Meet Lynneisha (L.Marie) Charles of EURWeb and Afterbuzz TV in Hollywood

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lynneisha (L.Marie) Charles.

Lynneisha, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I’ve always known that I wanted to be a journalist/ tv host. As a little girl, I watched Oprah and wanted to do what she did. When I was younger, I would act like I had my own talk show and interview my friends in the neighborhood. When I got to college, I majored in broadcast journalism, but I realized hard news was not the field I wanted to work in. I was more drawn to entertainment so, while in college I would cover the homecoming concerts and interview the artist that came to perform. I decided to intern at a radio station instead of a tv station because as I said before I was more interested in entertainment.

Once I graduated, I returned home to Chicago and started working as a producer at Power 92. I was never an on-air host while I worked there, I’m not sure what it was but I just never made the cut to be on air. I later started doing freelance work as an interviewer with local urban entertainment networks. I realized I wasn’t going to grow at the radio station and packed up and moved to LA. On my flight to LA, I met Jason Kenndy, a host at E News, I told him I was moving to LA to be a host and asked what advice could he give me. He told me about a hosting class to take, which I did, and from there all of my other opportunities were birthed. I am a host at Afterbuzz TV as well as EUR Web.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Ha, what is smooth? Can you use that in a sentence? In other words, no, it was not smooth. Yes, I just packed up and moved but my mom agreed to pay my bills for the first year. I am so grateful for her because I don’t know too many mothers that would financially support their 30-year-old child. But about three weeks before my move, I learned my dad’s cancer had spread to his brain and the doctors had only given him a few months to live. Well, those few months turned into weeks. I moved to LA on August 10th, 2014 and my dad passed nine days later on August 19th. What was already going to be a hard transition moving to a city where I didn’t know anyone became extremely difficult. Going through the grieving process alone was very hard for me but I made it through. I got a part-time job and was able to help my mom help me lol and later got a full-time job at a cell phone company. Working full time made it hard for me to make time for hosting jobs.

In 2018, I took a leave of absence from work to focus on hosting, I was still getting paid but later my checks were reduced and I was struggling so badly financially I thought I would have to move back home to Chicago, but God came through and showed me he had my back. Yes, I could have gone back to work at any time but that’s not what I came to LA to do. Even though I was stressed out on a daily bases about paying my bills, I started doing more hosting. Taking that leave allowed me the opportunity to interview legends such as Oprah, Tyler Perry, Angela Bassett, and cover serval red carpets and junkets. Life ain’t been no crystal staircase but I’m still climbing those stairs regardless.

If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
If I had to start over, I would have not moved back home right after college. I attended Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA. I wasn’t thinking about the future of my career, I just wanted to go home. I was told that it would be better for me to start as an on-air host in a smaller market but I didn’t listen. I interned at the urban station in Baron Rouge and had connections to the urban station in New Orleans, I do believe I would have become a radio host had I listened to that advice. In retrospect, I do wish I would have stayed in Louisiana and worked at one of those stations, I believe I would have been farther in my career. But then again, I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. I would just use my experience to tell others not to be hardheaded and listen when those that have gone before you give you advice.

Image Credit:
Fox Soul – out loud with Claudia Jordan photo, EUR Web – photos of articles, Tae Nichol – photo in Afterbuzz studio with the two other ladies

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