From the Anchor Desk to the Grocery Aisle

For nearly seventeen years, Memphis ended its day with Kontji Anthony. From the anchor desk at WMC Action News 5, she walked this city through storms, elections, tragedies, and triumphs — a thirty-year broadcast veteran who had worked her way through newsrooms from New York (WCBS) to Sacramento to North Carolina before Memphis became home in 2005.

Then, at the height of that career — a permanent co-anchor chair on the 5, 6, and 10 p.m. news — she walked away. Not for another station. For an idea born in a Facebook group. This is a Memphis story about what it means for a worker to bet on herself.

Seventeen Years in Memphis Living Rooms

Kontji joined WMC Action News 5 as a reporter in July 2005. By 2008 she was anchoring weekends. In December 2015 she began filling in on the evening desk, and in April 2016 the station made it official: permanent co-anchor of the 5, 6, and 10 p.m. newscasts — the seat Memphis families trusted most.

Across three decades in broadcasting she did every job the industry has: photojournalist, producer, reporter, anchor. That's a union sensibility even outside a union shop — learn the whole craft, respect every role in the building.

Honored by the State of Tennessee

The Tennessee General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution commending Kontji Anthony as a highly regarded television journalist — the kind of recognition state legislatures reserve for people whose work outgrows their job title. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences honored her work as well.

The Facebook Group That Became a Company

In March 2020, as COVID-19 emptied the shelves, Kontji learned from her sister Aurora that stores were bare back home in New Rochelle, New York. After mailing a care package, she did what reporters do: she organized information. She launched a Memphis Facebook group called Pandemic Product Sightings — neighbors crowdsourcing photos of essential products back in stock, alerting one another to protect their families.

The village swelled to 34,000 members, with a third sister, Johnita, jumping in to help run it. And the group worked so well it revealed a business: what if finding in-stock products near you was a platform instead of a scramble? Youdle was born — founded by the three Anthony sisters, Kontji (CEO), Johnita (COO), and Aurora (CXO) — with the beta launching in December 2022. Today it's WBENC-certified women-owned, Memphis-built.

Betting on Herself

In March 2022, Kontji announced she was leaving WMC after nearly seventeen years. That April, she signed off the anchor desk for the last time — trading the most secure seat in Memphis television for the least secure seat in any city: founder.

That is a labor story. Every worker knows the math of a steady paycheck against a dream, and almost nobody gets to choose the dream. She chose it — as a Black woman founder in a tech industry where Memphis is still fighting for its share, building a company whose whole purpose is saving working families time and money.

Back on the Air — On Her Terms

Memphis didn't stay off the air with her for long. Kontji returned to television as host of Live at 9 on WREG, the city's CBS affiliate — a lifestyle show about the greater Memphis region — while continuing to lead Youdle as CEO.

Anchor. Founder. Host. Same person, same city, new terms. Her terms.

A Memphis Love Story

And Memphis being Memphis, her story crosses another legend's: Kontji found love with David Porter — Stax Records' first staff songwriter, the co-writer of 'Soul Man' and 'Hold On, I'm Comin''. She has called him the love of her life, and the Daily Memphian once featured their romance on Valentine's Day. Two Memphis institutions, one love story.

Why Labor Tells Her Story

Kontji and CLC President Kevin Bradshaw have been friends since the 2013–2014 Kellogg's lockout, when BCTGM Local 252-G families spent nine months locked out of the Memphis cereal plant and Kontji's reporting helped the whole city understand what solidarity looks like. She comes from a family with deep labor roots — and it shows in everything she builds.

Youdle is a Labor Education community partner because its mission lines up with ours: working families should never overpay or waste a tank of gas hunting for what they need. Pair Youdle with our Fair Price Watch and the grocery gouging fight, and you have the worker-side toolkit for the checkout line.

But Kontji's own story is the deeper connection — the craft learned from the bottom up, the seventeen years of showing up for this city, and the courage to bet everything on an idea that started with neighbors helping neighbors find groceries. That's solidarity with a business model.