18 Facts About Cathy Hughes

Catherine Liggins Hughes was born on Catherine Elizabeth Woods; April 22,1947 and is an American entrepreneur, radio and television personality and business executive.

Cathy Hughes has been listed as the second-richest Black woman in the United States, after Oprah Winfrey.

Cathy Hughes founded the media company Radio One, and when the company went public in 1999, she became the first African-American woman to head a publicly traded corporation.

Cathy Hughes was born to Helen Jones Woods, a trombonist with the International Sweethearts of Rhythm at Piney Woods School, a private boarding school in Mississippi, and William Alfred Woods, who was the first African-American to earn an accounting degree from Creighton University.

Cathy Hughes's grandfather Laurence C Jones was a successful Mississippi educator and lynching survivor.

The family lived in the Logan Fontenelle Housing Projects while Cathy Hughes' father attended college.

Cathy Hughes found her love for music at a very young age, while repeatedly each night lying in bed listening to Everly Brothers and The Platters.

Cathy Hughes attended Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart in Omaha before her first pregnancy.

Cathy Hughes went to the University of Nebraska Omaha and Creighton University taking Business Administration courses, her father's alma mater, but was not able to complete and receive a degree, which led to her getting a job as a sales manager at Howard University's radio station, WHUR-FM.

Cathy Hughes began her career in 1969 at KOWH in Omaha, but left for Washington, DC after she was offered a job as an administrative assistant with Tony Brown at the School of Communications at Howard University.

In 1975, Cathy Hughes became the first woman vice president and general manager of a station in the nation's capital and created the format known as the "Quiet Storm," which revolutionized urban radio and was aired on over 480 stations nationwide.

Cathy Hughes decided to keep her station airing a talk format in the morning and music throughout the day.

In 1987, Cathy Hughes bought radio station WMMJ with her company Radio One.

Cathy Hughes is a notable member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority.

Cathy Hughes was married to Alfred Liggins Jr from 1965 to 1967.

Cathy Hughes got pregnant when she was seventeen and her mom threw her out of her house.

Cathy Hughes married Dewey Cathy Hughes in 1979 and they divorced in 1987.

Cathy Hughes is a member of the Maryland Chamber of Commerce's Business Hall of Fame.