Career Stories

Paula Faris is a senior national correspondent and anchor at ABC News and the host of the popular podcast "Journeys of Faith with Paula Faris," which gives an intimate look at how some of the world's most influential people lean on faith and spirituality to guide them through the best and worst of times.

Previously, she was the co-anchor of Good Morning America's weekend edition, as well as a co-host of ABC's The View.

Paula is an Emmy-Award winning journalist who has reported on major headlines around the world, from the 2018 Royal Wedding in Windsor, England, to the 90th Annual Academy Awards, the 2017 Inauguration of President Donald Trump, the World Cup in Brazil and the New England Patriots "Deflategate" scandal.

In 2018, Paula sat down with each of the Texas Senate race candidates, Senator Ted Cruz and Representative Beto O'Rourke, while on the Texas campaign trail. In October 2017, Paula made headlines for an exclusive interview with former White House Press Secretary, Sean Spicer. Previously, she sat down exclusively with controversial Kentucky clerk, Kim Davis, who made global headlines for refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. She has interviewed everyone from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders to Vice President Joe Biden, Reese Witherspoon, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Tiger Woods, Steph Curry, the Duggars and the casts of Star Wars and Avengers.

Paula came to ABC News in 2012 after spending 10 years working for TV affiliates in Chicago, Cincinnati and Dayton. She began her career behind the scenes, shooting, editing and producing.

A native of Jackson, Michigan, Paula graduated Cum Laude from Cedarville University and married her college sweetheart in 2000. She lives in New York with her husband and their three children.

You can follow her at @PaulaFaris and listen to her podcast, Journeys of Faith here: http://abcradio.com/podcasts/journeys-of-faith/

Kristine Leahy is a sports broadcaster and national television host of "Fair Game" on FOX Sports 1. She is a former co-host of "The Herd with Colin Cowherd" on FS1 and "American Ninja Warrior" on NBC.

Before becoming entering the national spotlight, Kristine spent two and a half years with the CBS and Turner Sports Family. She worked the sidelines for March Madness and CBS Sports' regular season college football and basketball packages. She also anchored CBSLA's "Sports Central," contributed to KCAL's Dodgers pre-game show "Think Blue," and has covered everything from the Super Bowl to the World Series to the NBA and Stanley Cup Finals.

Kristine started her career in local news on the East Coast, working in sports radio, TV and as the official reporter for the Boston Celtics. She is originally from the Chicago area and grew up watching sports (including the glory days of the Bulls) with her family. You can follow her at @KristineLeahy.

Gianna Toboni is a correspondent and producer for VICE News Tonight, the Emmy award-winning half-hour nightly newscast and the multi-award-winning VICE on HBO series.

Over the last year, Toboni has covered escalating cartel violence and political corruption in Mexico, tracked down Nigerian pirates on their illegal oil refineries and landed an exclusive interview with death row inmate, Scott Dozier.

She's been on the forefront of the most important domestic debates in the United States, interviewing charter school magnate Dick DeVos about school choice and sitting down with NRATV's Grant Stinchfield for a contentious interview about mass shootings.

Before joining VICE in 2013, she worked as a correspondent at Al Jazeera and as a producer for ABC News. In 2015, Toboni was named to Forbes' 30 Under 30 list for media jobs and spoke at TEDx in 2014. She won a Webby Award in 2014 for Best Documentary Series for "The Real," as well as a GLAAD Media Award for Church and States in 2017. Toboni was also recently recognized by the Newswomen's Club of New York at the Front Page Awards for her reporting on transgender youth.

You can follow her at @GiannaToboni.

Amy Robach is a co-anchor of ABC's Good Morning America and 20/20 and can be seen reporting across all ABC News platforms.

Since joining ABC News, Amy has been on the front lines of some of the world's biggest headlines. She reported on the terrorist attacks in Manchester, UK and in Brussels, Belgium, as well as the mass shootings at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, TX, Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and Sandy Hook elementary school in Newton, Connecticut. Amy also contributes to ABC's network-wide coverage on Election Night and anchored ABC's Olympic coverage of the 2018 Winter Games in PyeongChang, the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.

In 2014, Amy traveled to Nigeria to interview Malala Yousafzai, the 17-year-old who was campaigning to free hundreds of captive school girls. In this interview, you'll hear why this interview stands out to Amy as one of the most moving and important assignments she's had.

Amy has also interviewed countless newsmakers and celebrities. Her headline making interviews include: Tonya Harding in a two-hour prime time special, Gretchen Carlson's first television interview on sexual harassment in the workplace and Monica Lewinsky's first network interview in over a decade.

In 2015, Amy wrote a New York Times bestselling book titled "Better: How I Let Go of Control, Held On To Hope, and Found Joy in My Darkest Hour" about her unexpected journey with breast cancer after being diagnosed following an on-air mammogram on GMA.

Before joining ABC News, Amy worked at NBC News from 2003 to 2012. She was the co-anchor of Saturday TODAY and an NBC News National Correspondent. During that time, she also filled in as weekday TODAY co-anchor and newsreader and NBC Nightly News anchor.

Prior to that Amy was an anchor for MSNBC from 2003-2007. She also worked as a reporter and anchor for WTTG-TV in Washington, D.C. and WCBD-TV in Charleston, SC. You can follow her at @AmyRobach.

Nikki Battiste has been a correspondent for CBS News based in New York City since 2018. Her reporting appears across all CBS News platforms and broadcasts, including CBS This Morning, CBS Evening News, and 48 Hours. Battiste has also served as a substitute anchor on CBS News' digital channel, CBSN.

Battiste's groundbreaking reporting and investigations into the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal gained critical acclaim. In a television first, her reporting led to two alleged clergy abuse survivors sitting down face-to-face with the priest they say abused them as children. During a separate investigation, Battiste questioned U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops President, Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, about why a priest with sexual abuse allegations in his own Galveston-Houston Archdiocese was still in active ministry. After the story aired, the priest was removed from ministry. Two months after her exclusive interview with now former Washington, D.C. Cardinal Donald Wuerl, he resigned. She also broke the story of nuns sexually-abusing children, which led to more than 40 victims coming forward. Battiste traveled to Rome to cover Pope Francis' Vatican summit addressing the clergy abuse crisis.

Battiste joined CBS News as a freelance correspondent in May 2017. She first reported for CBS NewsPath, the Network's 24-hour television newsgathering service for CBS stations and broadcasters around the world.

Previously, Battiste was an award-winning ABC News reporter and producer based in New York. She traveled the globe to cover breaking news and feature stories for all ABC News broadcast platforms, including Good Morning America, World News Tonight, Nightline, 20/20 and ABC digital.

Battiste reported extensively on the Amanda Knox case from Perugia, Italy, becoming the first journalist to conduct a sit-down interview with Knox, after covering the case for six years. She co-produced several Diane Sawyer hour-long specials, including an interview with the youngest woman on death row in the U.S. She has investigated numerous criminal cases, radicalization in America, the rising costs of cancer drugs, medical tourism and bullying in schools.

Battiste started her career as as an intern for The Today Show, working under Katie Couric, before moving up to becoming an NBC Page and then a producer and booker.

Battiste has won Emmy, Edward R. Murrow, CINE Golden Eagle, Peabody, Deadline and Front Page awards. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a degree in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. At Penn, she was co-captain of their field hockey team.

Battiste is a Pennsylvania native and now resides in New York City with her husband. You can follow her at @NikkiBattiste.

Tara Palmeri is an ABC News White House correspondent who can be seen reporting on Good Morning America & World News Tonight weekend editions, and on ABC's 200+ local affiliates and digital platform.

Tara got her start in journalism by working as a news assistant for CNN in Washington, D.C. before making a name for herself as a gossip columnist. She reported for the Washington Examiner's "Yeas and Nays" column, before getting scooped up by The New York Post, where she wrote for Page Six and eventually covered city politics.

Her quick ability to develop sources impressed Politico, which gave her a dream opportunity to move to Europe and report on everything from Brexit to the Greek Financial crisis and the Paris and Brussels terror attacks.

Then, President Trump was elected and Tara felt a strong calling to return to D.C. After all, Trump was a familiar name and face in the tabloid world Tara had come to know so well.

She served as a Politico White House Correspondent and a CNN Political Analyst until 2017, and her ability to break stories about the administration got the attention of ABC News, which offered Tara her very first full-time TV gig.

You can follow her at @TaraPalmeri.

Andrew Fried is an award-winning documentary filmmaker & TV producer. His long list of credits includes executive producing hit Netflix docuseries like Chef's Table (now in its 6th season), Last Chance U, 7 Days Out and the upcoming Street Food (which premieres April 26).

Even though Andrew says Chef's Table catapulted his career to another level, our Career Stories episode doesn't get to how the show was created until an hour into the interview, and that's because Andrew has had a fascinating and unpredictable career path. He started as an actor and comedian in New York City before 9/11 shifted his path temporarily to working for his family's real estate business. But the suit-and-tie life didn't last long and Andrew was ultimately pulled back into his love for storytelling through documentaries. Starting as a production assistant and working his way up to producer, Andrew has worked on everything from Jay-Z's Fade to Black to Britney: For the Record to Iconoclasts (plus many, many more), and eventually started his own production company, Boardwalk Pictures. The word "boardwalk" has a special meaning for him, which he will explain.

You'll hear Andrew get candid about his life and career as he reflects on his amazing accomplishments, and he'll share the advice he has for aspiring filmmakers and creative talent. You can follow him at @Andrew_Fried on Twitter.

Willow Bay is the first female dean of USC's prestigious Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism. Her prominent broadcast experience includes co-hosting NBA Inside Stuff, serving as a correspondent for the Today Show, co-anchoring ABC's Good Morning America weekend edition and anchoring CNN's Moneyline News Hour. Before joining USC to direct the journalism program, she was a senior editor and senior strategic advisor to The Huffington Post and a special correspondent for Bloomberg TV.

Willow is originally from New York City and holds an MBA from NYU. In her 20s, she was the face of Estee Lauder cosmetics and she says her modeling career not only helped her pay for school, but launched her into the TV reporting world by leading to on-air marketing spots. One of her first gigs was also hosting a travel show alongside former NBC Today Show anchor, Matt Lauer.

Willow was named Dean of USC's Annenberg in July 2017. She launched the school's Media Center in Wallis Annenberg Hall, introduced the school's new Bachelor of Arts in Journalism degree program, and welcomed the first cohort of the school's nine-month Master of Science in Journalism program.

Her husband is Bob Iger, the CEO of The Walt Disney Company, and the couple has two children.

Miguel Almaguer is a national correspondent with NBC News and the network's go-to reporter for breaking news. He's covered stories around the world for Nightly News, the Today Show and MSNBC. Miguel holds an Edward R. Murrow Award and was recognized by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists with the Presidential Award of Visibility. Miguel has gone live feet from the flames of wildfires, waist-deep in flood waters, from a helicopter over an erupting volcano, and from the summit of El Capitan! Follow him at @MiguelNBC.

Emily Chang serves as the anchor and executive producer of Bloomberg Technology. Her San Franscisco-based TV show features interviews with the tech industry's top executives, investors and entrepreneurs. Last year she published her first book called Brotopia: Breaking up the Boys' Club of Silicon Valley, which turned into a national bestseller. It examines gender inequality in tech and how women were left out of the greatest wealth creation in history. Emily is a Harvard grad who started her career in local news before becoming a foreign correspondent with CNN. She has been referred to as one of the most influential women in tech. You can follow her at @EmilyChangTV.