SHAYLA REAVES is an Emmy Award winning television news journalist with more than 15 years experience in broadcasting. Learn how she connects with viewers and her approach to journalism.
EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE
A 2006 graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism, Shayla was named the top broadcast student in her graduating class. She received the university's prestigious Gary Cummings Memorial Award, a selection made by faculty members and awarded to seniors who excelled in undergraduate broadcast journalism courses. While attending Northwestern, Shayla led the university's student chapter of the National Association of Black Journalists to its first-ever national "Student Chapter of the Year" title in 2005 .
She completed television internships in Quincy, Illinois, Jackson, Tennessee and Louisville, Kentucky, landing her first television job at WAVE 3 News. Shayla previously interned with the Kentucky station through NABJ's Summer Internship program and accepted a position as reporter/producer/special projects assistant upon graduation. She produced the station's 7 p.m. newscast twice a week, assisted the Troubleshooter division and reported for weekend newscasts. She advanced to full-time reporting within eight months of hire and remained with the company for four years.
The experience helped land Shayla a position with WBNS 10 TV, where she worked as a general assignment reporter for three years and fill-in anchored for the Columbus, Ohio station's cable television affiliate Ohio News Network (ONN). She progressed to the WBNS morning show ranked #1 in the market, earning an Emmy award for breaking news.
The work prepared Shayla for a reporting position with WTVT Fox 13 in Tampa, Florida. Within months of hire, she began reporting for the market's six-hour #1 rated morning show Fox 13's Good Day Tampa Bay. Her duties included breaking news coverage, general assignment reporting, weather coverage and fill-in anchoring for Good Day Tampa Bay and Fox 13 News at Noon. Her live field reports appeared nationally on Fox and Friends and America's Newsroom with Bill Hemmer. She also participated in live talk back interviews with Fox News Sunday's Chris Wallace and Anchor Shannon Bream.
In 2017, Shayla joined WNCT in Greenville, North Carolina, anchoring the station's evening newscasts for 3 years. In December 2018, she launched a weekly web series called “Let’s Craft". The episodes first appeared on the station's website, eventually moving to television with the launch of the “East Daily Download,” a daily CW lifestyle show in 2019. In December 2019, Shayla wrote, shot and edited her first “Let’s Craft” television special . The special aired in place of a 5:30 p.m. newscast for the Nexstar station. The extended version can be viewed here.
Shayla currently anchors the noon newscast for WCCO, reports for the station's weekday morning show and contributes stories for the station's Sunday morning show at 7 am. Her report on Wilson's Image Barbers & Stylists prompted a $50,000 donation from a WCCO viewer for the shop's WIC Scholarship Program. So far, her reports have led to more than $70,000 in donations for the program. Other reports have highlighted the work of Project DIVA International, The CREW Urban Youth Equestrians, the Doorstep Foundation and the Change Equals Opportunity Center for Change.
SOCIAL MEDIA
She remains active on several social media platforms, including her Shayla Reaves Facebook page, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.
Interview with Voyage Minnesota: CLICK HERE