Anita Powell is a White House correspondent who previously covered the African continent for 14 years. In her many years as a newspaper, wire, radio and television reporter – which has crisscrossed several dozen countries – she has covered the Biden administration, the funeral of Nelson Mandela, the political and actual death of Robert Mugabe, the U.S.-led conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, Russia’s initial invasion of Ukraine, the 2019 Hong Kong protests, a famine and numerous near-famines on the African continent, an Ebola outbreak, a Papal visit, the African Union, ongoing conflict in Eastern Congo, small-town Texas politics, and (by her count) 19 African elections. She is also a published short-story writer and is working on a collection of essays about the weird things she saw along the way to all those news stories. She is a graduate of the University of Texas’ Plan II Honors Program.