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Robin Roberts

How She Empowers Others

Robin Roberts was named anchor of ABC News' "Good Morning America" in May 2005. She currently co-anchors the morning news broadcast with Diane Sawyer.  Roberts and Sawyer made television history when the duo debuted as the first female co-anchor team in morning television history.

At "Good Morning America," Roberts reports on a wide array of topics and issues for the morning broadcast. She has covered numerous special events ranging from the homecoming of soldiers aboard the USS Roosevelt to the Golden Jubilee at Buckingham Palace to the 25th anniversary of the papacy of Pope John Paul II in Vatican City. Roberts has also interviewed newsmakers and celebrities ranging from President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama to former President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush to Tiger Woods, Shaquille O'Neal, Maya Angelou and Sidney Poitier.

In February of 2009, Roberts hosted the ABC Television Network's Oscar pre-show live from the red carpet of the 81st Annual Academy Awards with fashion expert Tim Gunn.  Roberts also reported on the Presidential Inauguration from Washington DC where she reported from The Neighborhood Inaugural Ball and was the first journalist to interview the president, live, during the evening's festivities.

Roberts continues to travel around the globe reporting for GMA and various other ABC News broadcasts.  Some of her most recent trips include traveling to the Middle East with former First Lady Laura Bush on a breast cancer mission to bring awareness of the disease to the people of the Muslim world; a trip which Roberts made while undergoing chemotherapy for her own breast cancer diagnosis.  Roberts reported daily for Good Morning America on the presidential campaigns and election of 2008.  She conducted in-depth interviews with then Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain and reported live for GMA from Washington, DC on Inauguration Day.  In March of 2007, Roberts anchored a town hall meeting with then candidate, Hillary Clinton in Des Moines, Iowa.  Her many travels also include Africa with former President Clinton to bring viewers a firsthand look at the devastating AIDS crisis in that part of the world. There, she and the president visited cities and villages around the continent to bring the story to "GMA" viewers. Roberts also traveled to Mexico where she scaled the Mayan Pyramids as part of the morning broadcast's New 7 Wonders of the World series.

In May of 2007, Roberts was one of a few journalists invited as a guest of the President at the White House's State Dinner for Queen Elizabeth of England. 

In June of 2007, Roberts was diagnosed with breast cancer.  Since then she has become an advocate and voice for early detection and screening.  Roberts' courageous and public battle has been recognized with various awards and honors from organizations around the country, including: The Susan G. Komen Foundation; The Congressional Families Cancer Prevention Program and Gilda's Club, a non-profit organization founded by the late Joel Siegel.

In August 2005, Roberts found her personal and professional lives collide when Hurricane Katrina devastated the city of New Orleans and the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast -- a part of the country she has called home for most of her life. Roberts reported live amid the devastation in the days following the storm and launched "GMA" Gets It Done," a year-long initiative to get her hometown of Pass Christian, Miss., up and running. She has returned to the Gulf Coast numerous times to continue her reporting and update viewers on how residents, businesses and everyone in that part of the country are mending post-Katrina.

In March 2003, Roberts traveled to the Persian Gulf region to report from Kuwait on the impending war with Iraq. In March 2004, Roberts returned to the war zone, reporting on the one year anniversary of the war.

Roberts has contributed to "Good Morning America" since June 1995, and has worked in broadcasting for more than 20 years. Other ABC assignments have included segments hosting "Good Morning America Sunday" and "Prime Time."

From 1990 to 2005, Roberts was a contributor to ESPN, where she was one of the network's most versatile commentators. Her assignments there included hosting "SportsCenter," contributing to "NFL PrimeTime" from 1990-1994, and providing reports and interviews from the field.

At ESPN, Roberts worked as a play-by-play commentator and host of the network's WNBA (Women's National Basketball Association) games and specials, from 1997 to 2000. She was also the primary reporter for ESPN's coverage of the Winter and Summer Olympics. Roberts served as host of ESPN's prime-time interview program. "In the SportsLight," ESPN Classic's Vintage NBA," provided coverage of the men's NCAA Final Four, the NCAA Women's Basketball Tournament and of LPGA events. She has also hosted ABC Sports' "Wide World of Sports."

In 1988, Roberts worked as a sports reporter and anchor at WAGA-TV in Atlanta. She was also a morning personality on WVEE-FM, Atlanta's top-rated morning show. Before working at WAGA, Roberts served as a sports anchor and reporter for WSMV-TV in Nashville, Tenn. (1986-88), where she won the "Nashville Scene" Sportscaster of the Year Award in 1987. She also worked at WLOX-TV in Biloxi, Miss. (1984-86) and WDAM-TV in Hattiesburg, Miss. (1983-84), as sports anchor and reporter.

Roberts began her broadcasting career while in college at WHMD/WFPR Radio in Hammond, La., where she was the sports director. Roberts also served as a special assignment sports reporter for KSLU-FM in 1982.

In 1983, Roberts graduated cum laude from Southeastern Louisiana University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in communications. She was also a standout performer on the women's basketball team, ending her career as the school's third all-time leading scorer (1,446 points) and rebounder (1,034). She is one of the only three Lady Lions to score 1,000 career points and grab 1,000 career rebounds. During her senior season, she averaged a career-high 15.2 points per game.

The inaugural Robin Roberts Sports Journalism Scholarship, created by the Women's Institute on Sport and Education, was presented at the 1996 NCAA Women's Final Four.

In 2001, Roberts was named a "Louisiana Legend" by Louisiana Public Broadcasting. She was also named to the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup Advisory Board in January of 1998, a select group which includes Henry Kissinger, William Simon, Christine Whitman and Lamar Hunt. In January 1991, Roberts was appointed to the Womens' Sports Foundation Advisory Board. Roberts was awarded the 1992 Women at Work Broadcast Journalism Award for her contributions to the image of working women on television and for expanding career options for women in broadcast journalism. In 1994, she was inducted in the Women's Institute on Sport and Education Foundation's Hall of Fame. She is also active as a speaker for charity and civic functions.

Roberts is a native of the Mississippi Gulf Coast and has worked to aid rebuilding efforts there after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. In March of 2007, Hyperion Books published her first book entitled, From the Heart: Seven Rules To Live By.  The paperback version entitled From the Heart: Eight Rules to Live By which includes an additional chapter chronicling her journey since being diagnosed with breast cancer became available in bookstores around the country on October 7, 2008.