Wiki Biography / Profile Background
Introduction :
Cheryl Jennings is an experienced, celebrated journalist working at KGO-TV for ABC7, San Francisco.
Early Life and Education :
- Cheryl was born in Fort Benning, Georgia, as the eldest of seven children of an Army Officer. On account of her father’s job, the family moved around a lot, from coast-to-coast and they were a few years in Germany as well.
- In the end, the family eventually settled in the Bay Area. Jennings attended 12 schools and later graduated from Washington High School.
- After high school, she secured she enrolled at the City College of San Fransisco.
- She went to college aspiring to be a teacher, but an assignment she did on women in broadcasting made her change her mind. During this assignment, Cheryl interviewed Karna Small and Marcia Brandwayne, both of whom became her mentors in this line of work.
Relationships and Marriage :
- For more than 25 years, Cheryl is married to her soulmate Rick Pettibone. Rick is a financial advisor working at Merrill Lynch.
- The way they two met is also quite interesting – When Cheryl was moving apartments, she was looking for somebody with a moving truck. Her sister’s boyfriend’s cousin Rick showed up at the door & the two were married a few months later.
- The couple is a workaholic but often takes time to watch movies or travel together from time to time.
- Rick and Cheryl made a conscious decision not to have any kids. However, they do enjoy the company of their 15+ nephews and nieces.
- Prior to her marriage to Rick, Cheryl was married to another man for seven years. But the heavy workload in the early part of her career took a toll on the relationship, ending it.
Career, Income, Salary and Net Worth :
- Cheryl is a nine-time Emmy award-winning veteran journalist, currently working at KGO-TV ABC7 as a special assignments reporter. Before this role, she had been working at ABC7 as a desk anchor for over 30 years!
- Cheryl’s career began as a volunteer at KNBR, where she was responsible for handling traffic reports. She worked in this position for five months & was later promoted to secretary and switchboard operator.
- A year and a half later, she started working as a weekend late-night reporter. Finally, in 1979, she started working at KGO-TV, ABC 7, where she continues to work.
Awards and Achievements :
- In December 2015, Congresswoman Jackie Speier honored Jennings for the work she had done in the Congressional Record & for her dedication to serving the Bay Area people through journalism.
- She has also been honored with the two highest awards in broadcasting : The George Foster Peabody Award for when she covered the Loma Prieta earthquake & The Edward R. Murrow award by the Radio and Television News Directors Association.
Interesting Facts, Height and Trivia :
- To get her foot in the door, Jennings had applied at 20 radio stations to be a volunteer. Around 18 of them rejected her, but she was finally taken by KNBR.
- Cheryl is also passionate about charity & volunteer work. She is active at charity events, mostly as an emcee. She is the co-founder of Roots of Peace Children’s Penny Campaign program, which is aimed at removing landmines in war-torn countries.
- Her works have seen her travel to many places & meet with influential people; some such as, In 2009, she went to South Africa to meet a Marin man based in Cape Town who has dedicated his life to helping children with deadly diseases such as HIV and AIDS in the rural areas.
- In 2013, she traveled to Israel and to the Palestinian authority to witness the Israelis and Palestinians working together to remove landmines in the Bethlehem fields.
- She has also met with the then Afghanistan President, President Ashraf Ghani, in January 2015.
- Her career highlight was in 1989 on the night of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Cheryl was the only reporter in the studio, and she put in hours of reporting on the scrapped phoned-in information.
Wow…Cheryl is amazing!