Award winning news reporter and journalist Peyton LoCicero Trist, returned home to Louisiana, to accept the position of anchor/reporter for ABC affiliate, WGNO-TV, a Nexstar broadcasting station. Peyton was born in Louisiana and is a tenth-generation New Orleanian. Previously, she was the bureau chief and reporter for ABC affiliate, WMBB News 13 in Destin-Panama City, Florida area.
Peyton began her career in journalism at The University of Mississippi, serving as a feature reporter for News Watch 99 and as an event reporter for WTVA, in Tupelo, Mississippi. She also served as a personal assistant to legendary Chef Emeril Lagasse and his wife, Alden. Ms. LoCicero Trist is the co-founder, with her mother, of Frill Seekers Gifts™, a national gift brand and boutique.
Ms. LoCicero Trist received the prestigious 2019 Dick Fletcher Excellence in Media Award for her Hurricane Michael coverage before, during and after the storm devastated the majority of WMBB’s viewing area, along with her ability to “rally” and motivate the surrounding communities, after the storm, to help provide critical help and resources to those hit hardest by the hurricane.
In presenting this award to her, at the National Governor’s Hurricane Conference, Ms. LoCicero Trist was recognized for her “outstanding efforts to educate and inform the public about hurricanes and hurricane preparedness, response, recovery in the state of Florida. She demonstrated exceptional skills as a broadcast journalist, by communicating information during a catastrophic national weather event, by making it understandable to the layperson, with an on-air persona that exudes confidence and creates an atmosphere of trust with all of her audience, while providing life-saving information.”
The Governor’s Hurricane Conference, is the nation’s largest and best-attended conference focusing on hurricane coverage. “Meteorologists, newscasters and news organizations from across the state of Florida, were nominated for this honor, making the entire WMBB news team proud that our own, Walton/Okaloosa county reporter, Peyton LoCicero, was chosen as the 2019 Dick Fletcher Excellence in Media award winner. Peyton single-handedly represented WMBB during Hurricane Michael, when we physically couldn’t,” said Tom Lewis, WMBB News Director. She was also nominated for the Florida Public Relations Association’s Social Impact Image Award, Emerald Coast.
When Ms. LoCicero Trist is not in the newsroom, you will likely find her strolling local art galleries, taste-testing to find New Orleans’ best gumbo, fishing or volunteering for the Tickled Pink Party, which she co-founded, benefitting the Breast Cancer Research Foundation, helping the Save UnderDogs Rescue Group or the Lupus Foundation Florida. She is president of the Ole Miss Alumni Association, Emerald Coast chapter, a member of the Miss Destin Organization, a member of the Florida Public Relations Association, Emerald Coast chapter, the Destin Fishing Rodeo, and is a Kappa Delta alum.
An avid puppy enthusiast, Ms. LoCicero Trist, has a mini schnauzer named Champagne Jack and a Springer Spaniel who answers to the name Virgil. Following Hurricane Michael, she rescued a mini schnauzer/yorkie mix, who had been abandoned and named him Michael… better known around town as “Mikey Mike.”
Have a news tip, story idea or want to book Ms. LoCicero Trist for an appearance? Contact her via email PLoCicero@WGNO.com, on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or visit: https://www.PeytonLoCicero.com
