Marverine Cole

Marverine Cole is a British radio and television presenter and news reporter from Birmingham, England.

Of Jamaican descent, she made history as one of the ten Black British women to have ever presented national and international news bulletins in the UK during the last 40 years. Peers amongst others include Moira Stuart, Gillian Joseph, Lukwesa Burak, Sharon Grey, Joyce Ohaja, Claudia-Liza Vanderpuije, Charlene White.

Marverine has been a television news anchor for BBC Midlands Today, and ITV Central News in Birmingham, and also Sky News, 5 News and Arise News (an African-focused news channel) in London. Joining Sky News, she presented the World News and Business Report overnight slot, reporting on breaking news stories like the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.[1] She is also said to be the first Black female presenter on TV shopping channel QVC UK during their twenty year history when she joined them in 2013.[1][2]

She studied for a degree in business studies at De Montfort University (graduating in 1993), and a postgraduate diploma in broadcast journalism at the University of Central England in Birmingham.[3]

Working in radio, she produced Ladies with Lyrics, a documentary about UK female rappers for BBC Radio 1Xtra,[4] and a documentary for BBC Radio 4 about female gambling addicts.[5] In 2019, she won the award of Journalist of the Year at the Mind Media Awards in 2019 for another BBC Radio 4 documentary about mental health, Black Girls Don't Cry.[6]

She is Britain's first Black female beer sommelier (accredited by the UK Beer and Cider Academy), often appears on TV doing live beer tastings for ITV's Love Your Weekend and This Morning. She is a beer podcaster and appears as a beer expert in the media[7]—including a special edition of Countdown, during Channel 4's Black to Front Day.[8] She is the beer columnist for BBC Good Food magazine and online.[9]

In 2021, she became a stand-in presenter for Classic FM, and also as a regular friend on the popular Channel 4 daytime show, Steph's Packed Lunch. Rumours are that she is also the voice heard across British train stations nationwide, asking the general public to wear a face mask.[citation needed]

She is a board member of Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Student View. She is also an ambassador for West Midlands screen body, Create Central.[10]

References

  1. ^ a b Kunova, Marcela (16 May 2019). "New speaker announcement: Marverine Cole joins panel on diversity in the newsroom". journalism.co.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  2. ^ "I've just read An announcement to share on @QVC UK's blog - go here". QCommunity. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Marverine Cole - TV Presenter @ QVC". Mediargh. Archived from the original on 27 September 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  4. ^ "BBC - Radio 1Xtra Stories - Ladies with Lyrics - Media Centre". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  5. ^ "Marverine Cole - Knight Ayton". knightayton.co.uk. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
  6. ^ "BBC Radio 4 - Black Girls Don't Cry". BBC. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  7. ^ Cole, Marverine (24 August 2009). "Marverine Cole: Diversity key to media future". Birmingham Post. Archived from the original on 24 September 2012. Retrieved 3 February 2010.
  8. ^ Adejobi, Alicia (10 September 2021). "Black To Front: Countdown star insists 'Black people aren't a risk'". Metro. Retrieved 10 February 2022.
  9. ^ "Marverine Cole – Beer sommelier". BBC Good Food. Retrieved 1 October 2023.
  10. ^ "CREATE CENTRAL CHAMPIONS". Create Central | Home of original storytelling. 8 February 2022. Retrieved 10 February 2022.