Brianna Keilar

Brianna Marie Keilar,^[1] born September 21, 1980, is the senior political correspondent and anchor for CNN in the Washington, D.C. bureau. Keilar hosts the 12 p.m. Eastern Time edition of CNN Newsroom. She previously worked as a White House correspondent, Congressional correspondent and general assignment correspondent for CNN in Washington. Prior to that, Keilar worked at CNN Newsource as a national correspondent, also in Washington.

Early life and education

Keilar was born in Canberra, Australia.^[2] Her father, Glenn is Australian and her mother, Miriam was American. The Keilars were stationed in Australia at the time of Brianna's birth.^[3] In 1982, Keilar and her family moved to the United States and settled in Orange County, California. Keilar graduated from Mission Viejo High School in 1998, where she was voted homecoming queen in her senior year.^[4] Keilar graduated in 2001 from the University of California, Berkeley, where she was admitted into the Phi Beta Kappa Society. She received her dual bachelor's degrees in Mass Communications and Psychology in 2001.

Career

Keilar started in television news as an intern and production assistant at KTVU Channel 2 in Oakland, California. In 2001, she went to work as a general assignment reporter at KIMA-TV, the CBS affiliate in Yakima, Washington. During that same time, she also worked in radio as a morning show personality on "Billy, Blue and Brianna, Too: The Morning Zoo" on 107.3 KFFM.

In 2003, Keilar moved to New York to work as an anchor, reporter, and producer for CBS News on mtvU, a newscast that aired on MTV's college network. At CBS News on mtvU, she covered the 2004 presidential primaries and election from New Hampshire, Boston, and New York City. Brianna also covered the 2005 NFL Draft for mtvU. Keilar was 23 when she filled in as anchor of CBS News' overnight newscast, Up to the Minute for the first time.

She was also a freelance reporter for CBS Evening News Weekend Edition before moving over to CNN.

While covering Congress, Keilar earned the 2009 National Press Foundation Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress for her fall 2008 coverage of the $700 billion bank bailout.^[5] As a general assignment correspondent for the network, she covered a wide range of stories, including the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, where she was the first CNN correspondent on the ground.^[6] In 2013, she spoke at the commencement ceremony for her alma mater.

Following the Presidential election of 2016, Keilar was named as the replacement to John King's weekday temporary edition of Inside Politics at 12pm E.T.

Personal

Keilar married Dave French on May 2, 2009.^[7] Keilar's mother died on May 17, 2016.^[8]

References

External links

• Appearances on C-SPAN