Brianna Keilar

Brianna Marie Keilar (born September 21, 1980) is an Australian-born American journalist and political commentator who is the senior political correspondent and anchor for CNN in the Washington, D.C., bureau. 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. She was the host of CNN Right Now with Brianna Keilar which began on November 12, 2018.[1]

Brianna Keilar
Born
Brianna Marie Keilar

(1980-09-21) September 21, 1980
Canberra, Australia
Alma materUniversity of California, Berkeley (BA)
OccupationJournalist, news anchor
EmployerCNN
Spouse(s)
Dave French
​
​
(m. 2009; div. 2011)​

Fernando Lujan
​
(m. 2016)​
Children1

Early life and education

Keilar was born in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Her father Glenn is Australian, and her mother Miriam was American. The Keilars were stationed in Australia at the time of Brianna's birth.[2] 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. Keilar then attended the University of California, Berkeley, from which she graduated in 2001 with dual bachelor's degrees in Mass Communications and Psychology.[3]

Career

Keilar began her on-air career in Yakima, Washington, at the CBS affiliate KIMA. She also co-hosted the morning drivetime show, "Billy, Blue and Brianna, too: The Morning Zoo," on contemporary hits station, KFFM.[4] She then moved to CBS News, where she served as an anchor, reporter and producer for a CBS newscast that aired on mtvU, MTV's college network. She was also a fill-in anchor on CBS News’ overnight newscast, Up to the Minute, and a freelance reporter for CBS Evening News Weekend Edition.

From CBS, Keilar joined CNN as a correspondent for CNN Newsource, providing breaking news coverage and reports from the nation’s capital for approximately 800 CNN Newsource partner stations. 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.[5]

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.[6] While covering the Obama White House, Keilar earned the White House Correspondents' Association's 2014 Aldo Beckman Memorial Award for her coverage of the rollout of Obamacare.[7]

Keilar, a military spouse, began writing a column called "Home Front" in 2019, which tells stories of military families and tries to bridge the civilian-military divide.[8][9]

Personal life

Keilar married Dave French on May 2, 2009.[10] They later divorced. In July 2016, Keilar announced that she was engaged to Fernando Lujan, an active duty Green Beret who was then a director on the National Security Council at the White House.[11] During CNN's New Year's Eve Live on December 31, 2016, Brooke Baldwin announced that Keilar and Lujan had married the previous evening in Las Vegas.[12] She gave birth to a boy on June 8, 2018.[13]

References
  1. "CNN Gives New Roles to Clarissa Ward, Brianna Keilar, Julia Chatterley". Variety. July 11, 2018.
  2. "MIRIAM ALLEN KEILAR's Obituary on Orange County Register". Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  3. "Q&A: CNN's Brianna Keilar On Covering Trump and Going Viral". Cal Alumni Association. Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  4. "Former KFFM Yakima Radio Host Brianna Keilar Interviews Hillary Clinton on CNN". Reesha On The Radio. 107.3 KFFM. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  6. "The 2009 Everett McKinley Dirksen Awards for Distinguished Reporting of Congress Winner". nationalpress.org. National Press Foundation. Retrieved February 17, 2014.
  7. Gold, Hadas. "POLITICO, N.Y. Times take WHCA awards". POLITICO. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  8. "Home Front". CNN. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  9. Keilar, Brianna. "Brianna Keilar: It's time to bridge the military-civilian divide in the US". CNN. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
  10. "Special Moments of Brianna and Dave Captured by Sedona Bride". February 2, 2010. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  11. "CNN's Brianna Keilar Is Engaged to Fernando Lujan: Proposal Story". July 14, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  12. "Anderson Cooper 360° on Twitter". Retrieved April 20, 2017.
  13. "BREAKING NEWS: Military Spouse, Brianna Keilar, Welcomes Baby Boy". Military Spouse. June 11, 2018. Retrieved July 4, 2019.
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