Cyana Francis-Berkitt, an alumna of Emerson College, graduated from the institution in 2019 with a Bachelor of Science in journalism and a minor in political communications. In 2021, she began working with WCVB as a weekend evening producer and later expanded her skill set to produce for the weekday morning show EyeOpener in 2023.
According to the Emmy Awards official website, “The Emmy Awards recognize excellence within various areas of television and emerging media.” There are various subsections of the Emmy Awards, including national, regional, and student-centered recognition. Once the nominees are identified, a panel of other nominees from other regions convene and determine the winners of each category.
Two of my shows were nominated in the same category of morning newscast and one of them ended up winning. One of the shows was about the Boston Marathon and the second was my team’s coverage of two mass shootings that tragically took place the night before. We had a bunch of reporters there and had one of our anchors do the show from the scene. We worked incredibly hard on that show. Those stories are super hard for me, so the award is bittersweet, but I am proud of our coverage,” said Francis-Berkitt.
“I always knew I wanted to do something in the journalism field. I enjoyed writing and research. When I applied to Emerson College and got in, I was so excited. Emerson College has one of the best journalism programs in the country. The summer after my freshman year I began interning for the Virgin Islands Daily News. During this opportunity I was able to write stories and have them published in the newspaper. This felt like such a big step. My senior year of college I did two major capstone projects, one was a documentary style and one was a traditional newscast. I found that television had the added element of being able to see people telling their story themselves. This visual element allowed viewers to connect with the stories in a way that was different. I found it so interesting,” said Francis-Berkitt.
Francis-Berkitt wants to encourage Virgin Islanders to keep pursuing the heights of their dreams. “Coming from a small place, when someone achieves something, you are achieving it for everyone who has ever impacted you. I know this may be overwhelming but I want to encourage young Virgin Islanders to not get in their heads. You would be surprised how many people are rooting for you and supporting you, even people you haven’t seen in years,” she said.
