Sharyn Alfonsi Biography
Sharyn Alfonsi is an award winning journalist currently working as a correspondent for 60 minutes for CBS News. She joined the station in March 2015.
Sharyn Alfonsi Career
Alfonsi has been honored with multiple accolades in her career, including an Emmy for Outstanding Recorded News Program with 60 Minutes and Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Silver Baton. In addition, she is a recipient of Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi Award for Public Service in Television Journalism and a Gracie Award for National On-Air Talent in News or News Magazine.
Her award-winning reporting from the U.S.-Mexico border on the migrant crisis earned her the Alfred I. duPont-Columbia Silver Baton in 2020. Furthermore, Alfonsi looked at the Trump administration’s policy of separating families at the Mexican border from the poignant lens of immigrants going through it. Following that story, she had the first interview with the Salvadoran woman whose husband and daughter drowned trying to cross the Rio Grande, their image in death captivating the world. In addition, Alfonsi reported on why a private section of the border wall was allegedly failing. Recently, she interviewed Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas on the record number of migrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border and reported from El Paso, Texas. In Ciudad Juárez, Mexico Alfonsi witnessed the rising tensions days before a fire killed at least 38 people in a migrant detention center.
Alfonsi traveled to Kabul, Afghanistan to cover the country’s humanitarian crisis, after the U.S. withdrawal of troops. She led a rare conversation with the health minister of the Taliban as Afghans struggled with food insecurity, lack of medical supplies and other shortages.
Sharyn Alfonsi CBS News
In addition, Alfonsi interviewed Sanna Marin. Prime Minister of Finland, as Finland and Russia share a long border and a complicated history after Russia invaded Ukraine. She reported on the West’s strategy of aiding Ukraine, as Russia continued its assault, by issuing economic sanctions against the Kremlin. Alfonsi further visited Cyprus to report on the international game of Hide and Seek and how Russian oligarchs used the island to hide their wealth.
Additionally, she has covered the rising rates of suicide and depression and how it’s been accelerated by the pandemic among U.S. adolescents. Alfonsi shone a spotlight on over 2,000 families suing social media companies over kids’ mental health. After the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade, Alfonsi looked at the U.S.’s maternal health crisis and visited the state of Louisiana where health care deserts, racial discrimination and “fear” put women and babies at risk. She reported from the “the Overdose Capital of America” and shared a story on how cops were bringing an addiction counselor on drug raids to fight the opioid crisis.
Furthermore, Alfonsi conducted the first and only television interview with a Mormon whistleblower who left Wall St. to work for charity and blew the whistle on what he said is his church’s “clandestine hedge fund,” generated a lot of attention. She reported on a continuing investigation of harassment and stalking by eBay employees who targeted a couple behind an online newsletter.
In addition, Alfonsi has conducted a range of profiles for 60 Minutes, such as interviews with Beatles’ musician and composer Sir Paul McCartney and comedian Adam Sandler in a rare appearance. She has also led interviews for actor Nicolas Cage at his Las Vegas home and congresswoman Kirsten Gillibrand as the New York senator announced her bid for president
Sharyn Alfonsi Awards
. Alfonsi further interviewed the U.S. Olympic gymnastics phenom Simone Biles, soccer superstar Christian Pulisic at the start of his career, American billionaire and ACF Fiorentina owner Rocco Commisso, “Barefoot Contessa,” Ina Garten.
Her investigation into the jailhouse death of Jeffrey Epstein revealed new evidence in the high-profile case. She also reported on the students who survived the Parkland, Florida, school shooting and won two Emmys.
Alfonsi made numerous reports during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, including a 2020 investigation into flawed COVID-19 antibody tests that were being shipped without FDA review. Her coverage on the handling of one of the earliest recorded coronavirus super-spreader events, a cruise aboard the Costa Luminosa, was one of 60 Minutes’ most revealing pandemic segments. Additionally, she reported on how school districts across the country saw an unprecedented drop in enrollment during the pandemic and how social workers were being tasked with tracking down students marked by schools as missing. Alfonsi put a spotlight on how COVID-19 was impacting rural health care in the state of Texas and interviewed a doctor and nurse practitioner who were dipping into their own pockets to provide such care.
Other reports include Alfonsi’s look at the Oath Keepers after January 6 and how the militia group mobilized in plain sight for the assault on the Capitol. She reported on combat veterans coming home with Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), resembling the same injuries seen in football players. Furthermore, Alfonsi shared a story on how chess was instilling new dreams in kids from a rural Mississippi county. She went inside the high-end fashion label Gucci with creative director Alessandro Michele.
Sharyn Alfonsi ABC News
In addition, she traveled to Flint, Michigan to report that early findings were looking grim on the health of children in the wake of the water crisis six years prior. Her 2017 investigation of the misuse of jailhouse informants in Orange County, California, drew national attention to a criminal justice system scandal. In her first 60 Minutes report, she revealed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency was aware its insurance companies had committed fraud against Hurricane Sandy victims.
Previously, Alfonsi was a correspondent for 60 Minutes Sports where she reported on overuse injuries harming teens who play only one sport year-round. Additionally, Alfonsi reported sudden deaths among young athletes with undetected heart problems and profiled golfer Bubba Watson. She led a poignant portrait of Harry Parker, who coached the Harvard varsity crew team to a final victory before dying as one of the most successful collegiate coaches in history.
Prior to joining 60 Minutes, Alfonsi worked at ABC News as a New York-based reporter. She appeared regularly on “Good Morning America,” “World News Tonight” and “Nightline.” She was the co-anchor of the ABC franchise “Made in America”. And revealed that the uniforms to be worn by U.S. Olympic athletes were made in China. Her investigation for “Nightline” showed the often cruel world of the puppy mill industry. She exposed factory-like breeding facilities in the Amish country of Pennsylvania.
In July 2004, before ABC, Alfonsi was a CBS News correspondent in New York. She was the lead correspondent on a number of major domestic and international stories. She further covered the school shootings at Virginia Tech for all CBS News broadcasts. In 2006, she reported from the Israel-Lebanon border on the war with Hezbollah and later, the violence in Gaza. In 2005, Alfonsi covered the war in Iraq.
Sharyn Alfonsi Early Life
Domestically, Alfonsi covered Hurricane Katrina and stayed in New Orleans for more than a month reporting on the recovery and rebuilding efforts. She additionally reported on Hurricane Rita and the Sago Mine Disaster in West Virginia.
Alfonsi served as a fill-in anchor for the “CBS Evening News” weekend edition and regularly contributed to “CBS Sunday Morning.” Previously, she was a correspondent for CBS News’ “Up To The Minute” and CBS Newspath. Among the stories she covered with Newspath were the Martha Stewart trial and the return of U.S. soldiers from Iraq.
Prior to moving to CBS News, Alfonsi was an award-winning reporter and an anchor for WBZ-TV, the CBS-owned station in Boston. During her time at the station, she notably covered the ongoing Catholic Church scandal, the Michael Skakel trial and the Rhode Island nightclub fires.
Before Boston, Alfonsi was a reporter for KIRO-TV, the CBS affiliate in Seattle, Washington, where she covered the World Trade Organization riots. She was also a general assignment reporter for WVEC-TV Norfolk, Virginia, where she traveled extensively with the military. Alfonsi started her career in broadcast journalism at KHBS-TV in Ft. Smith, Arkansas, where she served as a news reporter, weekend weather anchor, photographer and editor.
Alfonsi was born in Mississippi but grew up in near Washington D.C. She attended high school in McLean, Virginia. Alfonsi graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science and Journalism from University of Mississippi, Oxford in 1994.
Sharyn Alfonsi Age
She was born Sharyn Elizabeth Alfonsi in Mississippi on 3 June 1972 and is now 52 years old as of 2024.
Sharyn Alfonsi Height
There is no information about her height. However, will update as soon as the information is available.
Sharyn Alfonsi Education
She attended high school in McLean, Virginia. Alfonsi graduated with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Political Science and Journalism from University of Mississippi, Oxford in 1994.
Sharyn Alfonsi Family
Alfonsi was born in Mississippi but grew up in near Washington D.C. Her father’s name is Martin Joseph Sonny Alfonsi and her mother’s name is Kay Frances Drenik. She has one sibling, a brother Joseph Martin Alfonsi.
Sharyn Alfonsi Husband
She is married to Matthew Eby, a CEO of First Street Foundation.
Sharyn Alfonsi Children
Alfonsi is a mother of two children, a son Wyatt and daughter Flynn.
Leave a Reply