Every day, Amanda Peralta struts her way into the newsroom, professionally preparing to deliver local and nationwide news about education. She stands in press-perfect attire, recording timely events, and is live from 5:00 to 6:30 pm. As every successful news speaker, Amanda has had an ambitious ascent to achieve her current position; and her formative years unfolded at Pines Charter.
Peralta transferred to Charter during 11th grade. Although Peralta had a harder time in math, she found some early proficiency in journalism. “I was a regular staff writer… for The CHAT,” she accords. When it came to schoolwork, Peralta was always trying to catch up with deadlines and stay on task. “High school was a really tough time for me when I was trying to find out who I was and what I wanted,” Peralta recalls. More personally, Amanda had a harder experience trying to connect with the vast sea of charter cliques. Fortunately, she had multiple mentors to thank, but one in particular that became her best friend.
Cristina Wheeler, former office staff, would meet with Amanda every day. “She [Ms. Wheeler] was making sure that I was okay, she gave me ‘a shoulder to lean on’ on the hard days, and she showed me that even when I really didn’t believe in myself, there were other people, aside from my family, who did believe in me,” she remembers. With the help of Ms. Wheeler, Amanda graduated from Charter, in 2016. 4 years later, Peralta graduated from Florida International University with a Bachelor of Arts in Communications and Broadcast Media and a Minor in Hospitality.
After graduation, COVID struck. During a time when people were lucky to even keep their jobs, Amanda was helping her parents manage one of their gas stations during the summer.
It was a hot, Floridian, August day when Amanda’s mother brought up an ultimatum, a pivotal proposition that would shape her future forever. She said, “I know you’re really comfortable here, but this is not what you’re meant to do and you need to go chase your dreams.” Her mother gave her six months to find a job and live on her own. “Figure it out,” she told Amanda.
Amanda then began applying for jobs in September and had no luck until January of 2021. The alumna had three weeks to pack up her “entire life” and move over to a new state.
“I started February 15th in Georgia as a bureau reporter,” she states. As a bureau reporter, Peralta would attend news events at actual crime scenes and give live updates. About six months into the job, Amanda decided that she wanted to do more with her career so she started begging her boss for more opportunities. Eventually, her boss brought her in as a weekend reporter.
“I started reporting on the weekends at the station in Columbus, Georgia, which is where our station is; from there I decided that still wasn’t enough, that I wanted to start learning how to be an anchor,” Amanda says. When the weekend anchor was off, Amanda would try her best as a beginner. The aspiring anchor decided that reporting on weekends wasn’t enough, so she became a morning reporter.
“I started working from 3:30 in the morning to 12:30 in the afternoon and I got up at 2:30,” Amanda casually mentions, she then continues expressing how her mom didn’t sleep right that entire year because she was so worried about Amanda.
“I was driving about 45 minutes to an hour in the dark in the middle of the night, in Georgia, because I was bored.”
In terms of the experience Peralta gained from being a morning reporter, she reportedly has no regrets. “I got so many cool opportunities. I didn’t regret it. I would do it again.”
Her time as a morning reporter was fun because of the skillful friend she had assisting her. Amanda says, “[Amanda’s friend] was a morning anchor. He taught me how to anchor, he would sit down with me, and we would go through the prompter together. He taught me everything basically, and after a year of doing that my contract was up.”
Amanda initially had a two-year contract in Columbus and she could’ve renewed it, however, Amanda wanted to do something different. She started applying to various locations and had news directors reaching out to her from all over the country. She says, “I was interviewed for Fort Myers, Wichita, Kansas Rochester, New York [news stations].”
She then came to terms with Macon, a city in Georgia, which made the most sense for where she was in her life, both emotionally and financially.
Amanda Peralta now reports for WGXA, a television station, affiliated with both Fox and ABC, owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group. She reports the education section for Macon and has one education story that comes out every single Wednesday.
In the intelligent words of Amanda herself, “News is all about helping people and giving a voice to people who may not necessarily have a voice,” she continues, “I’ve helped people avoid eviction from homes that they’re renting. I’ve reported on people who have been wrongfully convicted for 40 years and then they’re finally released.”
For future reference, Amanda recommends anyone with a goal to “work hard, keep your head down, and believe in yourself, because your opportunities are endless. The one person that has to believe it more than anyone else is you.”
Amanda loves her current position but hopes to strive even further in the future. “The sky’s the limit,” Peralta remarks.
