Tisha Powell

Louisiana native Tisha Powell joined the WAFB 9NEWS team in August 2021. Tisha, who was born on Bayou LaFourche in Thibodaux, is a graduate of H.L. Bourgeois High School and Loyola University New Orleans where she majored in broadcast news and minored in political science. Tisha started her career in journalism as a reporter and producer for WCBI-TV in Columbus, Mississippi. She then went on to New Orleans to work for WDSU-TV where she traveled to Honduras to cover the devastation of Hurricane Mitch. When her husband, an officer in the U.S. Army, was relocated to San Antonio, Tisha joined the news team at KABB-TV where she was an anchor and health reporter. While there, she covered the escape of the Texas Seven and the Spurs 2003 NBA Championship. Prior to coming to WAFB, Tisha worked as a main anchor and reporter for WTVD-TV in the Raleigh and Durham metro area of North Carolina. During her 16 years there, she traveled back to New Orleans to cover Hurricane Katrina. She also reported on the UNC Tar Heels’ trip to the Final Four, the Pope’s visit to Philadelphia, the Carolina Panthers trip to Super Bowl 50 and interviewed notable figures such as North Carolina governor Roy Cooper, Michelle Obama, Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Jill Biden. Tisha has also jumped with the U.S. Army Golden Knights Parachute Team in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Tisha met her husband while they were in high school. A native of Ascension Parish, he is now a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve and a physician with Ochsner Healthcare. They are the proud parents of two daughters who were born on the same day twelve years apart. Their older daughter attends college at Johns Hopkins University. The family attends St. Catherine of Siena Church in Donaldsonville. They also have a family cat named Ella after jazz great Ella Fitzgerald. Tisha is an avid supporter of the American Heart Association and the United Service Organizations (USO). She is a lifetime member of the Girl Scouts and a member of the National Association of Black Journalists, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and The Links, Inc. Tisha is a firm believer in giving back to her community through youth mentorship. She is currently a Purdue University Master of Science candidate pursuing a degree in Communication and Leadership. She sees value in leading by example and often turns to these words of former president John Quincy Adams for inspiration, “If your actions inspire other to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader.”