WGEM‘s Makenzi Henderson is only a few months into her job as an evening anchor at the station, but she says that Quincy, Ill. feels just like home.
“I grew up on the Mississippi, and we used to go to the headwaters when I was a kid every summer,” Henderson said in an interview with The Herald-Whig. “So just being on the Mississippi and being on a big body of water is very important to me.”
When the pandemic started, Henderson was living in Minneapolis and working at a gym. She had been taking a break from local news after stops in Rapid City, S.D., Duluth, Minn., Wilmington, N.C. and Corpus Christi, Texas.
“I knew I had to get back in, and I knew I had to get back in fast because I just couldn’t get rid of the bug,” said Henderson, who lost her gym job amid the pandemic. “It just kept buzzing in my ear.”
Since joining the station in October, says she feels “very at home” at the station. “The people are my people,” she said.
News director Chad Mahoney says the feeling is mutual.
“We’re very pleased to have an award-winning experienced journalist like Makenzi join our team,” he said. “Her professionalism is an asset to our team and to the communities we serve.”