Dhomonique Ricks is working her way up the broadcasting food chain.
A Minnesota native, Ricks recently left an anchor/reporter job at WSET-TV in Lynchburg, Va., for Cleveland, Ohio, where she is a host of "The Now Cleveland," an afternoon show on WEWS-TV, the ABC affiliate. "I was ready for a move," she said. "Lynchburg was phenomenal, nothing bad about it at all, but I had been there for five years. Had no family there. This was a perfect time in my career to make a switch. I knew I wanted something where I could really show my personality. I love hosting, there just aren't a lot of opportunities out there to host. We did a job search. They saw my tape, liked what they saw, I flew out for an audition and got the job."
Wait a minute. Ricks is in a position to watch former GET ME OUTTA HERE Timberwolf Kevin Love in his new post with the Cavaliers! There's a lot of speculation about whether this trade will live up to the title expectations of Love and his teammate and unofficial GM LeBron James. And some are watching to see if Chris Bosh's pronouncement proves accurate regarding his former Heat teammate, King James. Bosh told Bleacher Report that Love will find it "extremely frustrating" to play with LeBron.
"I will be keeping an eye on Kevin Love," Ricks laughed. "Kevin Love, LeBron, gosh, who else, Halle Berry, Steve Harvey. It's unbelievable how many people are from here."
I asked Ricks if there has been much coverage of LeBron's hairline, a source of visual fascination to my boy Tony Kornheiser on ESPN's "Pardon the Interruption."
"That has been the number one story for about three days now. We did a story on it when it first went viral and another story on it today because like everyone [we've noticed] it's receding and then it's all there and then it's gone again," she laughed. "Who knows what's going on? They are saying it might be this product called Black Ice. I guess it's like a gel. I guess some men use it to fill in patches or bald spots."
This hair product will enhance the image of Black Ice, which in real life does not endear itself to Minnesota drivers. Speaking again of her native state, I asked Ricks if her ultimate goal is the same as that of many Minnesotans: find a job that brings them home.
In Rick's case, it would seriously simplify the life of her dad, David Ricks, who along with her mom, Gail, owns Sheer Treasures in Blaine's Northtown Mall. Weekdays at 3 p.m., Minnesota time, he watches his daughter's show live on the Internet. (They are the Minnesota married couple who didn't embarrass their daughter one bit by speaking openly about their sizzling post-50 sex life on NBC's "Today Show.")