Jennifer Valoppi
Jennifer Valoppi is a multi-Emmy Award winning
journalist who has been
recognizedfour times on the floor of the United States Congress and
is a 2006 recipient of Florida Governor Jeb Bush’s Points of Light
Award, the highest honor in the state.
Her reputation as an influential community leader has made her not
only an expert in media relations but a sought after public speaker
and consultant, with a personal network that runs the gamut from the
Dalai Lama to the late Frank Sinatra. She just completed her first
novel, Certain cure. As a veteran news anchor in Miami, New York and
Los Angeles, Jennifer has covered almost every major news event of
the past 25 years and has hosted numerous network, nationally
syndicated and cable programs as well as consulting on and appearing
in films.
As Founder and President of the Women of Tomorrow Mentor &
Scholarship Program, from 1997 to present, Jennifer directs the
mentoring of thousands of at-risk young women in South Florida
public high schools and has helped provide them with over 1.5
million dollars worth of college scholarships, in the only program
of its kind in the country.
From 1994 to 2005, Jennifer was a lead anchor at NBC 6 WTVJ in
Miami, managing coverage of multiple hurricanes, the infamous 2000
Presidential Election, the Elian Gonzalez Controversy, the Versace
Murder, Olympics and California's Northridge earthquake (Jennifer's
first day on the air at WTVJ), reporting live from the devastated
areas. Concerned about declining standards of ethics, she also took
a leading role in driving the station's commitment to fair, accurate
and balanced journalism.
She has consulted on film projects, including Up Close & Personal
(1996), with Michele Pfeiffer and Robert Redford, in which she also
had a small part and her strong, working knowledge of the legal
system as made covering court cases one of her specialties. As a
news anchor at New York’s superstation WWOR-TV for 7 years, she led
the station’s coverage of the Gulf War and the Space Shuttle
Challenger Explosion, along with numerous news programs and
specials.
Jennifer created, hosted and produced two of WWOR’s most successful
entertainment specials – “Money, Power and Influence, I and II,"
nominated for "Best New Syndicated Program," and won two New York
Emmy Awards for "Best On-Air Talent" and "Best Entertainment
Special."
She conducted hundreds of celebrity interviews for the NBC network
show "One on One" with John Tesh, hosted NBC Sports Specials, ABC's
"New York Street Stories," numerous shows for CNBC, including "Real
Personal," and the nationally syndicated "The Kennedy
Assassinations," along with Robert Conrad. Her shows, the "Flavors
of Italy" and the "Wines of Italy," remain in international
syndication and were some of the longest running and most successful
shows on the Travel Channel.
In addition, she hosted WWOR-TV's "News Nine In-Depth," guest-hosted
"Nine Broadcast Plaza" with Matt Lauer, made appearances on
"Everyday with Joan Lunden" and "The Dr. Ruth Show" and was a
celebrity panelist on the remake of "To Tell the Truth."
Jennifer began her career as a weathercaster and science editor for
WEYI, the CBS affiliate in Flint, Michigan, in 1981 and was
immediately named "Best Weathercaster".
In addition to an honorary Ph.D., Jennifer, a Detroit native,
studied in a Doctoral Program for Media Ecology at NY University and
was to attend Law School at Wayne State University when she got into
television. Jennifer graduated with a B.A. in psychology from
Oakland University in Michigan.
Visit Jennifer online at
http://www.certaincure.com
Books-and-Authors.net: Where did you grow up and was reading and writing a part
of your life? Who were your earliest influences and why?
Jennifer Valoppi: I grew up in the suburbs of Detroit
and spent a great deal of time as a 9 or 10 year old child writing
scary, short stories inspired by Alfred Hitchcock and Rod Serling.
Books-and-Authors.net: Why do you write?
Jennifer Valoppi: To get the concepts I find so
intriguing out of my head.
Books-and-Authors.net: Briefly discuss your new book CERTAIN CURE. What is the
'Certain Cure' that possibly can save the life of Claire Cummings?
Jennifer Valoppi: CERTAIN CURE is a medical religious thriller that
asks the question, “If man is on an eternal quest for immortality, when
he finds it, does the search for God become irrelevant?” It’s about a
woman dying of cancer, her television talk show host
daughter
and her grandson who is
having visions. Certain Cure combines corporate greed and modern medical
science into an “end days” thriller where ancient Judeo-Christian
prophecies intersect with modern quantum physics and nanotechnology (the
cure), as the characters move through Manhattan - a world filled with
signs and symbols, all warnings hidden in plain sight that must be
deciphered and interpreted.
Books-and-Authors.net: If Hollywood called and asked you to cast CERTAIN CURE
who would you choose as your leads and why?
Jennifer Valoppi: Johnny Depp would be an AMAZING Dr. Smith Viviee. He
plays the perfect combination of irresistibly attractive evil.
Robert
Morgan was originally a combination of Robert Redford and Morgan Freeman
in my mind but grew
into a somewhat older
Matt Damon as the character developed. He is a combination of rugged,
boyish good looks, fragility and strength.
Claire, Helene and Justin Cummings I have never seen as actual known
actors – though Michelle Pfeiffer would be an excellent Helene.
Books-and-Authors.net: What was the last book you read?
Jennifer Valoppi:
I just
finished Mind-Reach by Russell Targ and Harold Puthoff. It’s a somewhat
obscure book by scientists researching psychic abilities in the 1970’s.
Books-and-Authors.net: Do you have any hobbies? What are they? How do they
enhance your writing?
Jennifer Valoppi: Skiing, painting, yoga and researching conspiracy
theories. As far as the latter goes, I am always intrigued by the
unusual and obscure and it is an enormous
amount
of fun to learn and write
about.
