Difference between revisions of "Tracia Matthewson"

Revision as of 12:19, 17 February 2016

Tracia Ward
Born	Tracia Bethann Ward December 7, 1989 (1989-12-07) (age 34) South Bend, Indiana
Years active	2003-present
Partner	Hillary Matthewson (2014-present)

Tracia Bethann Ward (born December 7, 1989 in South Bend, Indiana) is a television morning news presenter based in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She currently works for WTOR-FTV, Fort Wayne's CBS affiliate and flagship station owned by NoSirGifts Venues (the station is known locally as "CBS 41"). Ward is also best known for being the daughter of WMRI-FTV anchorman Pete Ward and currently is a moderator Vote for the Girls USA and Vote for the Girls UK .

Early Life

Tracia Ward was born in South Bend, Indiana, the only daughter of Rosa Michaels (b. 1959) and Pete Ward (b. 1959). She lived on the southeast of South Bend with her parents until they divorced in 2003 and moved with her father to Fort Wayne, Indiana. Tracia attended Bishop Dwenger High School in Fort Wayne for her freshman and sophomore years at the same time as one of her father's colleagues (Frank Davidson) but moved back to South Bend to attend John Adams High School for her junior and senior years, which she graduated in 2008. She then attended her hometown's Notre Dame Unversity and graduated in 2012.

Career

WXSB (2011-2015)

Ward began her broadcast career at then Fox affiliate WXSB-FTV in 2011.^[1] At the age of 22, she was one of the youngest weekday morning anchorwomen in the country. WXSB and WSBI-FTV (channel 10) switched network affiliations on January 1, 2014 and WXSB became a CBS affiliate (the station is known locally as "Michiana's CBS 17"). Ward impressed her bosses at NoSirGifts Fantasy Televison Stations enough that by September 2014 Ward was offered a similar position at sister station WIFX-FTV (channel 11) in Indianapolis, but declined the offer due to her commitements with the American and British adaptations of Vote for the Girls.

WTOR (2015-present)

In April 2015, Ward was offered a similar position at NoSirGifts flagship and Fort Wayne sister station WTOR-FTV (channel 41) as the weekday midday and 3 p.m. anchor and accepted the offer. Ward's final WXSB newscast aired on May 20, 2015 and Ward's first WTOR newscast aired on June 1, 2015.

Vote for the Girls moderator (2014-present)

It was announced on June 23, 2014 that American presenter Tracia Ward was confirmed as a moderator of both the American and British versions of Vote for the Girls. In a interview with Fiona Johnson in San Fransisco, Ward revealed she had accepted a moderator panel role on Vote for the Girls USA and Vote for the Girls UK.

Moderator Record

Vote for the Girls UK

• Series 2 –
  • Third place moderator as her Vote for the Girls pick, Jake Wood was eliminated in the semi-final of the twelfth series of Strictly Come Dancing.
  • Losing moderator her final Vote for the Girls pick, Lauren Platt, finished fourth place of the eleventh series of The X Factor.
  • Losing moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Lara Lee, was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the fourth series of The Voice UK.
• Series 3 –
  • Fourth place moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick Kiera Weathers was eliminated in 11th place on the twelfth series of The X Factor UK.
  • Overall winning moderator as her final Vote for the Girls picks Jay McGuiness was declared the winner on the thirteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing.
  • Pending outcome for the fifth series of The Voice UK.

Vote for the Girls USA

• Season 6 –
  • Declined loss and joint winning moderator as her Jax, finished third place on the fourteenth season of American Idol. However, with the Moderators' Save used on Jax (since she was the last female in the competition), Ward, along with Ava Zinn and Kymberly Alvaraz (with their final pick of Nick Fradiani) were be declared dual winning moderators upon Fradiani being declared the winner..
  • Losing moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Deanna Johnson, was eliminated in the Top 10 of the eighth season of The Voice.
  • Losing moderator as her final Vote for the Girls pick, Robert Herjavec & Kym Johnson were eliminated in the quarter-final and finished in 6th place of the twentieth season of Dancing with the Stars. (Suzanne Somers & Tony Dovolani was also her Vote for the Girls pick with Somers finishing 9th)
• Season 7 –
  • Third place moderator as her flex pick Jefferey Austin won fourth place to winner Jordan Smith, runner-up Emily Ann Roberts (chosen by Ava Zinn and Kymberly Alvaraz) and third place finalist Barrett Baber (chosen by Kendra Ray) on season 9 of The Voice.

Personal life

Ward was in a relationship with Frank Davidson from 2000 until 2002. Ward came out as a bisexual in 2011 before she started her career at WXSB.

Ward is currently in a relationship with Hillary Matthewson since January 2014. Ward and Matthewson met whille they were both seniors at Bishop Dwenger High School in 2006.

References

External links