How Did I Get Here?

Wendy Williams

Host and executive producer, The Wendy Williams Show
from
  • Education
  • Ocean Township High School, Oakhurst, N.J., class of 1982
  • Northeastern University, Boston, class of 1986
  • Work Experience
  • 1984
    Intern, Matty in the Morning, KISS 108, Boston
  • 1986–87
    Afternoon DJ, WVIS 106.1, St. Croix
  • 1987–88
    Afternoon DJ, WOL 1450 AM, Washington, D.C.
  • 1988–90
    Overnight DJ, Hot 103.9, New York
  • 1990–94
    Morning and night DJ, 98.7 KISS, New York
  • 1994–98
    Afternoon drive DJ, Hot 97, New York
  • 1998–2001
    Co-host of Carter, Sanborn, and Wendy, Power 99, Philadelphia
  • 2001–09
    Afternoon drive DJ and host of The Wendy Williams Experience, WBLS 107.5, New York
  • 2008–Present
    Host and exec producer, The Wendy Williams Show
  • Life Lessons
  • “Early in your career, say less, listen more, observe everything.”
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  • “Internships are the way you learn what you want, particularly seeing the lifestyle that goes with the career.”
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  • “Lifestyle is as important as the actual career that you choose.”
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  • In a charm school fashion show, 1971
    “I was a solid C student. Mentally I was every place but at school, and I was one of only four blacks in my graduating class. So I was a bit of an enigma, physically and mentally.”
  • “I would go into the studio with some sort of flair—a sparkly jacket or nails. One day the host goes, ‘Our intern, Wendy, is here. Wendy, let me see your nails. … Wait, get on the mic, nobody can hear you.’ And I’m like, Perfect, got him!”
  • “I was truly the young and pretty New York City girl having the time of her life, and I wouldn’t let anybody knock my focus.”
  • With her son, Kevin, 2000
    “I had a plethora of guests—Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin and Suzanne Somers and people like that—and at the same time I was fraternizing with Snoop Dogg and Mary J. Blige.”
  • On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, 2017
  • With best friend, Regina, 1985
  • “My college radio station was the first time I ever got on a microphone. News wasn’t necessarily up my alley. But when I got with DJing, that’s when I knew.”
  • “Hot 103.9 in New York called and said, ‘You ready to start weekends?’ I drove up and down the turnpike—I know every rest stop from New York to D.C.”
  • With Nina Shay, Reverend Al Sharpton, and Kevin Hunter at the debut of a hip-hop album Williams curated, Wendy Williams Brings the Heat, Volume 1, 2005
  • “I knew everything about radio but nothing about TV other than that I liked to watch it. But if you’re not going to bet on yourself, who are you going to bet on? We’re in 52 countries around the world.”