Stella Foster is an award-winning African-American journalist for the Chicago Sun-Times who was first an assistant for the famous newspaper entertainment columnist, Irv Kupcinet, before establishing her own columns with Sister 2 Sister magazine and later for her employer.
Over the course of her 43-year career as a Chicago journalist, Foster was an assistant to Irv Kupcinet and a Chicago Sun-Times columnist and broadcaster. Stella Foster's career started when her sister brought to her attention that Kupcinet, the Chicago Sun-Times columnist, was in need of a secretary. She began working for him on September 1, 1969 and was his assistant for decades. Kupcinet taught her the basics of good journalism, and she said his integrity and personality contributed to their getting "scoops" through a hot line where people could call in news. As Kupcinet aged, Foster collaborated with him and she later received a byline under the Kupcinet column. She began her writing career in the mid-1980s with a regular column, "Starlights by Stella", that appeared in Sister 2 Sister magazine; started her own column, "Stella's Column", for the Chicago Sun-Times on December 2, 2003 and after the death of Kupcinet, and retired on her birthday August 6, 2012. During her career, she also had a regular television segment on FOX News called "Stella Sez." The column for the Chicago Sun-Times ran two times a week and was later increased to five times a week. Her employer did not name a successor.
Notable works of journalism
Obama Kids
Interviewed on CNN defending the Obama kids about letting them speak out for the first time.
In popular culture
In the 1990s, Foster had contributed some editorials to the Chicago Sun-Times, such as her 1992 opinion piece "Killing By Blacks Must Stop," about urban black violence that was motivated by the shooting of her nephew, who survived the incident. She later continued this opinion format and called them "Stellatorials."
Awards
Stella Foster has won numerous awards, including the Irv Kupcinet Media Giant Award, named after her mentor:
Joint Civic Committee of Italian American's coveted Dante media award
"Shero" Award for Career Achievement from NABFEME
She has been saluted by the Midwest Radio and Music Association, hailed as a “Phenomenal Woman” by the Expo for Today's Black Woman, and named one of The “100 Woman Making a Difference” by Today's Chicago Woman Magazine.
