DECATUR - Millions of women would love to trade places with Daralene Jones.

The WCIA-TV reporter with the engaging smile has the kind of personality that lights up the airwaves.

She has a closet full of clothes and a shiny new car.

She has a master's degree she earned when she was 21 years old.

She has plenty of professional confidence, after completing internships in Indianapolis and New York.

But Jones, 23, is fighting battles that are unknown to those who see her.

Her computer keyboard has Bible verses taped to it, which she recites daily to help her overcome an angry attitude. She points out one that says: "A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control." (Proverbs 29:11)

"I think I've come a long way," Jones said. "When I was growing up, I had a nasty disposition, to the point I didn't even want to be around myself."

Jones developed an angry personality as a child to shield herself from those who were often hostile and inhospitable.

"It's hard to trust people when your mom dies when you're 8 and your father just kind of disappears from your life," Jones said. "The people you trust in your life are no longer there."

Jones was born and raised in Chicago, the youngest of five children of a nurse, Shirley Head, who worked long hours. The family lived on the South Side, in crime-ridden neighborhoods.

"Many tragic things happened in my childhood," Jones said. "About the only thing I remember before my mother died was moving around from apartment to apartment. I remember my mom taught me to bake these Pillsbury chocolate chip cookies that they still sell in the store now."

After her mother died, her father stopped coming around. She has not seen him since then.

She lived with an aunt for a few years. The summer before she entered eighth grade, her aunt told her to move out.

"She didn't want me to live with her anymore, because I was a tyrant. I was a bad child. I had a real low self-esteem. A lot of the kids used to pick on me. I was never pretty enough for the guys."

She moved to Macomb to live with her sister, Dorothy, who was attending Western Illinois University.

Macomb was initially a shock to Jones, who spoke "ghetto English" and had never lived among white people before. Macomb High School had about 20 African-Americans among about 600 students.

"You learned quickly they weren't going to put up with a violent attitude or all the fighting I was used to," Jones said.

She began taking school seriously. She graduated from high school in three years and from Illinois State University in three years.

Journalism professor Bill Schwanbeck remembers Jones as an unusually hard-working student at Illinois State.

"She enjoyed meeting people and interviewing people and going out and covering things," he said. "She thoroughly enjoys people and meeting people. She enjoys learning everyone's stories."

His wife, Karin Schwanbeck, also taught Jones and directed her on Illinois State's TV station.

"She shined from the beginning," she said. "She cares about people, and that's what makes a good journalist."

Jones earned a master's degree in public affairs reporting from the University of Illinois at Springfield, and in the summer of 2003, she landed a dream internship at CBS News Productions in New York.

Rebecca Donahue, an associate producer at CBS, said Jones stood out as an intern because she tackled every assignment with enthusiasm and skill.

"She jumped in as a real member of the team," Donahue recalled, adding she was a fast learner. "I was lucky to have such a great intern as Darlene."

Donahue said she admired the way Jones responded to the hardships in her life by turning them into something positive.

Since moving to Decatur, Jones has taken on a lot of responsibility. She runs the Decatur bureau for WCIA and teaches English at Richland Community College. She is a board member of the Illinois News Broadcasters Association, National Association of Black Journalists and Decatur Community Partnership. She also has been serving as a mentor for 14-year-old Janiqua Wilson for more than a year.

But Jones said it has only been recently that she has made great strides toward having a genuine positive outlook.

"I had something missing in my life, and it was spirituality," she said. "It really hit me that that was the missing link in my life."

She credits her relationship with God, which began in earnest about a year ago, with helping her control her temper and have more inner love and strength.

Jones was baptized on Sunday at Main Street Church of the Living God.

"It was truly an awesome experience, a life-changing experience," Jones said. "It's like all those things that I've been through in my life - it's like water under the bridge now, because I'm a new person."

Huey Freeman can be reached at hfreeman@;herald-review.com or 421-6985.