Avonne Curry began her television career in 2004 on Comcast Community Programming Channel 69 in Alexandria. Back then, the show served as a means for Curry to promote Christian hip-hop acts, musicians and comedians. "What ended up happening is that we’d be waiting in the studio and no one would show up," said Curry, who recently moved from the City of Alexandria to the Alexandria portion of Fairfax County.
In spring 2006, the focus of the program changed. "What ended up happening is that we’d be waiting in the studio and no one would show up," she said.
Curry is president and owner of Destiny's Dream, a motivational consulting organization, and is an accomplished public speaker on everything from women's issues to development as a Christian. So her revamped show still featured her as the host, but incorporated three seminars she'd prepare for each taping in case her guests pulled a no-show. "The Avonne Curry Motivational Show," a half-hour program that runs on Channel 69 each week beginning at 7:30 p.m., is a mix of Curry's seminars and some insightful guests, from local business owners to authors. For example, Curry just purchased a house, so she's looking to develop an episode that deals with home purchasing in a down market.
"It’s various topics that are designed to motivate. The target audience is individuals ages 25-45, but mainly a lot of my topics are for singles when I’m giving the seminars. And even though I don’t sit there preaching and quoting scripture, it’s for Christian singles," she said.
More information about Curry can be found at www.avonne.com. She recently answered a few questions about her career and where television might take it:
<cl>What’s it like to speak in front of prisoners?
<bt>
I go in there with humor and with some silly things, just to get them interested and understanding that when you get out of here, it’s going to be bad. I’m not going to sugarcoat it and tell you life’s going to be wonderful. Let’s talk about how you’re going to get past that — when someone calls you a loser or a convict — and get successful. At first I was scared, but I’ve been doing it for a couple of years.
<cl>What made you transition into television?
<bt>
You how you always know that you’re going to do something? I didn’t know it was going to be entertainment. My small business is pretty much Christian entertainment events, of a non-traditional sort. I was looking for a way to promote them, and I was like, "Maybe I try some public access TV?" And then it went from public access TV to me speaking publicly. It wasn’t a plan. It just kept falling into place for me.
<cl>Were you a natural at television or did you have to work at it?
<bt>
I’ve been speaking in corporate America since 1995, and my first speaking engagement was when I was a junior in college in the early ‘80s. Some people have — I hate to say it — "a gift." I was the person who, as a kid, talked so much that the progress report said "Needs Improvement." So talking in front of people just came naturally; one day I just said, "Lord, please give me something to say." That’s how it evolved. It’s taken on a life of its own, to the point where I have an intern coming in from George Mason University and she’s like, "How do you see yourself in the future?" To be honest, I have an answer I hate to give, and that’s "I don’t know." So I’ve challenged the interns I have this year to help me find a way to have something different than Tyra and Oprah, so in the next 10 years I can move from public access to something more mainstream.
<cl>What do you see that they do that you think you can do different or better?
<bt>
To be honest right now, that’s just it: I’m not sure. I’m not seeing anything just yet, and that’s why I’ve asked them to help me to do it. The only thing that I’m doing differently is that I’m not preaching. In the military, when you go into battle, you don’t wear utilities that will have you visible to everybody; you wear utilities so you blend in. My style is that I’m preaching to you and you don’t even know it. I can sit next to you in a bar, we can be laughing and joking, and you’ll be comfortable sharing with me. I’m trying to figure out how I can take that style to the mainstream.
<cl>What are some of the other topics you’d like to feature on the show this year?
<bt>
One topic I want to talk about, and you hear about this all the time, is that you have single women so interested in meeting that next guy they want to date that they end up neglecting their children. Once the child is a teenager and gets into all of these problems, the mother is like "my daughter and I were so close." Yet you ignored your daughter all the time, and that’s how she got into these problems.
<cl>What are some of your favorite things about Alexandria?
<bt>
They keep closing down my places. I loved Copelands. I used to have all of my meetings there. But No. 1 on my entire list is Red Lobster right off of Van Dorn. I’m a seafood lover — king crab, snow crab’s legs. I’m from Tidewater.