SONSHINE A powerful voice & a heart for change
By Magi Thomley Williams Photo by Kate Treick Photography
Sonshine, in addition to being a writer for Bella, is a TV host, sales executive and public relations representative for BLAB TV, WPAN. She recently sat down with Bella to talk about her journey.
Q: Tell us about the journey that brought you to WPAN.
A: Oh, wow. What a journey! I had been in radio for 38 years. That’s a long time, but corporate radio is changing, and that gave me an opportunity. I had an urge to do TV. So, after a transition between me and corporate radio, I made a call to WPAN. We came up with the idea of doing something different. I’ve been here hosting Sonshine’s Corner ever since.
Q: Tell us about Sonshine’s Corner.
A: Sonshine’s Corner is a community-focused, local talk show that can be seen nationwide. I’m that voice for the community, the things that need to be talked about locally, that nobody else is talking about. You can have an uncomfortable conversation with me and feel comfortable doing it, getting knowledge out to the community that’s going to better the community. I believe that knowledge is power. If you talk about anything, put your ideas, my ideas together, we’ll come up with a great solution. That’s the foundation of the show — to talk about things that we need to talk about — things that affect us all, not just one segment of our community. We all have differences in opinions, but once we come up with a great conclusion, we’re all on the same path. We have the same process of thinking, but we need to have the ability to combine our thoughts to make things better for everybody. And that’s what Sonshine’s Corner does because we hit every corner of the city.
Q: Who are some mentors that helped you to get to this place of success?
A: I’ll go back to Cal Thornton. Rest his soul. I met him in the late ’80s. He always told me, “You’ve got talent, but you create these boxes when you see things that need to be changed. Instead of allowing your vines to go out, you climb up.”
He said, “What I want to teach you to do is whenever you have that box that you want to climb into, allow that to be your voice. When you allow that to be your voice, you’re going to see a lot of people hear and see the same way you do.”
He always taught me to never put on airs, just be me and watch success grow.
Q: What’s your most proud accomplishment?
A: My most proud accomplishments are my son, Brandon, and my daughter, Lutresia. Those two are the light of my life. But career-wise, I never thought I would leave a small town in the country outside of Montgomery, Alabama, to venture so many places, and to become as successful as I have become here on the Gulf Coast. I cannot thank God enough for allowing me to make a difference like I have. Never did I think of being successful in TV.
Q: What do you want our readers to know?
A: I want readers to know that I am a woman that has a strong heart, a woman that believes in fighting for what’s right, a woman that wants to give all I can to make a difference right here where I am. I want the difference to be at home. Watch what I do. That’s going to show you who I am. The community is my heart. Being a part of a women’s magazine, I want women to really be able to uplift each other, because we have so much to offer. And I think if we’re on the same plane, the sky’s the limit. That’s me in a nutshell: a woman who loves the Lord, a woman who will give her heart to make a difference.
