Kyra Phillips
- ABC News Correspondent and author of The Whole Life Fertility Plan
Travels From
District of Columbia
Kyra Phillips Speaker Biography
The consummate role model, Kyra Phillips’ life and career demonstrate how grit, perseverance, and hard work led her to the top of one of the most competitive professions in the world.
As a DC-based correspondent for ABC News, Kyra is one of America’s most recognized and trusted journalists. She joined CNN in 1999, anchoring Live From, CNN Newsroom, and American Morning. Later at HLN, she anchored Raising America with Kyra Phillips, a daily interactive, investigative program that focused on news impacting the modern American family. She also led the network’s 2012 election coverage. She now covers our nation’s capital.
From covering war zones and scientific discoveries in the South Pole, to interviewing icons along with U.S. presidents and Mother Teresa, she has traveled the world to report on and investigate a wide range of breaking news, including four tours reporting in Iraq. She is also the first female journalist to fly in an F-14 air-to-air combat training mission over the Persian Gulf.
Other career highlights include interviews with Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey about the rise of ISIS and Admiral Thad Allen about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, as well as her coverage of 9/11, Hurricane Katrina, and the O.J. Simpson murder trial. She has won two Peabodys, six Emmys, and two Edward R. Murrow awards for investigative reporting, among other honors.
Kyra is also the co-author of The Whole Life Fertility Plan, and co-host of The Mom Squad Podcast. The perfect event emcee or keynote speaker for fundraisers and ladies’ luncheons, she inspires audiences with powerful stories drawn from her stellar career, with lessons on fearlessly pursuing your dreams, breaking barriers to achieve success in any profession, and paying it forward.
Never Have a Plan B
Kyra started a school newspaper when she was in the fourth grade and her first interview was with Dr. Seuss. Pretty big scoop for such a young writer, so you would think finally making it to news organizations like ABC and CNN were easy to achieve. Quite the opposite. Kyra’s stories of struggle, heartache and determination to make it in one of the most competitive careers will astound you. When her college commencement speaker told the class, “in this better have a plan B,” Kyra refused to listen. That’s probably why she can tell you about Mother Teresa, the South Pole and flying strike fighters in such intimate detail. Let Kyra share her thoughts on empowerment and inspire students and adults alike as to why you should never doubt your dreams.
Flying Strike Fighters, SWAT Training & Golf:
How I got the Stories Nobody Else Could Kyra got resistance, and downright rejected from the “boys club” time and time again, but she refused to take no as an answer. It worked and she broke barriers. Kyra details exclusive assignments from around the world and how a unique journalist operates to get the stories you won’t see anywhere else.
She was the first female journalist to fly an F-14 in a combat training mission in the Persian Gulf, all in an effort to understand how the “Shock and Awe” campaign would be carried out from the skies over Iraq. She also trained with several SWAT teams across the country so she could actually report from the “inside” when it came to stories like a high threat situation dominating the national news.
