We welcome seasoned journalist and author, Michael Codgill, as our special guest at The Salvation Army of Greenville's Christmas in July event. Read more about Michael's background below:

When he was 22, Michael went on the air in television, beginning a career no one saw coming.   He served news audiences for 36 years, becoming a sought-after public speaker along the way.  

By way of great mentors and hard work, he became one of the most honored television storytellers in America.  

His 32 Emmy Awards grew from work as a live anchor, long-form reporter, and newsroom leader, who worked from the White House to the humblest homes of the poor.   Covering the likes of 9-11, the Emanuel Nine Charleston church massacre, the Susan Smith child murders, Michael drew from his working-class roots.  These taught him the inherent dignity and value of all human lives.  His forbears taught him compassion and gratitude. 

His interview and coverage credits include presidents and vice presidents of the United States.  The names vary like the human race itself:  Barack Obama, Abbie Hoffman, The Reverend Billy Graham, the Doobie Brothers, Charlie Daniels, James Brown, Hillary Clinton, John McCain, Strom Thurmond, Fritz Hollings, Mitt Romney, Henry Kissinger and many more.   His coverage credits include Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton.  

But Michael knows non-celebrities harbor some of our great value, and or greatest stories.  

Today Michael is co-founder of Heartstrong Media, a consulting and content company.  He’s a writer, with two new children’s books on the horizon.  His latest children’s book, Where Did Joe Go?, debuts in 2024.  His first novel, She-Rain, set in the Western North Carolina mountains, re-launched digitally in 2023, and is being developed as a major motion picture and for relaunch as a novel.  He’s working now on a new Southern novel, The Sinners of Honeysuckle Road.

Michael is a cum laude graduate of the University of North Carolina at Asheville, a school he celebrates for its devotion to the liberal arts.  He holds a certificate in the study of rhetoric and oratory from Harvard University Extension School.

Michael married the love of his life, Danette Everhart, Family Nurse Practitioner, June 10, 2023.  Danette is his love beyond words, his muse, his inspiration to change the business of entertainment.  Her reinvention of herself from early childhood and beyond reminds him fiction must rise to find the high truths of what’s possible in a human life that prevails.  

Overview

Written to entertain adults and children, while daring to find beauty and hope through a challenge we all face in life.

Joe is a horse, loved by a little girl who becomes a young woman. Through a story of rhythmic beauty, she and her Nana discover love truly conquers all -- even the hardest thing of all. They all find the secret to an immortal joy. All readers, of every age, discover this secret by - The End.

Where Did Joe Go? carries the makings of a children's classic - humor, a touch of shadow and mystery, and beauty. Illustrated by former child prodigy, George Pocheptsov, its artwork holds the whimsy and happiness that made George one of the most famous modern artists in the world, before he reached adolescence. One glance at Joe and his family is to see why George still draws comparison to Pablo Picasso and Marc Chagall. He gained fame as a child painting for adults. Now he's an adult who's painted the first time for children. He covers every page in the magic and innocence of being a kid.

Written by 32-time Emmy-winner Michael Cogdill, Where Did Joe Go? is a love letter to the world. It celebrates the bonds that grow between humankind and loved ones who never have to say a word to say - I love you, forever.

Where Did Joe Go? finds its impact on readers summed up in the forward, written by the music star who brought the world such romantic hits as I'll Be and I Could Not Ask for More.

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