Pop Culture & Entertainment
Editor and writer with demonstrated ability to source, pitch and report multiple stories daily; experience covering breaking news, health and wellness, parenting, food, style, entertainment and more; record of growing social media audiences by size and engagement; home cook; occasional stand-up comic; Mizzou J School and Georgetown grad. Reach me at [email protected].
Pop Culture & Entertainment
When you watch an interview of a movie star, you don't expect the reporter to tell the guest that they've been in "some stinkers" or to ask how they'd feel if their child was involved with their former lover. But the typical questions celebrities are asked do not interest TV broadcaster Leta Powell Drake from Lincoln, Nebraska.
Source: TODAY When "Boy Meets World" debuted its first Black main character, Angela Moore, played by Trina McGee, in 1997, the show's creators made a conscious decision not to mention her race. She dated original cast member Rider Strong's Shawn Hunter on and off for three seasons, but the dynamics of interracial relationships still went unaddressed.
Imagine a typical small-town cop character who's in over his head investigating a particularly violent crime - but the cop is a woman and she knows exactly what she's doing. That's Mare Sheehan, the main character of HBO's overnight murder-mystery hit, "Mare of Easttown," played by Kate Winslet.
Within the first minute of the new Peacock show "We Are Lady Parts," it's clear the main character and her parents are practicing Muslims - but according to its creator, Nida Manzoor, the comedic series isn't about religion.
During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, TODAY is sharing the community's history, pain, joy and what's next for the AAPI movement. We will be publishing personal essays, stories, videos and specials throughout the entire month of May.
But Bloom is used to people like her being told no, even today. "We can't just rely on just being beautiful," she said. "We have to be able to sing, dance. You have to be funny. You have to do your own hair and makeup and styling.
Health
There's one name Dr. Kameelah Phillips, an OB-GYN at Calla Women's Health in New York City, would prefer not to use in her operating room: Sims. Depending on the context, the word can mean either a surgical tool, "Sims' vaginal speculum," or its inventor, Dr. James Marion Sims. Sims is known as the founding father of gynecology, but his legacy is fraught because of how he gathered much of his learnings - by operating on enslaved Black women without their consent or anesthesia.
The Lawson family of Bothell, Washington, is living through one of the "darkest" experiences they've ever had, Theresa Lawson, a mom of two, told TODAY. After her 13-year-old son, Anthony, showed a baffling series of symptoms, he was admitted to the ICU of Seattle Children's Hospital.
COVID-19 during pregnancy can lead to severe outcomes for mothers including more serious illness, ventilation, preterm labor or even death. Three families share their stories.
It's been over six months since the coronavirus started spreading through the U.S., and public health officials have continued to stress that no one is immune to the virus. Yet there's one group of people who still may not be getting the message: As cases spike in states like Florida, Arizona and Texas, younger people in their 20s, 30s and 40s are increasingly testing positive.
During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, TODAY is sharing the community's history, pain, joy and what's next for the AAPI movement. We will be publishing personal essays, stories, videos and specials throughout the entire month of May.
The name Operation Warp Speed - what the federal government has dubbed the initiative to condense the normally yearslong process of creating and distributing a vaccine into a matter of months - doesn't exactly instill confidence. In fact, many of Dr. Leon McDougle's patients, predominantly Black Americans, have pointed to just that when expressing their hesitation to receive a COVID-19 vaccine.
From the moment Kelly Houlihan walks in her front door after a 12-plus-hour shift fighting the coronavirus, it will be 45 minutes before she can sit down - and hours before she can finally rest. The 42-year-old ICU nurse at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City has a precautionary process that begins when she enters her home where her husband and two daughters live.
For author and journalist Tracy Baim, who wrote a book about early gay activist Barbara Gittings, there's "nothing more important" in Gittings' work than one moment in 1972, Baim told TODAY. Gittings' longtime partner, Kay Lahusen, took thousands of photos of their efforts, but this one stands out.
Although pregnant people are currently eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccines in all 50 states, many expectant moms in the U.S. have had to deal with unexpected roadblocks that often don't align with state or local policy before actually getting their shot. Some have been turned away completely.
“Initially, [BIA-ALCL] was said to be very rare, but as time goes by, they’re finding more and more cases,” Dr. Marguerite Barnett explains to PEOPLE. “It’s a serious tumor capable of killing people.”
When Kristi Chun’s 1-1/2-month-old son, Colby, showed signs of eczema on his ear, she picked up a bottle of over-the-counter anti-itch lotion, not realizing she was starting her family on a years-long journey of doctors’ visits and sleepless nights.
Findings from animal studies suggest that the highest risk from exposure to anesthesia is when the brain is developing rapidly around the ages of 3 and 4.
Lifestyle
For Asian Americans, congee is often comfort food when you're sick. As the child of a Filipino immigrant, I ate congee that my mother prepared when I couldn't keep down anything else. It was a plain meal, for better or worse, that warmed the whole body and left you craving more.
When the coronavirus pandemic hit the U.S. in March, the apocalyptic feel of the world led seemingly thousands of people to stockpile toilet paper, prompting widespread shortages. You likely saw the reports: Walmart and other retailers were stripped bare in their paper product aisles, and social media users wondered aloud why TP, of all things, topped the list of important necessities during this time.
After eliminating the swimsuit contest, all eyes are now on Miss America and the authenticity of its stand to prioritize "ambition" and "talent" over looks come fall.
When Bravo's "Real Housewives of New York" premiered its 12th season last year, new cast member Leah McSweeney effortlessly commanded viewers' attention with her entertaining antics often brought on by drinking - skinny-dipping and throwing tiki torches to name a couple.
In this year's presidential election, an analysis by Rutgers University projected that some 38 million people with disabilities are eligible to vote, representing nearly 1 in 6 of the total electorate. But people with disabilities often face obstacles to casting their ballots, from broken elevators at polling places to voting machines without any audio.
People throw out a lot of numbers about the cost of a year of child care in the U.S. Here's exactly what that number means.
News & Trends
"Americans got to see these people, understand these athletes ... and then a few weeks later, they opened their newspapers to find out that they'd all perished in the plane crash," she told TODAY. "These people who probably weren't household names became household names from that weekend of competition," she added.
Source: TODAY Chinatowns across the country are struggling due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has impacted these communities far beyond mask requirements and limited restaurant capacity. An apparent rise in anti-Asian bigotry over the past year has also led to fewer customers for Asian-run businesses and a surge in violence, especially against older people.
Source: TODAY When screenwriter Jenny Lumet thinks of her maternal grandmother, singer and civil rights activist Lena Horne, she remembers that she used to eat Snickers with a fork and knife. It was part of what made her ladylike and sophisticated, Lumet recalled to TODAY for a Women's History Month series on the granddaughters of influential women.
During Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, TODAY is sharing the community's history, pain, joy and what's next for the AAPI movement. We will be publishing personal essays, stories, videos and specials throughout the entire month of May.
The proposed new design for South Carolina's state flag began circulating online late last month, and the social media reaction lacked any Southern niceties. The tentative design included a crescent and palmetto tree, the official state tree, on an indigo background, similar to the current but nonstandardized versions that manufacturers sell.
How #MeToo evolved into a global movement across industries gender, race and class. Reporting by Maura Hohman, presented by Linda Ong at Variety Massive Summit.