CNN is one of the largest and most significant liberal news outfits in the United States. The Network has provided a level playing ground across gender, which is why there are many CNN News female anchors and correspondents that have as well risen to be powerful and influential.
Names like Christiane Amanpour and Becky Anderson are always mentioned in broadcasting, both in the United States and the world over. Apart from them, the news network also boasts of many other women who have put in the years and talent and have claimed many awards. We look at some women on CNN that are now the toast of global broadcasting.
Meet The 20 Most Powerful CNN News Female Anchors and Correspondents
1. Christiane Amanpour
- Date of birth: 12 January 1958
- Age: 66 years old
- Place of Birth: Ealing, Middlesex, England, United Kingdom
- Joined CNN: 1983 to 2010, 2012 to present
- Previously With: WBRU-FM, WJAR, ABC News
Christiane Amanpour is one of the biggest names in TV broadcasting. She was born in 1958 to a Muslim father and a Christian mother. The British-Iranian journalist and television host studied Journalism at the University of Rhode Island in the United States. The seasoned anchor began her career while she was still in college.
At the time, she worked with WBRU-FM. She would also work for WJAR, and after her graduation in 1983, she was immediately hired by CNN, where she spent close to 20 years before she left in 2010. She moved to ABC News after her first stay with CNN, and she was there for two years before she was back to CNN International in 2010. She continued with her show, Amanpour, which she began many years before she left the first time.
Christiane Amanpour has won many awards, including the Livingston Award for Young Journalists in 1993, the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement in 2000, and then the Paul White Award from the Radio Television Digital News Association in 2007. A UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Freedom of Expression and Journalist Safety, Amanpour was named one of Forbes’s 100 most influential women in the world in 2005 and made The Financial Times’s 25 most influential women in 2022.
2. Erin Burnett
- Date of birth: July 2, 1976
- Age: 47 years old
- Place of Birth: Mardela Springs, Maryland, U.S.
- Joined CNN: 2011
- Previously With: Bloomberg Television, CNBC
Erin Burnett is yet another of the most powerful CNN News female anchors, with more than two decades to her name in journalism. She was born in 1976 and got her education from Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts, where she obtained a degree in Political Economy. She did not jump to start a media career immediately; she was first with Goldman Sachs, where she worked as a financial analyst.
It was from there that she transitioned to CNN, where she was offered a position as a writer. Erin was not there for a long time before she left to work with CitiMedia as its Vice President. In 2005, she moved to Bloomberg Television, where she hosted Bloomberg on the Markets until 2011, when she joined CNBC. There, she was the host for Squawk on the Street and Street Signs. She then joined CNN in 2011 and began her program, Erin Burnett OutFront. She remains with the network to date.
In 2011, she was nominated for the News & Documentary Emmy Awards for Outstanding Business and Economic Reporting in a Regularly Scheduled Newscast for Street Signs.
3. Becky Anderson
- Date of birth: 15 November 1967
- Age: 56 years old
- Place of Birth: England
- Joined CNN: 1999
- Previously With: Bloomberg, CNBC
Born Rebecca Anderson in 1967, Becky Anderson is one of the most important, most recognized, and powerful CNN News female anchors. The British journalist attended the University of Sussex, where she got a bachelor’s degree in Economics and French. She would later attend Arizona State University, where she obtained a master’s degree in Mass communication.
Becky joined CNN in 1999, but before then, she worked with a couple of other media outfits, including Bloomberg and CNBC. She is now based in the Network’s Abu Dhabi bureau, where she is the managing director. She is most recognized for Connect the World with Becky Anderson.
Anderson has received two News & Documentary Emmy Awards nominations for her work. In 2019 she was nominated for her work on Connect the World, while a year earlier, she was nominated for her coverage of the Manchester Concert Attack in the category of Outstanding Breaking News Coverage.
4. Dana Bash
- Date of birth: June 15, 1971
- Age: 52 years old
- Place of Birth: Manhattan, New York, U.S.
- Joined CNN: 1993
- Previously With: NBC, CBS (Internship)
Born Dana Ruth Bash in 1971, she has a career with CNN that began when she was through college. She was raised in the family of Stuart Schwartz, an American journalist. She graduated from George Washington University with a degree in Political Communications. Before starting her career fully, she had her internship at NBC, CBS, and CNN.
Dana Bash has remained with the Network since her graduation and has risen to be CNN’s chief political correspondent as well as the co-anchor of State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash. In 2023, she became the host of Inside Politics, which was previously hosted by John King.
Bash was recognized by Elle Magazine as one of the Women in Washington Power List in 2014. Five years later, she won the Sol Taishoff Award for Excellence in Broadcast Journalism.
5. Abby Phillip
- Date of birth: November 25, 1988
- Age: 35 years old
- Place of Birth: Virginia, U.S.
- Joined CNN: 2017
- Previously With: Politico, Washington Post, ABC News
Better known as Abby Phillip, Abigail Daniella Phillip is one of the youngest women in American journalism but is still among the most powerful CNN News female anchors. She initially had the intention of studying medicine, but she opted to study government, and she graduated with a degree from Harvard University.
After her education, she worked for a while at Politico, where she covered the White House, and then Washington Post before she also worked at ABC News. In 2017, she joined CNN and soon became a popular face because she was made to cover the Trump Administration.
The senior political correspondent is also the anchor of Inside Politics Sunday. In 2021, Phillip, who was a recipient of the National Urban League’s Women of Power award, was named on the Time 100 Next List.
6. Zain Asher
- Date of birth: 27 August 1983
- Age: 40 years old
- Place of Birth: Balham, London Borough of Wandsworth, England
- Joined CNN: 2012
- Previously With: News 12 Brooklyn, Money
Another personality among the young and powerful CNN News Female Anchors is Zain Asher. She is a British Nigerian anchor who was born in 1983. She went to Oxford University, where she obtained a degree in French and Spanish. Next, she went to Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
She began her career at almost the bottom by working as a receptionist at a production company. Next, she joined News 12 Brooklyn as a freelance reporter. She would then work for the American finance brand and website Money Magazine. It was from there that she joined CNN in 2012.
The CNN business correspondent is the anchor of Marketplace Africa and One World with Zain Asher. Beyond that, she is a writer whose book is Where the Children Take Us: How One Family Achieved the Unimaginable.
7. Alisyn Camerota
- Date of birth: June 21, 1966
- Age: 57 years old
- Place of Birth: Shrewsbury, New Jersey, U.S
- Joined CNN: 2014
- Previously With WHDH, WTTG, Fox News
Alisyn Lane Camerota’s career has been a rather long and interesting one. Born in 1966, she worked for many years in the conservative media before moving to CNN. The author and broadcast journalist obtained a degree in broadcast journalism from the School of Communication of the American University in D.C. She graduated cum laude and went to college on a presidential scholarship.
Although her career took a better shape when she joined Fox News in 1998, she was involved in different other things before then. She worked with WHDH, WTTG, as well as for America’s Most Wanted and Koppel Communications. Camerota was with Fox News for 16 years, during which she was involved in many programs, including Fox & Friends.
She joined CNN from Fox in 2014 and became the anchor of New Day. A victim of sexual abuse while at Fox, she anchored several primetime specials such as Tipping Point: Sexual Harassment in America, The Hunting Ground: Sexual Assault on Campus, TOXIC: Britney Spears’ Battle for Freedom as well as The Baby Business.
As an author, she published her first work, Amanda Wakes Up, in 2017 to a great reception, including a selection by Oprah Magazine as a must-read. Her journalism career, on the other hand, has earned her two Emmy Award nominations.
8. Kate Bolduan
- Date of birth: 28 July 1983
- Age: 40 years old
- Place of Birth: Goshen, Indiana, U.S.
- Joined CNN: 2007
- Previously With WTVD-TV, NBC News, MSNBC
Kate Bolduan may be quite young, but her career is very elaborate, which places her among the most powerful female anchors at CNN. She was born in 1983, and she went to George Washington University, where she obtained a degree in journalism in 2015 and she minored in Political science. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and summa cum laude.
Following her graduation, she got her career start by working for WTVD-TV as a reporter. Next, she worked for NBC News as well as MSNBC. She also worked for House Garden magazine for a while. Kate moved to CNN in 2007 and became a national correspondent for CNN Newsource before she co-anchored The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer.
Her portfolio also includes State of America with Kate Bolduan, New Day, and At This Hour with Kate Bolduan. Also, she was assigned to cover the U.S. House and Senate at one point alongside other correspondents. In 2010, she was nominated for the News & Documentary Emmy Awards for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story (Long Form). This was for her work on CNN Breaking News: Terror Attempt on U.S. Airliner.
9. Pamela Brown
- Date of birth: November 29, 1983
- Age: 40 years old
- Place of Birth: Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.
- Joined CNN: 2013
- Previously With Carolina Weekly, WJLA-TV, and NewsChannel8
Pamela Brown has established herself on CNN not only because of her work role in the Network but also because she has been a part of many other programs by filling in for other anchors for programs such as The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer, Erin Burnett OutFront, At This Hour With Kate Bolduan, and The Lead With Jake Tapper.
She was born in 1983 as the daughter of Phyllis Ann George, who was a former Miss America and a sportscaster with CBS, and John Y. Brown Jr., the former Governor of Kentucky. Brown went to the University of North Carolina, where she obtained a degree in Broadcast Journalism.
Like many others, she was still in college when her career kicked off. At the time, she worked as a reporter for Carolina Week, which was the University’s paper. After she was through college, her first workplace was with WJLA-TV and then NewsChannel8.
Brown joined CNN in 2013 as a National Correspondent, and then she became a senior White House correspondent. In 2021, she joined the CNN Newsroom as an anchor, and then in 2023, she became CNN’s Chief Investigative Correspondent and Anchor. Pamela’s career has been decorated with several Emmy nominations and other accolades.
10. Poppy Harlow
- Date of birth: May 2, 1982
- Age: 42 years old
- Place of Birth: Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
- Joined CNN: 2008
- Previously With: CBS, Forbes.com Video Network
Poppy Harlow was born Katharine Julia Harlow in 1982. She attended The Blake School and then later Columbia University, where she graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, with a degree in political science and Middle Eastern Studies. The CNN female anchor would also obtain a post-graduate degree in Law from Yale Law School much later in 2022.
While Poppy was still in college, she was opportune to start her career in broadcasting after she had her internship at CBS. She remained with CBS even after she graduated until 2007, when she was hired by Forbes.com Video Network. A year later, she made a move to CNN and was made the anchor for CNNMoney.com. Poppy got more roles in programs such as CNN Newsroom as a co-anchor and then CNN This Morning.
Poppy’s efforts have never been unnoticed, which is why she has many awards on her shelf, including a John Jay Award in 2012 from Columbia College. She was also awarded the Gracie Award for best online investigative program or feature, as well as the SABEW Best in Business award.
11. Lisa Ling
- Date of birth: August 30, 1973
- Age: 50 years old
- Place of Birth: Sacramento, California, U.S.
- Joined CNN: 2014
- Previously With: Channel O, National Geographic Channel, The Oprah Winfrey Show
Lisa J. Ling is an accomplished journalist, author, and TV personality whose place among the most powerful CNN News Female Anchors cannot be disputed. Although she went to the University of Southern California, she dropped out before she could graduate to pursue a career as a reporter.
Lisa first worked with Channel One News when she was only 18 in 1999. In 2003, she made a switch to National Geographic Channel, and then in 2007, she became a special correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show. In 2014, the talented news anchor joined CNN and became the host of This is Life with Lisa Ling, which continues to run.
She co-authored a book with her sister, Laurie Ling, in 2010. The book is titled Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home.
Lisa Ling has been nominated for several awards, including New & Documentary Emmy Awards, Daytime Emmy Awards, and Online Film & Television Association Awards, and has clinched a few, such as the International Documentary Association Award in 2014 for Our America with Lisa Ling and the Online Film & Television Association for The View in 2000.
12. Christine Romans
- Date of birth: 31 January 1971
- Age: 53 years old
- Place of Birth: Iowa
- Joined CNN: 1999
- Previously With: Reuters Television
Christine Romans was born in 1971, and she attended Iowa State University, where she majored in French, journalism, and mass communication. Following her studies, the powerful CNN female anchor worked for various newspapers while she was also an anchor for Reuters Television. She joined CNN in 1999, and for many years, she was reporting from the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Today, she is the Chief Business Correspondent of the News Network.
For her work, she has clinched several awards, including an Emmy award for the series Exporting America. She was also a part of the team that won the Alfred I. DuPont Award for the network as well as a George Foster Peabody award for their coverage of the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia and Hurricane Katrina, respectively.
More so, she is also a writer with several books to her name, including Smart is the New Rich: If You Can’t Afford it—Put it Down, which was published in 2010, How to Speak Money which she published in 2012, and then Smart is the New Rich Money Guide for Millennials which came out in March 2015.
13. Amanda Davies
- Date of birth: 24 March 1980
- Age: 44 years old
- Place of Birth: Manchester, United Kingdom
- Joined CNN: 2012
- Previously With: Sky Sports, BBC
When it comes to sports, one of the powerful CNN female anchors is Amanda Davies. She was born in 1980 to a famous sports journalist, David Davies, which may be why she pursued the same path. She got her education from St Edmund Hall, Oxford, where she obtained a degree in Geography in 2001, and she was also awarded the Philip Geddes Memorial Prize for journalism.
As soon as she was through with her education, Amanda Davies got her first job in TV broadcasting with Sky Sports. She was with the channel until she made a move to BBC in 2007. She was involved in various sports coverage, and in 2011, she had her own show on the channel, Sports World Have Your Say.
Her work with BBC came to an end in 2012 when she moved to CNN, where she rose to become the Network’s main sports anchor as well as the host of World Sport. Davies has been a part of all major events since she joined the new network over a decade ago and has hosted many sports shows such as ‘The Circuit’.
14. Rosemary Church
- Date of birth: 10 November 1962
- Age: 61 years old
- Place of Birth: Belfast, United Kingdom
- Joined CNN: 1998
- Previously With Ten Anchor, ABC Australia
Rosemary Church is a very famous individual in International broadcasting, with more than 30 years of experience in the business. She was born in 1962, and she got her education in Media and Law from the Australian National University. She worked as a media officer and speechwriter for a Member of the Federal Parliament for a year from 1984 to 1985, and then she worked with the National Media Liaison Service in Australia as a Senior Research & Media Officer.
Rosemary’s first work as a TV Broadcast journalist was in 1988 when she took a job as a news anchor at Ten News. This lasted from 1988 to 1991. Next, she joined ABC Australia as a senior news anchor and journalist for Australia Television (ATV) for five years. During her time with ATV, she took home an award for coverage of the Hong Kong Handover to China in 1997 at the New York Festival’s TV programming award.
Rosemary Church got to join CNN in 1998 as an international correspondent. She is famous for her involvement in CNN Newsroom and has been a part of many important news coverages. She has a News & Documentary Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Live Coverage of Current News Story- Long Form.
15. Gloria Borger
- Date of birth: 22 September 1952
- Age: 71 years old
- Place of Birth: New Rochelle, New York, United States
- Joined CNN: 2007
- Previously With: CNBC, CBS News
A pundit, columnist, and journalist, Gloria Anne Borger was born in 1952. She went to Colgate University, from where she graduated in 1974. At the earlier stages of her career, Borger worked with various media outlets, including U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek, for which she was the chief congressional correspondent. Before then, she took a job with Washington Star, which was her first work as a journalist.
In 2004, she joined CNBC and remained there until 2004. Next, she joined CBS News, and it was from here that she moved to CNN in 2007. Borger has been a part of much coverage on CNN before she moved to become the network’s senior political analyst. She is well-known for her regular appearance on The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer as well as Anderson Cooper 360° with Anderson Cooper.
Borger is a 2010 Emmy award nominee for The Odd Couple. She was also important in CNN’s election night coverage in 2012 which would later earn an Emmy Award. She also took home a National Headliners Award in 2013. Many years before these, she clinched the Watson Traveling Fellowship to study the British press.
16. Clarissa Ward
- Date of birth: January 31, 1980
- Age: 44 years old
- Place of Birth: London, England
- Joined CNN: 2015
- Previously With Fox News, ABC News, CBS
Clarissa Ward is yet another Powerful CNN News female anchor whose career spanned many years and is rather elaborate. She was born in 1980 and went to Yale University, where she graduated in 2002 with a distinction. A year later, she started her career with Fox News as a desk assistant.
In 2004, she became an assignment editor and continued to grow until 2007, when she moved to ABC News. She got involved with a lot of things there, including ABC News Radio and ABC News Now. By 2011, she moved to CBS, where she worked as its foreign news correspondent.
Clarissa Ward joined CNN in 2015 as a reporter. By 2018, she became the chief international correspondent of the network. She has reported from different parts of the world, including Yemen, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Ukraine, for more than 20 years. She speaks fluent French and Italian, as well as conversational Russian, Arabic, and Spanish. Apart from her work on TV, she is behind Tug of War on CNN Audio.
It is unsurprising that Clarissa Ward has won many awards in her career thus far, including a Peabody Award in 2012, a 2015 Murrow Award for International Reporting, as well as seven Emmy Awards. Other awards she clinched are the Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia Silver Baton and the Fourth Estate Award, and the David Kaplan Award from the Overseas Press Club of America.
17. Elizabeth Cohen
- Place of Birth: United States
- Joined CNN: 1991
- Previously With: WLVI
Elizabeth Cohen was born Elizabeth Sondra Schwartz. She went to Colombia College, from where she graduated in 1987 with a degree in history. Next, she went to Boston University, where she got a master’s in public health.
Following her education, she began her career as an associate producer at WLVI, where she handled the environmental program Green Watch. She was also offered another job at States News Service as a reporter and then for The Times Union.
Cohen was offered a job with CNN in 1991. She is now the senior medical correspondent for CNN’s Health, Medical, and Wellness unit. Elizabeth reports issues relating to medical practices and health, including health crises and outbreaks of diseases.
While she was with The Times Union newspaper at the earlier stages of her career, Elizabeth won a Hearst Award. For her coverage of Ebola, she was awarded the Gracie Award from the Alliance of Women in Media. Other awards she clinched are the Sigma Delta Chi Award and the National Headliner Award. She received outstanding alumna awards from Columbia College and Boston University.
18. Erica Hill
- Date of birth: July 20, 1976
- Age:47 years old
- Place of Birth: Clinton, Connecticut, U.S.
- Joined CNN: 2003 to 2010, 2016 – present
- Previously With: TechTV News, CBS News, NBC News, HLN
Erica Ruth Hill-Yount was born in 1976, and she began her journalism career in the late 1990s. She attended Bostin University, where she obtained a degree in journalism. Following her education, Hill took a job in 1998 with PC Week Radio, where she was a production assistant. She also took a job with Software Publishers Association Europe as well as with TechTV until 2003, when she moved to CNN.
Hill began with the Network’s Headline News channel, and then a year later, she joined CNN Newsource, where she was a national correspondent. She was also the co-anchor of Prime News Tonight, which later became Prime News with Erica Hill when she became its anchor.
In 2008, she took a job with CBS News, but she still remained with CNN until 2010, when she joined CBS fully. She was there until 2012, when she moved to NBC News. She was back to CNN in 2016 when she started contributing to the network as well as HLN. Finally, she moved to CNN as a lead fill-in anchor and national correspondent in 2018.
Erica Hill played a great role in earning CNN its first-ever Daytime Emmy Award nomination for her involvement in the six CNN/Sesame Street Town Hall specials for families about COVID-19. She also has a Gracie award which she clinched in 2015 for Outstanding Correspondent.
19. Brianna Keilar
- Date of birth: September 21, 1980
- Age: 43 years old
- Place of Birth: Canberra, Australia
- Joined CNN: 2006
- Previously With: KTVU-TV, KIMA-TV, KFFM, CBS News
Brianna Keilar is one of the most powerful female anchors on CNN. The Australian/American journalist was born in 1980, and she went to the University of California, Berkeley, where she got a degree in mass communication and psychology in 2001.
She began her career even before she was through college as an intern and production assistant at KTVU-TV. She also worked with KIMA-TV at the earlier stages of her career. She was involved in the radio station KFFM, where she co-hosted Billy, Blue, and Brianna, too: The Morning Zoo.
Keilar moved to CBS News before she joined CNN in 2006, taking a job as a correspondent for CNN Newsource. Brianna Keilar became the host of CNN Right Now with Brianna Keilar, and then she later joined John Berman to co-anchor New Day with John Berman. Her other engagements include serving as a congressional correspondent for the network as well before, she also served as a senior White House correspondent.
A 2017 New & Documentary Emmy Awards Nominee, Keilar clinched the National Press Foundation Everett McKinley Dirksen Award for Distinguished Reporting of Congress in 2009 as well as the White House Correspondents’ Association’s 2014 Aldo Beckman Memorial Award.
20. Kaitlan Collins
- Date of birth: 1992
- Age: 32 years old
- Place of Birth: April 7, 1992
- Joined CNN: 2017
- Previously With: The Daily Caller
Kaitlan Collins is one of the young and powerful CNN female anchors. She was born in 1992 and went to the University of Alabama. Initially, she had the intention of following in her sister’s footsteps, thereby choosing Chemistry as her major, but she later changed her mind and opted for Journalism. She graduated in 2014 with a degree in political science and journalism.
Following her graduation, she relocated to Washington, D. C. where she took a job with The Daily Caller, a right-wing website co-owned by Tucker Carlson. Only two years into her work, she was made the website’s White House correspondent. In 2017, she took a job with CNN as a part of the White House Team. This made it possible for her to travel with the then President of the United States, Donald Trump, to many countries as she was later made the chief White House correspondent of the news network. In 2022, she was asked to co-anchor CNN This Morning.
Kaitlan Collins made the Mediaite’s list of the 50 Most Influential People in News Media in three consecutive years; 2018, 2019, and 2020. Forbes also named her among the 30 under 30: Media in 2019. In the same year, she got a place on Crain’s NewsPro’s 12 to Watch in TV News.