Joe Sutton (journalist)

Early life

Joe Sutton was born in Atlanta, Georgia. His father, Joseph Sutton, was a long serving Atlanta Police Officer (now deceased) and his mother, Terry Johnson, works in the medical field.

Sutton attended Atlanta Public Schools. He graduated from North Atlanta High School in 2004. It was while in high school he decided to get involved with one of his passions, meteorology. But Sutton always had a dream of television, and that's when he was presented the opportunity to work at CNN in a summer job capacity when he was a high school junior.

He is a graduate of Oglethorpe University with a B.A. in Communications and a minor in Political Science in 2009 with honors. The university has named him one of their Most Notable Alumni.

Career

Joe Sutton got started with his career at 15. He at the time was a volunteer meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Peachtree City, Georgia.

Sutton joined CNN/TBS at 16. In his present role, some of Sutton's duties includes handling newsgathering in the United States on the overnights. In 2008, Sutton interned in Beijing with NBC during the Summer Olympic Games.

He has also worked for a number of Turner Entertainment networks which include Turner South, GameTap, TBS, TNT and he worked on a project with Court TV's Star Jones show.

Sutton briefly interned for U.S. Congressman David Scott in his district offices in Georgia, helping with constituent services and press duties.

In addition, he has worked at HLN and worked as a producer for CNN Newsroom (weekdays & weekends) and for various CNN International shows.

Because of his many years in television, Sutton is frequently appearing as a motivational speaker on how to achieve success in corporate America. His work is also expansive in entertainment news. Sutton has interviewed many entertainment figures while covering news stories. He covered the 2013 Academy Awards.

Joe Sutton’s news coverage has included the death of Muhammad Ali; the Orlando nightclub shooting; the death of musician David Bowie; the death of “Fast and Furious” star Paul Walker; the Ebola scare in the U.S.; the death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri; actor Tracy Morgan’s near fatal car accident; Superstorm Sandy; the Colorado movie theater shootings; the Sandy Hook shootings; the extramarital affair of Gen. David Petraeus, who was then head of the CIA; the fall of champion cyclist Lance Armstrong; the Boston Marathon bombings; the downfall of former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling and the involvement of Alex Rodriguez and other Major League Baseball players in performance-enhancing drugs.

Sutton was the first to break the story that Kim Kardashian was held at gunpoint in her Paris hotel where millions of dollars in jewelry was stolen. His tweet of the confirmation before it was deleted for reasons unknown, trended heavily on Twitter and landed Sutton in many publications citing him with the confirmation such as: CNN, The Shade Room, The Guardian, Yahoo, etc.

Sutton's unique style has made him a trendsetter in men's fashion. He has modeled and hosted events for major department stores in Georgia. He is a former member of the Beverly Hills Chamber of Commerce.

Joe Sutton’s admiration of fashion prompted him to launch a men’s line known as Joe Sutton Collection in 2017.

Personal life

Joe Sutton is the only child. He splits his time between Atlanta and Los Angeles.

He still has a passion for meteorology and at times he enjoys storm chasing. He received his SKYWARN credentials which is a volunteer program that helps to keep communities safe by providing reports of severe weather to the National Weather Service.

Sutton is known to be a daily shopper at boutiques and department stores. He credits his frequent shopping to his successes in securing his modeling jobs.

Charity

Sutton is involved in a number of prominent charities in Atlanta and Los Angeles.

Atlanta

With his dad being a retired Atlanta Police Officer, Sutton is involved with the Atlanta Police Foundation. He produced an acclaimed piece that was showcased at the city of Atlanta's Crime is Toast event that was introduced by the Atlanta Police Chief. He received an honorary award for his work.

Sutton also served on the GLAAD Atlanta Leadership Council, where he helped raise awareness for LGBT rights and spearheaded grassroots efforts in Atlanta.

Los Angeles

Sutton was involved with the Los Angeles Library Foundation, Friends of the Observatory (the famed Griffith Observatory) and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation.