Daralene Jones Biography
Daralene Jones is an American Emmy-Award-Winning Anchor/Reporter working for WFTV Channel 9 News in Orlando, Florida as an Evening Anchor for the Eyewitness News at 4. She also serves the station as an Investigative Reporter. Jones joined the station in May 2014.
Daralene Jones Age / Birthday
Jones is 39 years old as of 2022. She was born in the year 1983 in Chicago, United States. Jones, however, manages to keep information regarding his exact dates of birth away from the limelight. We will update this information once more information is available to the public.
Daralene Jones Height / Measurements
Jones is of average body stature and stands at an approximate height of 5 feet 6 inches.
Daralene Jones Partner / Husband
Jones is married to her husband, Antoine Jamaal Bell who she tied knots with in June 2013. Bell works as a mechanical engineer for Lockheed Martin. He is a proud graduate of North Carolina and Florida University at the Orange County Regional History Center in Florida by Dr. Marvin A. Jackson, the lead pastor of the River of Life Christian Center of Orlando. Jamaal happens to be the son to Sandra F. Bell
Daralene Jones Kids / Children
Together with her husband, the duo are proud parents to their three sons, Eleon, Aiden and her unknown thrid son. She posted a photo of him on the 30th of October 2021 wishing her a happy birthday stating that he completes the family. Jones also posted a photo of her whole family on the 6th of April 2021 stating that they are her favorite.
Daralene Jones Family / Relatives
Jones was born and raised in Chicago to her parents Rusell Hawkins from Chicago, and the late Shirley Jean Head. Daralene is the youngest in a family of five children. Her mother used to serve long hours as a nurse. Growing up, they reside in South Slide in crime-ridden neighborhoods. Shirley passed away as a result of brain aneurysm. After the death of her mom, her father stopped coming around.
She states that she has never set eyes on him since then. She lived with her aunt for a few years before joining eighth grade and her aunt told her to leave since she was a bad child. Jones was forced to relocate to Macomb and live with her sisterm Dorothy who was at the moment attending Western Illinois University.
Daralene Jones Education
Jones attended Illinois State University where she obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Journalism, Communications and Related Programs. She then went on to join the University of Illinois Springfield where she obtained a Master of Arts Degree in Public Affairs.
Daralene Jones Career
Jones works with WFTV News where he serves the station as an Anchor for Eyewitness News at 4 alongside Greg Warmoth. She also serves the station as an Investigative Reporter and contributes to the 9 Investigative teams focusing on in-depth reports.
Daralene was introduced to journalism when she joined her college newspaper staff and campus television station at Illinois State University. There, she wrote about issues affecting students and the surrounding community. Daralene’s first stories were about health-related matters which hit close to home. This is because she lost her mother to a brain aneurysm when she was a child.
Prior to joining the WFTV team, she was working as a reporter in different states. She has worked in Memphis, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Springfield, Decatur, and Tennessee. Her news reports have been privileged to receive Emmy nominations. Her investigative reporting on the G.W. Bridge scandal involving New Jersey Governor, Chris Christie gained national attention. This was her previous station’s lead reporter on the Oklahoma tornadoes in 2013, the Boston Marathon bombings, and the D.C. Navy Yard shooting.
This is her second stint at WFTV. She was recruited from the station in 2012 during her groundbreaking overage of the death of Trayvon Martin and the hazing death of Florida A&M University drum major, Robert Champion. Jones is well-known for holding public figures accountable for their actions. Daralene was the only reporter pushing for Florida Governor Rick Scott for days after the 2012 election for answers. She was seeking answers on the controversial refusal to extend early voting in the state and the effect that might have had in delaying election results.
Her report was also featured on MSNBC. Jones is a proud member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Incorporated. She is also a proud member of Jack and Jill of America Incorporated and Florida Executive Women. Asides from this, she volunteers through Meals on Wheels and serves on the board of the Early Learning Coalition County. This is in addition to serving on the Boys and Girls Club(West Orange).
Daralene Jones Investigative Reports
Daralene has also served the station as an executive producer of the Ocoee Massacre project, a comprehensive television documentary with a companion website and podcast detailing what sparked the killings of Blacks. She also covered the destruction of their property on Election Day in 1920 in Ocoee.
Asides from this, she has produced “Groveland Four: Journey to Exoneration. This program tells the story of four Black men who were wrongly accused of raping a white woman in the year 1949. Through her reporting on police use of force in 2019, he promoted several police agencies to audit their reporting of excessive force cases. The Orlando police chief praised her reporting and highlighted the discrepancies.
Asides from this, she has exposed questionable traffic stops which forced the police chief to review the department’s tactics. He was the first to expose gang violence connected to a string of murders. This forced the Orange County Sheriff’s Office to bring in assistance from the FBI. Through her extensive reporting on the lack of COVID-19 reporting for daycares prompted the Florida Department of Health to change course and start tracking cases at daycares and schools statewide.
It is because of her reporting on the lack of testing in Florida prisons, that the state increased the availability. Her interest in journalism began when she was a child and was inspired by Ethel Payne who was fearless as a journalist. Ethel wrote about many monumental national moments during her time with the Chicago Defender. She was also among the first Black Women to join the White House Press corps.
Daralene Jones WFTV
Jones works at WFTV where she works with her fellow colleagues who are anchors, reporters, and meteorologists and they include;
- Greg Warmoth
- George Waldenberger
- Tom Terry
- Martha Sugalski
- Karla Ray
- Rusty McCranie
- Joe Kepner
- Christopher Heath
- Kassandra Crimi
- Deneige Broom
Daralene Jones Salary
Jones receives an annual income ranging between $30,000 and $90,000.
Daralene Jones Net Worth
Through Daralene’s career as an Anchor/Reporter, she has been able to accumulate a net worth that ranges between $1 Million and $ 5 Million.
Daralene Jones Website
Jones has a website of her own where she write about herself and has posted her resume. There, she states that she holds the powerful accountable. Click HERE to view her site.
Daralene Jones Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Jones is active on her social media accounts. She has about 14K followers on her Facebook Page, about 6.70K followers on her Twitter account, and around 400 followers on her Instagram account.