spike Lee, Rev Jesse Jackson, Hollywood actor Samuel L. Jackson, and author and poet Maya Angelou. ..and novelist Terry McMillan.
In 1999. Elaine fulfilled an ambition to work in television news, after beating hundreds of applicants to secure a place on trainee reporter scheme at ITV's 'London tonight'. Following her training she went on to report on two entertainment programmes.
Then in 2000, a friend suggested she go for an audition for BBC Talent. She got through three rounds of screen tests and interviews and was crowned winner live on BBC 1. She worked on the national news as a reporter and News 24 before moving to BBC London as a reporter and newsreader.
In April 2003, she was headhunted by Five News and presented it's lunchtime and weekend shows and evening updates. Since leaving Five news in 2005, Elaine has become a stay at home mum while freelancing for commercial and BBC radio stations as a newsreader. |