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Alumni Event | A Conversation with Ambassador Adrienne O'Neal
Alumni Ambassador SerIES Presents: A Conversation with Ambassador Adrienne O'Neal, IES Madrid 74-75
Thursday, July 21, 2021 | 11:00 AM CDT/12:00 PM EDT
Growing up in a sheltered life in Birmingham, Alabama, Ambassador Adrienne O’Neal never expected that she, as a Junior at Spelman College would spend a full academic year with IES Madrid, and over 30 years with the US State Department living and working in six different foreign countries. Ambassador O’Neal was a Merrill Scholar. In 2011, she was nominated by President Barak Obama to serve as US Ambassador to Cape Verde where she served for three years. She credits study abroad for equipping her with many important skills to navigate diplomacy in emerging democratic countries.
Join Ambassador O’Neal together with Brittney Johnson, IES Granada ’06, a native of Charlotte, North Carolina and an award-winning journalist and NBC co-anchor in Dallas Fort-Worth, Texas for this lively conversation.
There will be time for questions from the audience. This one hour program will be recorded.
Adrienne O'Neal
U.S. Ambassador, Adrienne S. O’Neal left U.S. soil for the first time when she studied abroad in Madrid, aiming to develop her Spanish language skills. What she discovered was the start of a life-long wanderlust and commitment to study foreign languages that would lead her to spend 33 years as a career diplomat. From postings in Europe, Africa, Latin America and the United States, she has helped former communist and socialist nations transition to democracy, worked to curb drug trafficking in various regions, served as Counsel General in Rio de Janeiro and Deputy Chief of Mission in Lisbon, and much more – all leading up to her appointment as U.S. Ambassador to Cabo Verde in 2011. She retired from the Foreign Service in 2014.
Brittney Johnson
Brittney Johnson is an award-winning journalist who joined NBC DFW in September 2021 as co-anchor of NBC 5 News at 10 p.m. Monday through Friday. Before moving to DFW, Brittney spent six years in Charlotte, North Carolina where she anchored the market’s top-rated morning newscasts and delivered in-depth and investigative stories on the affordable housing crisis, mental health, and the foster care system. Brittney’s work has garnered several Emmy nominations and awards from the Associated Press. She was also named 2019 Anchor of the Year by the North Carolina Association of Broadcasters (NCAB) and Anchor Team of the Year for 2019 and 2020 by the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas (RTDNAC).
