Texas native with Carolina ties joins Business Journal

Jamaal E. O'Neal

The Greater Wilmington Business Journal has a new face – a native Texan with ties to the Carolinas.

Jamaal E. O’Neal is the publication’s new commercial real estate and banking and finance reporter.

O’Neal, 26, was born and raised in Corsicana, Texas, home to country music icon Lefty Frizzell, legendary singer-songwriter Billy Joe Shaver, and jazz artist David “Fathead” Newman.

While attending the University of North Texas in Denton, O’Neal completed an internship with the Austin American-Statesman and served as editor of his school newspaper, the state’s third-largest student publication.

In 2005, the Dallas Press Club named him a “Katie Award” winner as the top student reporter for the Texas-Oklahoma region. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism in 2007.

He began his professional career as a reporter with the Longview News-Journal in Longview, Texas, and later worked as a reporter for the Williamson County Sun in Georgetown, Texas, and Community Impact Newspapers in Grapevine, Texas.

O’Neal has won several awards for his work, including a 2010 first place honor for news writing from the Texas Press Association for his coverage of Tropical Storm Hermine, and a 2009 award for news coverage from the Texas chapter of the National Alliance of Mental Illness.

O’Neal’s Carolinas’ connection includes a sister in Cary, N.C., and grandparents in Florence, S.C.

When not at work, he likes to “read, eat and travel,” though not necessarily in that order. He also enjoys long runs, hiking, camping and skeet shooting.