Rhonda Baraka

Rhonda Baraka was one of the few writers/producers able to make the difficult transition from the world of journalism into the world of television. Born Rhonda Nichelle Freeman on March 9, 1962 in Tuskegee, AL, young Rhonda took to writing at a young age, and eventually earned a bachelors degree in English from Talladega College. In 1985, she married Tony Colvin-Baraka. Baraka moved around for most of the next two decades, writing for a number of newspapers, including The Daily Home in Talladega, AL, and The National Leader in Philadelphia, PA. But as the new millennium dawned, Baraka sought out new opportunities in television. In 2008, she caught her big break as screenwriter of the TV movie "Pastor Brown" (Lifetime, 2008). Baraka next served as writer for the TV movie "Trinity Goodheart" (Up TV, 2011). Her next few projects saw her taking on the role of both writer and producer: "Saving Westbrook High" (Up TV, 2013), "Marry Me For Christmas" (Up TV, 2013), "My Dad's A Soccer Mom" (Up TV, 2014), "Marry Us For Christmas" (Up TV, 2014) and "The Secret She Kept" (Up TV, 2016). Perhaps Baraka's greatest achievement, however, was helping Magic Johnson launch the African-American TV network ASPiRE, on which she also served as a writer for the talk show "Exhale" (ASPiRE, 2013).