Ryann Blackshere Vargas
Host | Storyteller | Content Creator

Reporter/Fill-In Anchor, SPECTRUM NEWS 1 SoCal, El Segundo, CA

August 2018-Present

Pitch, shoot, write and edit stories across Southern California. Report enterprise community stories with a focus on education and housing. Created Growing Up SoCal, a video series about residents under 18 living across the region. Present stories live in field and in studio. Fill-in anchor for evening and weekend news shows.

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Multimedia Journalist, NBC BAY AREA, San Jose, CA

Sep 2015-October 2017

Report, shoot, edit and produce original video stories about Santa Clara County for both television and web. Write original web

articles. Created series “Growing Up Silicon Valley” about local youth. Host community events. Attend school board meetings and

city council meetings.

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Reporter, KGET Channel 17, Bakersfield, CA         

August 2014-Sep 2015

Filed live reports on average four times each morning. Shot, edited and produced stories daily. Produced creative live segments.

Conducted live in-studio guest interviews. Posted web stories and story teases to social media. Reported up to six special reports

during sweeps seasons. Hosted community events.

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NBC NEWS, Burbank, CA, Researcher/TODAY.com Contributor November 2013-August 2014

Field-produced and interviewed subjects for morning program. Tapped to help shoot video for ongoing series on education. Wrote for

TODAY.com with two stories reaching top three story status on the website. One story ended up on Nightly News.

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FOSTERING MEDIA CONNECTIONS, SF, CA, Program Manager/MMJ

Sep 2011-Oct 2013

Created weekly video content and freelance print stories about the foster care system. Produced and hosted web series "Let's Talk About Sex, With Foster Youth." Published articles in the Huffington Post, NBC

News Education Nation. On-air expert for Huffington Post Live segment. First place in the 2012 Price Child Health & Welfare

Journalism Award.

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BET NEWS, Redwood City, CA, Reporter 

May 2012-November 2012

Contributed stories remotely about the Black community both nationwide and around the world. Pitched stories and reported under

short deadline. Wrote and edited using AP style.

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OFFICE OF THE FIRST LADY, THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, D.C., Intern 

Jan 2011-August 2011

Only intern to advance Mrs. Obama’s official trip to South Africa and coordinated event logistics. Assisted with press interviews.

Communication liaison between the public and scheduling office. Attended official White House events. Wrote briefing memos for

The First Lady. Prepared and participated in invitation review meetings with Senior White House staff twice a month.

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GOOD MORNING AMERICA, New York, NY, Production Intern 

June 2010-Aug 2010

Shot video for web episodes with GMA anchors using Sony Z5 camera. Wrote stories for abcnews.com. Found show guests using

social media. Pitched stories ideas during editorial meeting with senior producers. Helped edit packages.

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O, THE OPRAH MAGAZINE, New York, NY, Editorial Intern 

June 2008-Aug 2008, Jan 2010-May 2010

Received two bylines for contributions to reporting for magazine and online articles. Assisted top editors with story research and fact

checking. Found stories for health and book departments. Submitted article ideas for editor consideration.