VBD MAGAZINE’S COVER STORY: Dr. Cathleen Trigg-Jones

Creating the Infrastructure for Women to Win

There are leaders who operate within established systems, and there are leaders who reshape those systems altogether. Dr. Cathleen Trigg-Jones has built her career reshaping them.

An Emmy Award-winning journalist and media executive, Dr. Trigg-Jones is the Founder and CEO of iWoman TV, the first mass-market over-the-top streaming news and entertainment network created by women and about women. She also leads iWoman Studios, an award-winning multimedia production company, and Trigg Global Media, a strategic marketing, communications, and business consulting firm advising global CEOs and Fortune 500 organizations. Her leadership spans journalism, production, consulting, and ownership, each area defined by structure, discipline, and long-term vision.

When VBD Magazine sat down with Dr. Trigg-Jones, the discussion moved beyond professional achievement and into the foundations that shaped her leadership. Cathleen spoke openly about adoption, identity, and belonging. She reflected on the discipline required to heal privately while building publicly. She described faith as the constant force guiding her decisions and entrepreneurship as stewardship rather than status. For her, iWoman TV shifts control. It places narrative, distribution, and opportunity directly in the hands of women.

EXPANDING HER WORLD

Dr. Trigg-Jones grew up in Dover, Delaware, in what she describes as a place that felt “like the smallest place on earth.” Even as a child, she sensed that her future extended far beyond the borders of her hometown. “I wanted to be in New York,” she shared. “I wanted to be on television. I’ve wanted to be an actress, a movie star, since I was about 7 years old.” Dover was only a few hours from New York City, yet it felt like another universe. Still, she fixed her eyes on the dream.

Cathleen was raised in a strict Southern Baptist military household, an upbringing that shaped both her discipline and her spiritual foundation. Her father served as a military sergeant, and her mother, a pianist, grounded the home in faith and structure. “I grew up with a very strong Christian foundation,” she said, adding that she also had “a lot of room to dream because I wasn’t allowed to do a whole lot.” Time alone became a time of imagination, and those private dreams became the earliest blueprint for the life she would one day build.

Cathleen attended Dover High School and remained local for college, enrolling at Delaware State University, an HBCU, that would become one of the most defining influences of her life. “It really changed my life,” she said. It expanded her sense of identity, sharpened her confidence, and introduced her to a community that expanded her vision of herself.

THE POWER OF BELIEF

Dr. Trigg-Jones arrived at Delaware State University carrying ambition. What transformed her path, however, was the environment of Black excellence and belief she encountered there. Cathleen admitted she did not always feel she fit neatly into the circles around her. She loved theater and stage plays, but “most of the people who looked like me weren’t really in theater.”

She had already explored community and high school theaters, yet college became the place where her gifts began to take shape. Cathleen entered as a theater major and later transitioned to journalism after a creative writing professor affirmed her talent. “He told me I was a really good writer,” she recalled. At that point in her life, encouragement regarding her dreams had been rare.

From there, Cathleen began building what would become a defining pattern in her life: creating opportunities where none existed. She helped establish the mass communications program, launched the Mass Communication Society, performed in stage productions, hosted a radio show, and served as assistant editor of the campus newspaper.

The contrast between high school and college was unmistakable. “It was kind of a little bit of a prayer just to get out of high school,” she said. “In college, everything took off.”

At Delaware State University, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism, a credential that marked not just academic completion, but the formal beginning of her career.

THE QUESTION THAT FOLLOWED HER INTO ADULTHOOD

As the conversation deepened, Dr. Trigg-Jones shared a deeply personal chapter of her story, one that shaped her understanding of identity, belonging, and grace.

She grew up with one brother, three years older, and the two were close. Yet her story of siblings carries unexpected layers. “We were both adopted,” she revealed. For years, she believed that was the complete picture. Then, five years ago, she made a decision that would change everything. She traced her roots, hired a private detective, and uncovered a history she never knew existed. “I actually have at least two dozen siblings,” she said.

While there were many unanswered questions, what Cathleen did know was she was born in Dayton, Ohio, where her adoptive parents had been stationed at a military base. She was raised with her brother although they were not biologically related. What began as curiosity unfolded into a journey marked by discovery, reunion, grief, and healing.

True to form, Cathleen approached this journey both as a journalist and a daughter. She returned with a film crew and documented the truth. She organized a family reunion and met her birth father. Her birth mother had died by suicide before they could meet, and the story behind her adoption reflected a painful reality of its time. Her mother was white. Her father was Black. It was the era of the civil rights movement, when bringing home a Black child from an interracial relationship could fracture families. “They wouldn’t let her bring me home because I was Black,” she shared.

That truth could have hardened her. It did not.

When she visited her birth mother’s grave, the moment was not defined by anger, but by gratitude. She thanked her for giving her life and for “loving me enough to let me go,” rather than raising her in an environment shaped by racism and rejection.

The documentary she created is titled Who Is Sheila S? and is available on iWoman TV. The name came from a single baby photograph she found as a child, with “Sheila S.” written on the back. For years, she wondered who that baby was. Later, she discovered her original birth name: Sheila Gayle Scott.

“You don’t think childhood traumas matter anymore, but they do,” she reflected. “You don’t realize how much they matter until you start uncovering those pieces.”

FAITH THROUGH THE FIRE

Dr. Trigg-Jones is a believer in therapy, but she is also clear about what has anchored her most consistently. “My real therapy has always been my relationship with God,” she said. Her faith is not presented as branding, but as lived dependence. She speaks to God with familiarity and sees divine order in her survival and outcomes. “I feel like my steps have been ordered throughout my life,” she shared. “I really can’t explain how this little girl who was left at an orphanage could have gone on to defy all the odds and achieve the things that I’ve achieved in my life.”

She does not minimize hardship but simply refuses to let hardship define the conclusion. Her phrase “faith through the fire” is not a slogan, but the way she interprets her life. “Transparency heals. The more you’re open, the more you talk, the more you heal others,” she said. Cathleen emphasized the importance of making room for men to be emotionally honest too, reminding readers that healing is not gendered, and silence is not strength.

FROM THE NEWSROOM TO THE NUMBER ONE MARKET

Long before press credentials and prime-time broadcasts, Dr. Trigg-Jones was practicing the craft in her bedroom. She created radio shows with boom boxes and put together pretend interviews where she played both interviewer and interviewee. She imagined interviewing world stars and staged one-woman performances for friends. What looked like play was early preparation.

At Delaware State University, her first major interview was with Nancy Wilson. The experience confirmed what she had long suspected. “At that point, I knew this is what I want to do the rest of my life,” she said. “I want to tell stories, interview people, and I want to bring that truth out of others.”

Cathleen began her professional career as a news reporter at WBOC-TV and later served as Press Assistant to then U.S. Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s Delaware Senate office. After returning to television news, she moved through several markets, building credibility and sharpening her voice until she reached her dream: New York City.

In 1999, she landed in the nation’s number one television market, anchoring and reporting for WWOR and WNYW. Her work earned her an Emmy Award, one of the industry’s highest distinctions.

She would go on to work across major networks, including CBS, ABC, and FOX. Yet even at the height of that success, she noticed a troubling pattern. “There wasn’t enough representation on the air,” she said, “and there wasn’t enough representation in the stories that we were allowed to tell.”

Cathleen also confronted pay disparity head-on, explaining that male co-anchors often earned significantly more while carrying fewer field reporting responsibilities. “This is just the way it was,” she said.

But she did not accept it as permanent.

ESTABLISHING iWOMAN TV

iWoman TV was born from a bold decision: to build what the industry would not provide. “I wanted to create a lane where women could tell the world what they care about through their own lens,” Dr. Trigg-Jones said. “The more successful one is, the more successful we all are.”

She launched iWoman TV in late 2019. Within months, the world shut down. The platform had to pivot immediately. “As a small media company, it was easy for me to pivot,” she said. From her living room, Dr. Trigg-Jones rebuilt the show virtually, constructed a studio in her basement, brought her team into a new workflow, and kept production moving. While others paused, she built.

Since then, iWoman TV has expanded in both reach and infrastructure. The network hosts an annual film festival and partners with New York Women in Film and Television, awarding cash prizes to emerging creators. Through strategic distribution partnerships, the platform continues to extend its footprint across streaming channels. Its newsletter now reaches tens of thousands, and its subscriber base and social community continue to grow.

Dr. Trigg-Jones describes iWoman TV as an ecosystem where everyone wins through cross-pollination. When creators bring their audiences to the platform, collective impact multiplies. The goal is not to confine women to one space, but to help them expand beyond it, securing broader distribution and greater visibility. “iWoman TV is not competing with other platforms,” she said. “It’s connecting them.”

THE TRIGG HOUSE AND THE HEART OF HER SERVICE

Dr. Trigg-Jones’s leadership includes direct service, not just media visibility. In 2006, she founded The Trigg House, a nonprofit organization supporting foster youth transitioning out of the foster care system. Having experienced foster care as a child, she understood the need for practical resources and structured support for young adults stepping into independent living.

Cathleen is also a former New York State Court Appointed Special Advocate for foster children and sits on boards including Operation Keloid, the Columbia University Double Discovery Center, and the Delaware State University Foundation Board.