Those closest to Kristen Dalton Wolfe knew she had a desire to one day become Miss USA. But behind what everyone saw as a confident titleholder, was a young woman battling feelings of self-doubt. Kristen’s drive to overcome those feelings is the backdrop for her third book, The Sparkle Effect.

Roy Cooper was not a novice politician when he took the oath of office to become the 75th Governor of North Carolina. WECT's Jon Evans sat down with Gov. Cooper to talk about his first two years that included dealing with HB2, GenX and deadly Hurricanes Matthew and Florence.

The investigation into potential election fraud in Bladen and Robeson counties has grabbed national headlines. Chuck Todd, the moderator of NBC's “Meet the Press”, said Friday many pundits in Washington, DC are expecting a new election in North Carolina's Ninth District as a result.

Casey Roman has tackled heavy issues like opioid abuse, prostitution and homelessness in her documentaries and special reports for WECT News. Her latest effort centers around lawsuits filed against hog farms, with multi-million dollar judgments that have put some local farmers out of business.

Sheri Lynch did not have a lot of experience when she auditioned for a job co-hosting a morning radio show. In fact, she had no on-air experience prior to that day in 1992. Her personality got her a shot at landing an opening alongside veteran Bob Lacey. The Bob and Sheri Show was born.

For many years, Alexis Smith kept her disease a secret. Since accepting that she has cystic fibrosis, Alexis now volunteers as a CF Ambassador, publicly sharing her story to help others facing the same daily struggles. Alexis is the guest on this week's "1on1 with Jon Evans" podcast.

Mitchell Slaggert has gone from college student to famous face in a few short years. Discovered while walking from class at Cape Fear Community College in 2015, he has gone on to walk runways and appear in ads seen all around the world.

You can take the boy out of North Carolina, but it's tough to take North Carolina out of the boy, even more than 25 years after Daniel Peddle moved from his native tar heel state to New York City. He is a successful casting director, filmmaker, artist and author, and he's headquartered in the Big Apple. But when the 48-year-old needs to recharge the creative batteries, he comes back to Carolina.

Bill Vassar's career in electronic media spans almost 50 years. He has had stints working in radio, television and film production, crossing paths with some of the biggest names in each industry.  During Vassar's dozen years as Executive Vice-President at EUE/Screen Gems Studios in Wilmington, the largest full-service television and film production facility on the east coast, many high-profile stars have come to town to work on that property.

Kimberly Lawrance lifts hundreds of pounds of weights in Strongwoman competitions. She carries yokes. She raises stones. She pulls trucks. All done trying to win a title of "Strongest Woman in the 'fill-in-the-blank'". The 27-year-old from Wilmington has captured several trophies and championships in her short career. Now, along with performing all those tasks while chasing titles, Lawrance is also working to lift the sport to new heights.

To the millions of people who watch their favorite team or player on the "worldwide leader in sports", Sam Gore is a familiar voice. Fans hear the Fayetteville, NC native more than they see him, as he does play-by-play for ESPN. For more than a quarter-century, Gore has often paired with an expert analyst to smoothly guide fans through the action. "I embrace what I do because it's a dream come true for me," Gore says.

Todd Lewis has walked the fairways and greens on the most famous golf courses in the world over the past decade as a reporter for the Golf Channel. It's a dream job for some one who grew up loving the game. Lewis got his first full-time job doing television sportscasting at WECT-TV in Wilmington.

Solomon Harvey has spent a lot of time in front of television cameras. In some instances you saw his face. But in other times, you may not have even known it was him. That's the life of a stuntman, the career Solomon is pursuing on a full-time basis. "For me being relatively new to the world, I have to hustle," Solomon says. Competing in the finals of American Ninja Warrior, though, helped open some doors in the industry.

As a well-conditioned athlete, she is used to being in front of large crowds and hearing the announcer call her name. It had just happened again. But on this night, she did not have to shoot, dribble or pass the basketball. She wasn't wearing a uniform with her last name stitched over the number on her back. The crowd had not gathered in the stands of a coliseum or gymnasium to watch her play.

Brad Brownell's seventh season as head basketball coach at Clemson University was the best of his tenure with the program. The 2017-18 Tigers defied the pre-season media predictions of a 13th-place finish in the always-tough Atlantic Coast Conference, ending the regular season 11-7 and tied for third place behind Virginia and Duke. The team won 25 games and made a run to the Sweet-16 of the NCAA men's basketball tournament.

Wilbur Jones has returned home from another trip to Washington, DC. There is new excitement in a project he has headed for a decade, to have his hometown designated as the first "American World War II Heritage City" in the United States. State lawmakers recently passed HR 970, which urges Congress to award that designation to one city every year, with Wilmington being the first to receive the honor.

The sport of hockey has taken Bobby Sanguinetti all around the world. Growing up in New Jersey, Sanguinetti left home as a teenager to attend a prep school and begin his journey on the ice. Since then, he's played for teams in Canada, the United States, Russia and Switzerland. He has represented his country in international competitions, culminating with the opportunity to join the U.S. Olympic Men's Hockey Team at the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, South Korea.

"How does a carburetor work?" is one of the first questions Joshua Johnson asked as an interviewer. The inquiry came decades before he would ever sit in the host's seat in the studios of WAMU in Washington, DC. Johnson believes it happened around the time he was five-years-old. His "microphone" then was actually a wooden stick. The captive audience made up of family members, entertained by the inquisitive nature of the child's mind.

Brandon Hickman's powerful voice booms through the speakers into thousands of cars and homes every weekday on Coast 97.3. The hard-working DJ known as "Bigg B" takes his listeners on the "Bigg Ride Home" every weekday starting at 3:00 p.m. But on-air work is just part of the impact Hickman has on people's lives.

Plan "B". A well thought out strategy in place only to be used if the primary course of action is unsuccessful. It's sound thinking for most people. Not for Beth Troutman. More than once in her life, she has taken a bold step without any concern for what would happen if she fell short. "One of my theories in life is 'Never have a Plan "B", because you'll use it'," Beth says about the backup option. "If you have a Plan ...

James "Chip" Mahan did not set out to be a pioneer in banking. It happened along his way. When he entered the industry from Washington and Lee University, Mahan asked his boss, 'how do you run a bank?'. The boss had no response.  "So I bought a book to learn about the assets, liabilities and income statement of a bank," Mahan says.

Lyberty Anderson cannot remember the days without the game of golf. UNC Wilmington's two-time CAA Women's Golf Champion says her father put a sawed-off club in her hands near the family's home in Chesterfield, Virginia when she was five-years-old. She played in her first tournament the following year. That's when the winning began.  "I begged him when I was five to take me with him, because I wanted to know what he was doing," Lyberty says.

Twenty years after being cast as Katie Holmes' older sister in Dawson's Creek, Nina Repeta now has a new starring role. She is Mom to Banks, her nine-year-old son who has caught the same performing bug Nina did as a child. Banks did his first commercial shoot, with his mother, at the age of six. Nina was three when she did her first performance, in front of a crowd of strangers near her home in Shelby, outside of Charlotte.

Trudging through woods, peering under rocks or overgrown weeds does not bother Monica Caison. She's done it too many times to remember, from one coast to the other, and in dozens of states in-between. Her targets often cannot speak up, wave their hands or send up a flare. Most are no longer alive. They are victims of violence, taken from loved ones and discarded where the killer hopes no one will ever find them.

Eddie Biedenbach came to Wilmington in 2013, to join then-head coach Buzz Peterson's staff at UNCW. Biedenbach left UNC Asheville after 17 seasons as head coach to become an assistant coach with the Seahawks, hoping after a few seasons he would retire to the home he and wife Barbara had owned near the beach for more than 30 years.

The release of the new movie "Chappaquiddick" is refocusing the spotlight on a tragic incident that happened almost a half-century ago involving one of America's premiere political families. Late in the evening of July 18, 1969, Senator Ted Kennedy's car ran off a bridge and plunged into the water on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts. Kennedy escaped the submerged car, but a young senate aide Mary Jo Kopechne died in the crash.

"It was the biggest case of my career," is how Johnson Britt describes prosecuting the two men charged with killing Michael Jordan's father. James Jordan was shot and killed on July 23, 1993, near Lumberton. Investigators arrested Daniel Green and Larry Demery on murder charges in August, three months before Britt announced plans to run for District Attorney of Robeson County.

Johnson Britt was the new District Attorney, working in his home town of Lumberton, North Carolina, and he immediately immersed himself in what would become the biggest case of his career. Britt had to prosecute Daniel Green and Larry Demery, the two men charged with killing Michael Jordan's father, in a case centered in the national spotlight.

Dick McGraw was in a meeting at 9:37 a.m. on September 11, 2001, when he says he felt "a bump". If he'd been inside an office in most places across the country, it wouldn't be a big deal. But, McGraw was working inside the Pentagon, as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs. Just 30 minutes before, McGraw had been in a meeting near Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's office, when he saw video of a plane hitting the World Tr...

It was Brandon Beane's big chance. The Buffalo Bills had contacted his agent, saying the owners wanted to hire the 40-year-old native of Norwood, North Carolina to become the 13th General Manager in the history of the National Football League franchise.  Beane had the qualifications, working 19 years in the Carolina Panthers organization, and he was the Assistant General Manager to Dave Gettleman.

Bill Saffo has been the one constant in the City of Wilmington's elected leadership since 2003. That's when the real estate businessman, and son of Greek immigrants, was first elected to city council, joining the board along with Jim Quinn, Lethia Hankins and new mayor Spence Broadhurst. Council members have come and gone since then, but only Saffo remains. "I just wanted to be part of a group of people that got things done," Saffo said.

Orlando Jones says it is some of the best advice he's received in an entertainment career that has now spanned almost 40 years. He was 19 years old at the time, newly hired in Hollywood to be on the writing team for A Different World, the spinoff of The Cosby Show on NBC. "I sat in the writing room for 26 weeks and I wasn't allowed to say anything," Orlando says about the advice he was given by Gary Miller.

MacKenzie Gore has had a lot of success on the baseball field. His career includes three state championships at Whiteville High School, four trips to the state finals, being named state and national player of the year, and taken third by the San Diego Padres in the 2017 Major League Baseball Draft. Quite a list of accomplishments for an 18-year-old.

Anne Donovan won a national championship as a player on the college level, at Old Dominion University, and a WNBA Championship as the head coach of the Seattle Storm. Anne also has four Olympic gold medals and is the only woman to win gold medals playing for the U.S. Olympic Women's Basketball Team, and as the team's head coach.

Hayley Lovitt and the rest of the cast members from the Fox Television Network show The Gifted are waiting to see what Season Two holds in store for their band of underground mutants. Fox renewed the hit show in January, after reports showed it was the third highest-rated new drama of the network television season. Lovitt, a 2009 graduate of UNC Wilmington, plays Sage on the show, the biggest role of her acting career. "I'm really excited to see how our cliffhanger leads ...

'If at first you don't succeed, try, try again'. That old idiom certainly applies to the current Miss North Carolina, Victoria Huggins. But, you can add two more "agains" when you describe the 23-year-old's determination to wear the crown.  "I felt within my spirit this is what I was meant to do," Victoria said in a recent interview.

Gary McNair will retire next month, ending a broadcasting career spanning nearly 50 years. He spent most of that time behind-the-scenes at television stations. But when McNair interviewed for the General Manager's job at WECT-TV in 2008, he learned the responsibilities would include doing editorials on-air, which became "My Turn, Your Turn" segments. "I said 'you don't want me on TV'," McNair remembers.

Tony Silvagni's surfing accomplishments would lead you to believe he was born close to the ocean. He wasn't. Tony's father moved the family from Williamsport, Pennsylvania to Kure Beach in 1993, because of the boom in construction. That put the Atlantic Ocean in Tony's backyard for the first time, providing the opportunity for his newfound love of surfing to grow.

When your records have sold millions of copies, you've more than three dozen awards for songs and accomplishments, you've entertained fans around the world for more than five decades, you were invited to join the Grand Ole Opry and inducted in the Country Music Hall of Fame, you have plenty of material to write a memoir. Charlie Daniels put down his fiddle and guitar long enough to write Never Look at the Empty Seats, a look back at his life and career.

In his 37-year decorated career with the United States Marine Corps, Charles "Mark" Gurganus served at installations and bases across the United States and around the world. He rose to the rank of Major General, commanding thousands of men and women on the front lines of America's war on terrorism. Gurganus' career came to an end in 2014. He was forced into retirement, the result of an investigation into a terrorist attack at Camp Bastion in Afghanistan.

Vivian Howard has spent more than a decade helping to prepare meals for customers at her Chef and the Farmer restaurant in Kinston. But cooking is just a small portion of what Vivian has on her plate every day. She stars in the award-winning A Chef's Life series, which runs on PBS stations across.the country, and she is considering a follow-up to her best-selling cookbook Deep Run Roots.

When Derek Brunson isn't training for his next Mixed Martial Arts battle in a UFC Octagon, he is busy with young men and women who want to follow in his footsteps. Brunson, the seventh-ranked middleweight fighter in the world, opened Brunson MMA and Fitness in his hometown of Wilmington, to give aspiring athletes the guidance he never had.

Martha Peterson was like any other Mom that did the laundry, bought the groceries, and cooked meals for her family. It wasn't until her two children were well into their teenage years that Martha, known as Marti to her friends, revealed her secret to Tyler and Lora. They learned mom was a spy for the Central Intelligence Agency.

Kevin Maurer was working as a reporter for the Wilmington Star-News last July when a friend reached out about an idea for a book. "You've got to do this one," the friend said, convincing Maurer to listen. Days later, Maurer pulled into a parking spot in front of the Old Navy store off South College Road to take another phone call. On the other end of the line this time was Tamer Elnoury, who would become the centerpiece of Maurer's latest project.

Sheila Boles recently joined an exclusive club. Hoggard High School honored the former boys' basketball coach and athletic director by dedicating the new gymnasium in Sheila Boles' name.The Sheila E. Boles Gymnasium puts her in select company that includes only the legendary Michael Jordan, who is similarly honored at Laney High School, and Coach Leon Brogden, who won a dozen state championships before being recognized at New Hanover High School.

Tamera Young always wanted to "be like Mike". It's easy to see why. She loved basketball, grew up in Michael Jordan's hometown, and graduated from the same high school as "MJ". Tamera went from Laney High School to James Madison University, where her talents flourished and she became a first-round draft pick into the WNBA.

Carmin Black spent the first part of her professional career telling stories. Carmin and her brother Christian then became the story, founding Half United and joining the worldwide fight against hunger. In the eight years since, the company has provided nearly 700,000 meals to hungry children around the world.

Karen Barefoot made the first shot she ever tried with a basketball. Barefoot was six-years-old at the time, and she hasn't stopped shooting since. Barefoot has now brought her "Barefoot Basketball" philosophy, and 313 career head coaching victories, to the UNCW Women's Basketball program.

Emily Minor has belted out tunes and performed on stages since she was three-years-old. It doesn't matter that the first "stage" was actually the fireplace hearth in her parents' home. To a then wide-eyed, blonde-haired toddler, it was a place to sing. That desire has never gone away for the Wilmington native, who is now a successful country music performer.

While hundreds of thousands of people drive away from approaching hurricanes like Harvey and Irma, Mark Sudduth is headed the opposite direction. For nearly 20 years, Sudduth has navigated his specially-outfitted SUVs toward a hurricane's expected landfall. His goal is to capture the sheer power and impact of Mother Nature, to better educate anyone who might someday be in the path of a potentially deadly storm.

Seven years before he became Wilmington's Fire Chief, Cecil "Buddy" Martinette responded to the 9-11 attack on the Pentagon. As part of an elite Search and Rescue Task Force, his job was to stabilize the building that serves as the headquarters for the United States Department of Defense.

It should come as no surprise that Brian Granger is a performer. The first two-time winner of "Port City's Top Comic" competition watched his father spin records as a disc jockey at a radio station in Wilmington, and Brian's uncle played and toured for years with singer James Brown. With those early influences, Brian became a performer himself, but his avenue is comedy.

C.B. McGrath spent 18 years as an assistant coach watching and learning from Roy Williams, one of the most successful head basketball coaches in NCAA history. If you count McGrath's career playing for Williams at the University of Kansas, the two were together for 22 years. Williams hired McGrath as an assistant in 1999 at KU, McGrath followed Williams to UNC Chapel Hill in 2003, before UNCW hired him as head coach in April.

Mickey Craft made a living for years helping repair damage done by storms. Hail storms, lightning storms, hurricanes, flooding. After selling his business to become a professional poker player, Mickey Craft took Las Vegas by storm in July, when he vaulted to the top of the standings at the World Series of Poker Main Event.

Trot Nixon roamed the outfield in Boston's Fenway Park for nearly a decade, running down fly balls, diving for line drives and taking head-first tumbles into the stands to catch foul balls. He had a lot of success prior to his days as a member of the Boston Red Sox, while wearing the uniforms of New Hanover High School.

Dan Brawley took over as Executive Director of the Cucalorus Festival in the early 2000s. Along the way, he's steered one of Wilmington's signature events in new directions, taking chances without fear of failure. On the eve of Cucalorus 23, Dan talks about the festival's importance on the international stage.

People all around the world have seen Brownie Harris' photographs. They may not know his eye looked through the lens and caught that split-second in time, unless they search for the copyright. But whether it's John F. Kennedy, Jr. with his chin on his folded hands, Andy Warhol stoically looking at the camera while resting his arms on the back of a wooden chair or Michelle Dockery sporting a blonde wig for a scene in Good Behavior.

Assignments and news stories have taken Anna Kooiman across the United States in the dozen years since she graduated from UNC Wilmington. But, it's not a job that now has the reporter/anchor/host more than nine thousand miles from her childhood home in North Carolina. Anna left Fox News Channel in New York last year, when her husband Tim got a job opportunity in his native Australia.