As a child, Jenese Harris watched two things on television: Sesame Street and the local news. One day, while her mother was preparing dinner and her father was at work, she stared at the television.
At the age of nine, she saw a reflection of herself in, then, Detroit anchor, Carmen Harlan. From that moment, the seed had been planted in Harris' mind that one day she too would become a news anchor.
Harris has served this community since June 2016. Harris made history on August 21, 2022 as the first African American woman meteorologist and the first to ever present a weather forecast in the Northeast Florida, Southeast Georgia market.
She has reported for several local news stations and around the world while being featured on HLN, CNN, Al Jazeera and Crime Watch among other networks for her exceptional journalism.
Harris has cultivated a skill for covering high profile court cases including, the Ahmaud Arbery murder investigation and the McMichaels and Bryan murder trial for Arbery's death; covering the case for two and half years. She also covered the horrific murder of Cherish Periwinkle after she was kidnapped from a local store.
Jenese worked at WICD as its morning anchor for two years and at WCCU as an evening anchor and reporter where she and co-anchor with meteorologist Doug Quick to launch a local Fox affiliate.
Two hours north of Champaign, Illinois, Jenese worked as an assignment editor and field producer for CBS 2 Chicago and the Local News Service, covering everything from city council meetings and federal courts cases to protests and celebrity charity events.
Before moving to Chicago, she was the evening anchor, reporter and producer for the 5, 6 and 10 o'clock evening news, for WABG in Greenville, Mississippi.
Her on-air career began at WMOR in Tampa, Florida, as a television host for a weekly entertainment show, MORE TV 32.
Harris' experience in journalism began at age 15, in her hometown, while interning at WDET in Detroit, a National Public Radio station. Then, she interned at a local radio station every year there after, before working as a paid apprentice for the Detroit Free Press.
Jenese has a Bachelor of Arts and Sciences degree in Communications from the University of South Florida and a Bachelor of Science degree in Broadcast Meteorology from Mississippi State University.
Harris has a love for genealogy, movies and food.
