Antonia Hylton spent much of her childhood trying not to stand out. Today, the award-winning journalist wears the natural curls she once tried to hide on television and says embracing who she is has made her a better reporter.
Now, as Hylton prepares to debut her own show, “The Assignment,” she is bringing that same sense of authenticity to a new chapter of her career at MS NOW. The program will give her a platform to combine anchoring with the field reporting and enterprise journalism that have defined much of her work.
Hylton spoke with TheGrio’s Natasha S. Alford about her new program, her career and what it has meant to be a Black woman and Afro-Latina journalist navigating television news.
Growing up in a town outside Boston, Hylton said she and her siblings did not always feel comfortable standing out.
“Me and my siblings, like we didn’t always feel like our hair was beautiful,” Hylton said. “We didn’t always feel like it was a good thing that we stood out in school. And so I spent years when I was a kid straightening my hair. I wish I could go back in a time machine and tell myself to stop that.”
As she entered adulthood and began building her journalism career, Hylton said she started to see her appearance and her work differently. Straightening her hair no longer felt like an insignificant beauty choice.
“I just realized that wearing my hair straight made me feel inauthentic,” Hylton said. “And if I’m asking people, I sit in front of people and I’m asking you to be your most authentic self as you talk to me, as you confide in me, well, I should be authentic. I should be me. I should look like me as I do this job.”
Her decision to embrace her curls has also resonated with viewers who see themselves, or someone they love, in Hylton.
“I get emails from viewers who are like, I have a grandbaby with the same hair as you. Can you tell me what mousse you put in?” she said.
Hylton recalled another reaction after she appeared on air with straightened hair following a blowout.
“I got like a blowout to get my hair cut and I wore my hair straight on air and I got dozens of emails from MS NOW viewers being like, ‘Don’t ever do that again,’” she said.
Rather than asking her to conform to a more traditional television-news appearance, viewers wanted the curls.
“They were like, ‘Uh-uh, when I turn on my TV, I want to see the curls,’” Hylton recalled.
For Hylton, the experience became part of a broader journey toward confidence and understanding how being different could improve her work.
“Being you and being different is your superpower, and I will do better stories,” she said. “I will be a better reporter if I’m always honoring just who I am.”
That philosophy is also central to “The Assignment,” which premieres Sept. 12 on MS NOW. Hylton wants the show to move beyond the quick sound bites that often dominate television news and give reporters more room to explore stories. She also hopes it can serve as a platform for journalists at the network to pursue stories that might otherwise not receive enough airtime.
“I want my show to be a space where those stories are … we really can dig into them,” she said. “We can go that extra layer and really tell them.”
That approach is particularly important to Hylton at a time when audiences can feel overwhelmed by the constant flow of news.
“Good reporting should feel empowering, not just like you’re talked at, you’re overwhelmed,” she said.
She wants viewers to feel connected to the people and communities behind the headlines, rather than simply consuming another news segment.
“My favorite part of the job is to talk to the people who you did not expect to hear from to see on your TV today,” Hylton said. “I want to bring them to you, and I want to see you fall in love with them or have your questions for them or be outraged at them if you feel they’re not doing something right — and feel like your voice is heard.”
That commitment to creating space for others is something Hylton said she learned from her aunt, veteran journalist Soledad O’Brien. Rather than formally teaching her how to build a career, Hylton said she learned by watching O’Brien work.
“She taught me without teaching me, if that makes sense,” Hylton said.
Hylton said that example taught her the importance of using a platform to create opportunities for others, particularly women of color.
“I think that’s especially for women of color, for Black women, for Afro-Latinas, like creating that space and standing on that is just so important,” she said.
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