Vanessa Ruiz

About Vanessa Ruiz

I currently serve as President of BearFruit, a fundraising and grant writing consulting firm helping national and international non-profit organizations plant seeds that bear fruit - so they can make a greater impact on the communities they serve.Previously, as Deputy Vice President for Educational Outreach, I led several teams in creating, developing and implementing strategic partnerships and programs with K-12 schools, foundations, non-profits, corporate partners, and other community stakeholders to advance the educational attainment and economic opportunity for over students and families every year across the state of Arizona.To my various roles, I bring experienced leadership with a history of success working in the communications and higher education industries. Skilled in strategic planning and execution, teaching, and public speaking with a passion for educational equity and access. Prior, I served as Director for Diversity Initiatives and Community Engagement at the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication, as well as a Southwest Borderlands Initiative Professor of Practice. I also served as news anchor for Arizona PBS and currently, I am the fill in anchor for PBS NewsHour West. Before joining Cronkite, I was the Emmy award winning main evening news anchor at the NBC television station in Phoenix. With over 25 years of bilingual journalism experience, I have been a correspondent in South America for the U.S. Agency for Global Media and a reporter with KNBC in Los Angeles. I am passionate about educational access, journalism, youth mentoring, communications, and female equity in our society.I have covered politics, breaking news, human interest stories, international issues and more, bringing them to the homes of 5 million+ U.S. and Latin American viewers both in English & Spanish. A compelling story teller, I have anchored and reported world events, history making news and national disasters, from Barack Obama’s 2013 Presidential Inauguration to the impact of the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti in 2010, the 2016 Rio Summer Olympic Games, the September 11th terrorist attacks and the 2016 U.S. presidential elections.Career Highlights:» 2024 YWCA of Metropolitan Phoenix Tribute to Leadership Award » 2020 Phoenix Business Journal-\'40 Under 40\' Recipient » 2016, 2017 and 2021 Rocky Mountain Emmys» 2013 David Burke Distinguished Journalism Award Recipient

Experience

1. President

   Bearfruit

   Sep 2024 — Present · Phoenix, AZ, US

   BearFruit is a fundraising and grant writing consulting firm that helps national and international nonprofits and other entities plant seeds that bear fruit - so they can make a greater impact on the communities they serve.

Education

• Florida International University

  Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Communications

  2005 — 2009

• Arizona State University

  Master in Liberal Studies

  2019 — 2020

Skills

• Broadcast
• Leadership
• Media Production
• New Media
• Final Cut Pro
• Broadcast Journalism
• Videography
• News Writing
• Tv News Production
• Writing
• Video
• News Anchoring
• Camera
• Fashion Blogging
• Fashion Writing
• Enps
• Editorial
• Interviews
• Video Production
• I-News
• Social Media
• Breaking News
• Photography
• Broadcast Television
• Investigative Reporting
• F.o.r.k.
• Digital Media
• Documentaries
• Entertainment
• Social Networking
• Social Media Marketing
• Radio
• Storytelling
• Television
• Producing
• Journalism
• Post Production
• Public Relations
• Media Relations