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You’ve got to have Faith!

The City of Byrd’s Class of 1994 had Faith, and now C.E. Byrd’s Alumni Hall of Fame will have Faith when Faith Jenkins, or “Judge Faith” as she is known by her many adoring fans, is inducted on Thursday, June 5th at the Shreveport Convention Center.

She–along with fellow hall of fame inductee Annia Jenkins (Class of 2004) --will be making history as the first African American women to be inducted.

And to think, the trajectory of her life and highly successful career started on the campus of Louisiana Tech University where a young political science major saw a flier about the Miss Louisiana Tech pageant.

Jenkins entered and won, becoming Tech’s first African American woman to win.

She didn’t stop there.

Like she has done her entire career, Jenkins continued up the ladder where the next wrung was the 2000 Miss Louisiana pageant. Jenkins came out on top and advanced to the Miss America pageant in 2001 where she was runner-up and accomplished another first by winning– talent, swimsuit, and the coveted “Quality of Life” national community service award for her work in literacy and education.

“I think that (pageant experience) helped because I traveled a lot that year and I just got so much exposure during that time period,” Jenkins told the Shreveport Times in 2023, meeting different people, traveling to different events, and speaking in front of all kinds of organizations. And I think it’s what gave me the courage to move and take that first job in New York.”

Faith and courage would prove to be a powerful combination.

After graduating No.1 in her class at Southern University Law School, Jenkins moved to the Big Apple and began to work with the prestigious law firm of Sidley and Austin–where she served as litigator for five years before moving to the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office.

“I think that working in the realm of relationships has always been a part of the bread and butter and passion of my career,” Jenkins told Sidewalk Entertainment.” My very first court appearances in New York when I started to practice law were in family court handling divorce cases and child custody cases.”

She found out quick that she was not a fan of Family Law.

“I will tell you; I didn’t love it because I saw people in their relationships at their worst and I thought I don’t want to practice family law,” Jenkins said. “That’s not what I want to do long term in my career, but I kept being drawn back into the family dynamic throughout the course of my career, and I started learning from those experiences.”

Known as a tough but fair trial attorney in New York, the former C.E. Byrd varsity cheerleader, caught the eye of television executives who regularly called on Jenkins as a legal expert. These networks included Fox News, CNN, and MSNBC just to name a few.

“That’s essentially what launched my TV career,” Jenkins said. “Because someone from the head of a production company in LA would see me on TV one night on MSNBC and then the next night with Bill O’Reilly on Fox News and said I could go in front of these two starkly different audiences and be able to carry my weight. That’s when I was approached about doing a court show on TV.”

First, it was the daytime hit Judge Faith, which debuted in 2014. Starting in 2020 Jenkins switched over to Divorce Court where she was the presiding judge. In her latest television endeavor, Jenkins is leading Killer Relationships with Faith Jenkins on Oxygen, which wrapped up season No. 3 last November.

In November of 2021, Jenkins took the lessons that she had learned throughout her career and wrote the book Sis, Don’t Settle: How To Stay Smart in Matters of the Heart.

The book, which has an Amazon rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars, was a no-brainer for Jenkins.

“We learn so much in school and in our trade about how to be great at our job,” Jenkins said, “but when you don’t have an example—like I didn’t have great examples of loving relationships growing up, how do you learn how to do relationships? I thought I have all of this experience from working in family court, from working on TV, from working with families and relationships and cases, and my own personal experience–I wanted to put it into a book that I knew would help every reader make better decisions”

Jenkins’ classmate from the Class of 1994, Ayodele Anderson, who listened to the audiobook, was one of the thousands who gave Sis, Don’t Settle a positive review.

“It felt like I was talking to an old friend,” Anderson said after listening to the book. “And really, I was.”

Anderson said that Jenkins flew “under the radar” during her high school years at 3201 Line Avenue.

“It’s easy to lay low when you attend a school with thousands of students,” Anderson said. “She was quiet and kind of shy, but she was outgoing enough to be a cheerleader. She was really smart and worked hard–as she does now. What I remember the most is that she was nice to everyone and had a good sense of humor when you got to know her.”

Anderson isn’t the only Yellow Jacket who remembers Jenkins well. Jenkin’s principal was R. Lynne Fitzgerald.

“She was smart, and a good student,” Fitzgerald said. “She was involved in all things Byrd and an enthusiastic and popular cheerleader.”

Jenkins is married to R&B singer Kenny Lattimore. The couple, who met on a blind date in 2019 and were married in 2020, have a beautiful, two-year-old daughter–Skylar Leigh Lattimore.

Other inductees in the 2025 Class of the C.E. Byrd Hall of Fame include Meredith Duncan, Amy Brittain, Jacob Davis, Annia Jenkins, Jordan Davis, Charles Johnson, Darrell Jones, David Matlock, Pamela McPherson, Leslie Moran, John Parsons, and Max Watson. Neil Johnson and Joseph Zaffater will be inducted posthumously. Faculty members inducted will be Kathy O’Neal and Roy Keene (posthumously).

Individual tickets to the C.E. Byrd Hall of Fame Dinner are $100. Table sponsorships, which include eight tickets, are $1,500. Tickets may be purchased at byrdhighalumni.org by clicking the yellow tab at the top of the website.

At the same C.E. Byrd Alumni website, you will be able to find information on tickets and table sponsorships for Byrd’s Centennial Celebration, which will be held on Saturday, June 7th at the Shreveport Convention Center.💜💛🐝⚖️💜💛#AlwaysDeepWithinOurHearts ... See MoreSee Less