Vanessa Botelho, an accomplished journalist with a career spanning nearly three decades, is starting a new chapter at the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY. She will step into a tenure-track role as Associate Professor of Broadcast Journalism after teaching as the school’s Broadcast Journalist-in-Residence since 2019. Her full-time faculty appointment begins in the Fall 2023 semester.
Botelho’s trajectory in journalism has been marked by notable achievements, including two New York Emmy Awards for live newscast productions. “Vanessa Botelho has done a terrific job teaching our students, and we are delighted to welcome her in this more permanent position. Many of our students are interested in developing careers in local broadcasting, a critical part of the news industry, and they will benefit from Vanessa’s stellar career and sensibility,” said Dean Graciela Mochkofsky.
For over a decade, she was a staff live show producer at WABC-TV, the number-one-rated Nielsen station in the United States. Botelho was instrumental in producing live coverage of the historic 2008 election and inauguration of President Barack Obama. She produced live news programs covering history-making stories like the death of Osama bin Laden, the capture of Saddam Hussein, the “Miracle on the Hudson,” two Papal Conclaves, and the Newtown massacre. Botelho was also part of the ABC producing team that played a critical role in the station’s wall-to-wall coverage of Superstorm Sandy in 2012, which earned the station a Peabody Award.
In 2016, she served as executive producer for live coverage of the election and inauguration of President Trump across NBC, NECN, and Telemundo Boston. Botelho also coordinated prime-time coverage of the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea for NBC.
At NBC10 Boston, one of NBC’s newest-owned television stations, Botelho was a founding member. Her contributions extended to the station’s design, staffing, and successful launch in 2017. There she took on the role of weekday executive producer for the 11:00 PM news.
Botelho’s expertise reaches far beyond live newscasts. She has also worked as a producer for a highly acclaimed true crime documentary series — “The Murder Tapes” — on Investigation Discovery. She is a freelance writer for WNYW-TV and will soon start as an editorial consultant with a local news station on diversity and inclusion.
Botelho’s passion for journalism is coupled with a commitment to academic pursuits. She is completing a master’s degree in Biography and Memoir at the CUNY Graduate Center, where she was honored with a Leon Levy scholarship. Inspired by her family’s immigration story and lifelong quest for belonging after emigrating from Calcutta, India, to Brooklyn, New York in the late 1970s, she is writing a memoir that chronicles their journey and her experience navigating the media landscape as a person from the global south.
Building on her studies, she has set her sights on other impactful initiatives and plans to embark on a group biography project. The project aims to highlight pioneering figures in broadcast journalism, with a focus on people of color who have blazed trails within the industry and inspired future journalists.
At Newmark J-School, Botelho is spearheading a new TV News Specialization designed to enhance students’ on-camera presence and video storytelling skills. With a dedicated focus on producing short and long-form news packages and live newscasts, she aims to equip students with the practical and marketable skills necessary to thrive in the ever-evolving media landscape.
With Botelho’s wealth of industry experience and passion for storytelling, her role at the Newmark J-School promises to shape the future of journalism education. “I’m thrilled to step into this new role that will allow me to continue to help inspire future journalists … and help them secure jobs in the still expanding television landscape, as well as digital and streaming platforms. They are my pride and joy, and it’s an honor to help guide them in their new careers.”
Botelho holds a BA in Communications from the New York Institute of Technology. She is a member of the Writers Guild of America East; South Asian Journalists Association; Asian American Journalists Association; National Association of Black Journalists; National Association of Hispanic Journalists; and the New York Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.