30 mins live with CDP podcast, Guest: Ciara Cummings, Reporter for CBS-46 in Atlanta, Georgia (June 30th, 2021)

Ciara Cummings earned her Bachelors degree in Mass Communications with a concentration in Broadcast Journalism from the University of South Florida, (Go Bulls!). Ciara is a Florida native, born and raised in Orlando, who found her home here in the peach state. This award-winning journalist began her career two hours from Atlanta, in Augusta, where she developed a passion for narrative writing and investigative storytelling. While reporting at her CBS affiliate station in Augusta, Ciara honed her investigation skills by focusing on local government and policy such as ambulance services, a distressed fire department, and the County Commission. Ciara worked to uncover community grief in ways that would foster accountability from public officials. Ciara received recognition from the Georgia Association of Broadcasters for her work on the impact of a rural town’s ballooning debt. Most notably, Ciara’s investigations on environmental injustices in the Hyde Park neighborhood earned her an Excellence in My Market (EMMA) Award from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. While she found her purpose in journalism, her joy comes from service. Ciara is a proud member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., whose mission is to provide service to all mankind. She is an Alumni and active virtual mentor of Loving Assisting Nurturing Educating & Supporting (L.A.N.E.S.) Teenage Girls, Inc., a Florida based nonprofit organization. This storyteller is also a proud member of The National Association of Black Journalists. In her personal time, Ciara enjoys journaling and coffee: there is never a wrong time for a fresh cup of coffee, according to the self-proclaimed coffee connoisseur.