Celebrity Online NewsOnline Celebrity Gossip and News

Daryn Kagan extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Daryn A. Kagan (born January 26, 1963) is creator and host of the award-winning website, DarynKagan.com ,¹ that serves as the base of her media company that provides reports on inspirational, motivational and other hopeful news stories that has been described as a "Web of Hope."² Kagan has been described as the "Good News Guru" by Martha Stewart's Body + Soul magazine [1], and in this capacity served as an Oprah Radio host, providing daily news updates and inspiring stories on Oprah Radio on Sirius XM Radio, which included stories from her website.³⁴ Her first book, What's Possible: 50 True Stories of People Who Dared to Dream They Could Make a Difference, was released by Meredith Books in 2008.⁵

Kagan was a CNN main news anchor and correspondent from 1994 to 2006, and was based in CNN's world headquarter of Atlanta, Georgia. For eight years Kagan served as the network's mid-morning news anchor of CNN Live Today shown from 10am-12pm Eastern Time. She also served as host of the CNN/People magazine news entertainment program, People in the News⁶, and earlier served as a CNN sports reporter and anchor. Kagan has been described by the Los Angeles Times as a "CNN mainstay."⁷

A 2008 New York Times profile of Kagan that discussed her career reinvention as well as the launch of DarynKagan.com, offered, "Ms. Kagan had a few things in her favor . . . plenty of skills after 12 years at one of the world's best news organizations."⁸

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early life 1.2 Career 1.3 Awards 1.4 Personal life 2 References 3 External links

Biography

Early life

Kagan grew up in Beverly Hills.⁹ She is a 1981 graduate of Beverly Hills High School,¹⁰ and a 1985 graduate of Stanford University.¹¹

Career

After graduating from Stanford, Kagan sent out hundreds of demo tapes. Kagan was hired for an on-air job at a Santa Barbara television station, KEYT-TV. Kagan's next move was to a general assignment reporting position at KTVK in Phoenix. Wanting to do something other than report typical local news stories, she took on the additional role of weekend sports anchor, reporting sports news each weekend in addition to her weekday reporting duties.¹²

After KTVK did not renew Kagan's contract,¹³ Jim Walton, the head of CNN/SI, hired Kagan as an anchor and a news reporter. She went on to cover events including the Super Bowl, the NBA Playoffs, and international figure skating championships from Russia. Kagan was later hired by CNN's news division as a news anchor and a reporter.

After becoming a CNN news anchor, Kagan reported on presidential and mid-term elections. She reported on-site from the Middle East during the second Gulf War and the Washington, D.C. sniper attack investigation. Kagan traveled to Africa with musician Bono where she reported on AIDS and famine for all of the CNN networks. While in Africa, Kagan maintained a daily blog on CNN.com of her reports and experiences. Additionally, she reported live, from the red carpet, of several Academy Award ceremonies and from the Monterey Jazz Festival.

Kagan is one of a handful of national news anchors who was on the air live during the terrorist attacks on the morning of September 11, 2001. She reported throughout that day and, in later days, covered the unfolding story from CNN headquarters in Atlanta and from the network's Washington, D.C. bureau.

After CNN declined to renew her employment contract,¹⁴ Kagan left CNN on September 1, 2006 to launch DarynKagan.com. In November 2006, Kagan discussed leaving CNN for the first time with U.S News & World Report.¹⁵

Kagan launched DarynKagan.com, on November 13, 2006. Two days later, Kagan featured an author whose book moved from 100,000th position in the Amazon.com book sales list to 646th position in one day after a single media interview with Kagan.¹⁶ The Boston Globe has described Kagan's site as having an "emphasis on stories that illustrate the triumph of the human spirit." ¹⁷ In a Style section cover story on Kagan, the Washington Post noted she "has remade herself like a phoenix rising from the ashes."¹⁸ In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Kagan said "I think it's really important to be informed. I just also think it's important to be inspired."¹⁹

Kagan has extended her DarynKagan.com brand of content to television news documentaries, radio, and books.²⁰ Her first TV film, Breaking the Curse, aired on PBS and won the 2008 Gracie Award for Outstanding Documentary. ²¹ Kagan produced and narrated the film, which told the present day story of one American woman fighting for those living with leprosy in India. Kagan's first book, What's Possible!, was described by the Associated Press as "stories about people who overcame obstacles to achieve dreams."²²²³²⁴ Her next film, Solartown USA, about a Wisconsin town that made a commitment to solar power in the 1970s,²⁵ has completed production and will air on PBS in late 2009. Oprah Radio began to run DarynKagan.com content each day beginning in March 2009 on SIRIUS XM radio.²⁶

Awards

Kagan's post-CNN projects have been honored with awards that include the Gracie Award for Outstanding Documentary for her 2007 film Breaking the Curse, that aired on PBS,²⁷ as well as the Interactive Media Award for DarynKagan.com, which serves as the base of her media company.

Personal life

Kagan sees her story as one of "reinvention,"²⁸ and she speaks around the country on that topic.²⁹

Kagan is Jewish.⁹ Her great-grandfather was a Russian immigrant named Eiser Cohen who came to the United States through Ellis Island.³⁰ Cohen settled in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Her grandfather, Jack Kagan, later moved to the Los Angeles area.³¹ Her mother, Phyllis Kagan, is a breast cancer survivor who has appeared on CNN discussing the disease.³² Kagan has a younger sister named Kallan, the co-owner of a Brooklyn coffee shop, and an older brother named Mark.

Kagan is an athlete. She was on her high school track team and remains an avid runner.³³ As a former sports reporter, Kagan retains a strong interest in professional sports. She has been on ESPN sports radio providing her insight.

In September 2004, Kagan became romantically involved with radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, but they broke up in February 2006.³⁴

Kagan has adopted a three-legged cat, Tripod,³⁵ and a dog, Darla Louise, from rescue shelters.³⁶

References

External links

• DarynKagan.com Kagan's Web site
• Martha Stewart's Body + Soul magazine profile
• Associated Press profile from USA Today
• New York Times profile
• Los Angeles Times "Sunday Conversation" profile
• The Washington Post profile
• New York Daily News profile
• FOX Business profile
• New Orleans Times Picayune profile
• Business to Business Magazine profile
• Success magazine profile
• Guideposts magazine profile
• FOX News Channel interview with Bill Hemmer
• Good Morning America interview
• "FOX & Friends" interview
• CNN interview about new book
• U.S. News & World Report Kagan joins Oprah Radio
• USA Weekend Kagan joins Oprah Radio
• Oprah.com Opran Radio bio
• USA Weekend* Best Friends magazine profile, 2010
• ABC Family Channel interview and book excerpt
• Essay written by Daryn Kagan Stanford Magazine
• Oprah Radio interview with Gayle King
• Positive Thinking magazine profile
• Hollywood Exclusive syndicated column profile
• Jean Chatzky interview
• Interview with Oprah's Bob Greene
• Next Great Thing Kagan's relationship with Voxant

v • d • e Co-hosts of American Morning Current Chetry · Roberts Former Cafferty · Collins · Cooper · Costello · Hemmer · Kagan · Myers · M. O'Brien · S. O'Brien · Ogunnaike · Serwer · Zahn