CNN Anchor - Natalie Allen - Biography

Natalie Allen is a well-known news anchor who works for CNN International at its headquarters located in Atlanta. At present, she anchors the "CNN Newsroom" from Friday to Sunday. 

Early Life

Natalie was born on August 11, 1962, in Memphis, Tennessee, a southern part of USA.  She attended The University of Memphis from 1986 to 1988 where she did her Graduate Study in Political Science with a GPA of 4.0. Previously in 1984, she graduated from The University of Southern Mississippi with a degree in Radio, Television, and Film.

She started her career at an early stage while studying at The University of Southern Mississippi. While working at KFSM-TV, a New York Times TV station from 1985 to 1985, she multi-tasked with various job activities such as videography, producing shows, shooting her own live show shots on individual coursework etc.

She continued with her journalism skills and worked at WREG-TV in  Memphis, Tennessee while she was studying Political Science. She was known to have become the first woman to have been assigned the position of general assignment reporter from a newsroom intern. She worked with WREG until 1988.

Career

Since June 1992, she joined CNN as a news anchor and a correspondent for 9 long years. 53-year-old Natalie then shifted to something that is known as media coaching in Cleveland Clinic from 2001 to 2003, where her focus was on communications strategy, video production, and writing.

In August 2003, Allen was provided with the wonderful opportunity to join NBC News where she had her hands on many shows – The Today Show, Anchor for MSNBC, Countdown with Keith Olbermann and also a reporter for CNBC.

From 2007, she worked as a Climate correspondent for The Weather Channel. She worked there as a full-time reporting for climate, environment, and sustainability. She interviewed many personalities during her tenure at The Weather Channel including oceanographer Dr. Sylvia Earle, adventurer Sir Robert Swan and Author Barbara Kingsolver.

Since 2009 she has a full-time anchor for CNN International.

Awards Received

While working as a reporter for WFTV in Orlando, Florida, she won a regional Emmy Award and also Edward R. Murrow award for her exceptional reporting skills for top-rated morning show “Daybreak”. Moreover, she was also voted as “The Favorite Morning Personality” by the local newspaper in Florida, Florida Today.

Major News Covered

During her stay in CNN Internaitonal, she has covered numerous major stories which includes the catastrophe in Ukraine, Nelson Mandela’s tragic death, Arab Spring, and the continuing war in Syria.

In the 1990’s while she was a part of CNN she also reported for O.J. Simpson’s wife’s murder case, Oklahoma bombing and also the deaths of two women personalities, Mother Teresa and Princess Diana.

Personal Life

Natalie, whose professional life is rather busy, makes time to take care of her teenage son named Nicholas. Her family currently lives in Atlanta Georgia. Both Natalie and her son are interested in gymnastics and use their free time together to work out. Natalie loves to play classical piano, mountain biking, hiking and traveling.

It has been known that she was married to an investment advisor named Fredrick Wright in 1997 and their son Nicholas was born in 1998. Her relationship status seems quite complicated to the viewers since her official Facebook page mentions her status as Single.

Emmy award-winning journalist Natalie has an elder sister named Lauren Allen Murrell who works as a Horse Trainer and an Instructor in Elk Grove, California.

Love for the Team

Natalie is not only an enthusiast but a caretaker too. She is equally involved with the personal lives of her colleagues and always promotes the love she has for her CNN team through Facebook.

Selfie Queen

There is nothing Natalie cannot do. During her breaks and free time, she always manages to take a selfie, be it in any situation.

Love for Fans

Fair and beautiful Natalie has always appreciated the love she has had for the fans since the start of her career. She responds to her fans whenever possible and answers their queries through the questions they comment on her Facebook posts.

Social Work

Allen has indulged herself into various social causes starting from her trip to South Asia in 2011 for a project named “Children of the dump” which was in relation to poverty and girl trafficking. Her project has also been nominated for various CNN awards. Previously, in 2007, she traveled to many parts of the world to interview different personalities devoted to protection and sustainability.

She has been volunteering for a school named Inner city public school in Atlanta since 22 years. Also, she has been involved with providing lunches to patients with HIV and older generations in Orlando since 1989 till today.