Masters of Ceremonies

Friday, August 17th | NAAAP National Excellence Awards Gala

 Ms. Veronica De La Cruz
Anchor with CNN Pipeline

Veronica De La Cruz is a news anchor with CNN Pipeline, CNN.com’s premium commercial-free broadband video news service which provides users with multiple live video streams, CNN’s video archives and on-demand news clips from CNN’s unmatched newsgathering operation around the world. De La Cruz also anchors “Now in the News,” a fast-paced hourly Web- and wireless-exclusive news briefing and “.com Desk,” regular briefings on CNN/U.S. to feature highlights of CNN.com coverage. She joined CNN in 2003 and is based in the network’s world headquarters in Atlanta. De La Cruz joined CNN after working as an anchor, reporter and producer at KYMA-TV in Yuma, Ariz. There, she anchored and produced a one-hour morning newscast as well as anchored a half-hour show at noon. She produced packages and did live shots for the evening newscasts.

During her tenure at KYMA-TV, De La Cruz covered numerous stories on U.S.- Mexico border issues, the nation’s nursing shortage and the plight of the migrant farm worker. She also produced a series on the homeless, with whom she continues to do extensive volunteer work.

Before KYMA-TV, De La Cruz worked as a music show host for SonicNet/Digital Planet where she interviewed the likes of Eagle Eye Cherry and Vertical Horizon, and a host and reporter for Eruptor Entertainment’s “Living Giant,” where she reported from exotic locales like Ibiza, Spain. De La Cruz also worked as a host and producer for “Direct Drive,” a show on the Digital Entertainment Network.

Before beginning her career in journalism, De La Cruz spent a decade of her life as a competitive figure skater.

She is a member of the Asian American Journalists Association, and mentors aspiring broadcast-journalists at the Associated Press Television-Radio Association’s Academy.

Mr. Kiet Do
FOX5 Reporter

Keit Do joined FOX5 Atlanta in January, 2005. Kiet can be seen live on FOX5 Morning News and “Good Day Atlanta” and also files reports for evening newscasts. Before joining FOX5, Kiet was a reporter for KOAT in Albuquerque, New Mexico. During his four and a half-year tenure with the ABC affiliate, he covered several major wildfires, dozens of snowstorms and bear chases. His report on the Bosque Fires of 2003 earned him an award with the National Press Photographers Association. In his first year in New Mexico, his assignments sent him deep into Arizona and Colorado, as well as New York, and across the border to Mexico. Kiet shot, edited and reported his own stories, winning statewide accolades for photography and editing. In 2004, the New Mexico Broadcaster’s Association named him “Best Reporter.”

In 1999, a near-death experience off the coast of Monterey, California, almost cost the Bay Area native his life. Kiet was inside a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter when it caught fire shortly after lifting off from the deck of an aircraft carrier. The chopper made a hard landing back on the carrier, and everyone evacuated safely. Kiet captured the entire incident on tape and it helped him win first place overall in the prestigious Hearst Journalism Awards. It also helped him land his first on-air job.

Kiet got his start in TV news in California in production at KNTV in San Jose and as an intern at KCBA/KION in Salinas.

Kiet is currently the Vice President of the Asian American Journalist Association (AAJA) Atlanta Chapter. He is married to his junior high sweetheart TuAnh. Kiet is also a professional still photographer.