Host of TBN’s 'The Sessions with Cynthia Garrett'

Cynthia Garrett | Biography 2021

Author of ‘Prodigal Daughter: A Journey Home to Identity’

• By Reena Chikanbanjar
• Original : August 04, 2021

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Cynthia Garrett is an African-American television personality. She is a founder of Cynthia Garrett Ministries and a host of TBN’s The Sessions with Cynthia Garrett.

Who is Cynthia Garrett?

Cynthia Garrett is a television host, philanthropist, executive producer, and author. She started her television career in 1996 on VH1. She quickly rose to fame after hosting VH1’s Women First. She then hosted NBC’s Later with Cynthia Garrett, the show which cemented her name as the first woman of color to host a network late-night show. She also hosted many daytime and primetime television shows and specials, including Sony’s Life & Style and The CW Network’s Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants in the 2000s. In 2013, she founded Cynthia Garrett Ministries, which has been creating Christ faith-based content since 2015.

She is also an executive producer and host of the television show The Sessions with Cynthia Garrett, which airs on TBN.

In addition, she has authored books, including ‘Prodigal Daughter: A Journey Home to Identity’ (2016) and ‘I Choose Victory: Moving from Victim to Victor’ (2020).

Early Life and Education

Cynthia Garrett was born in San Francisco, California, on 16 February 1964. Born to parents Bernard Garrett Sr. and Linda Garrett, Cynthia has five siblings — Britton, Sheila, Steven, Christopher, and D’Antonio.

Cynthia graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration and Management, General in 1985 from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California. After that, she received another Bachelor of Arts degree in Broadcast Journalism and Theater in 1987 from San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California. She then earned a J.D. degree in 1990 from USC Gould School of Law in Los Angeles, California. She also received a degree in International Comparative Law from Magdalen College at the University of Oxford in August 1988. 

Television Career

Cynthia began her television career as a television host in January 1996 on VH1. That year, she became a member of the Screen Actors Guild - American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), a labor union representing people from the entertainment, music, and media industry. 

While at VH-1, she also hosted Women First, a show that profiled noteworthy women in the music industry. She then went to work at VH-1 for four years. There, she earned fame as a television personality. In 1999, she started hosting another significant show called Later with Cynthia Garrett on NBC Network, as the first African-American woman to host a network late-night talk show. 

Furthermore, Cynthia also co-hosted in the variety television special Home Team with Terry Bradshaw.

In May 2000, she served as a guest host on ABC’s talk show LIVE with Regis Philbin. She then appeared on HBO’s primetime show, The Buzz. 

She also hosted several episodes of Sony’s popular women’s daytime talk show Life & Style. Cynthia then hosted The CW Network’s primetime series Crowned: The Mother of All Pageants for a couple of years in the late 2000s.

Columns

In the fall of 1999, she started contributing as a celebrity columnist for the women’s monthly fashion magazine, InStyle. In the early 2000s, she also wrote editorial pieces for Niche Media’s LA Confidential Magazine for its lifestyle column. She also wrote a weekly column, ‘Through the Storm,’ for the faith-based newspaper LA Focus, in which she profiled people who overcame the biggest challenges of life by relying on faith.

Cynthia Garrett Ministries

In June 2013, Cynthia founded a faith-based non-profit organization called Cynthia Garrett Ministries. She established the organization aiming to provide faith-based entertainment and empowerment in a contemporary way. It mainly focuses on issues related to women, politics, and society and how these issues are portrayed in the media.

‘The Sessions with Cynthia Garrett’

In June 2015, she became the host and executive producer of a weekly television program, The Sessions with Cynthia Garrett on Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). The show centers around conversations on love life, marriage, parenting issues, political issues, and other social issues from the lens of her faith and spirituality. She says her show is not a regular talk show but a “walk-show.”

Books

On 29 August 2016, Cynthia published a book titled ‘Prodigal Daughter: A Journey Home to Identity,’ in which she shares her life experiences from sexual abuse against her brother, divorce, challenges of single motherhood, and health issues to her journey to healing and discovering herself. She also shares lessons from a variety of personal problems she faced in her life. She later published another book titled ‘I Choose Victory: Moving from Victim to Victor’ on 5 May 2020.

Additional Works

Cynthia has been President and co-owner of HS Holdings, LLC since June 2010. According to her LinkedIn profile, HS Holdings holds more than 300,000 video clips of celebrity red carpet interviews, B-Roll, audio, soundbites, transcripts, and still images at its Celebrity Content Library. In April 2018, she also became Senior Vice President (SVP) of Original Content Development & Strategy Partnerships at OrI International, a faith and family platform headquartered at Pinewood Studios, Atlanta.

Husband and Past Marriage

Cynthia is married to Bible scholar Roger Charles, who frequently appears on her show to explain the teachings of Christ. 

They together have a son, Christian Garrett. Christian is a basketball player. He joined the University of Kansas basketball team in 2011.

Previously, a long time ago, she was married to a man whose name she hasn’t made public. In her book, ‘Prodigal Daughter: A Journey Home to Identity,’ she shares the story of getting married at a young age and narrates that how faith helped her get over the “abusive” marriage.

Did You Know?

Cynthia Garrett is yet to feature on a Wikipedia page.