Mary Ellen Geist is an award-winning broadcast journalist and author who was born and raised in the Detroit area. Mary Ellen graduated from Kalamazoo College with a degree in English and studied abroad in Sierra Leone, West Africa. She also took writing courses at the University of Michigan.
She became a broadcast journalist at ABC and CBS radio stations on the West and East coasts as well as in Chicago and in Michigan. She also spent several years writing for Traverse Magazine and MyNorth.com in Northern Michigan as well as working for CMU Public Radio and Interlochen Public Radio.
Her many honors have included national and regional Edward R. Murrow Awards for best newscast and investigative reporting, and Associated Press Awards for best newscast, live coverage, investigative reporting, and Reporter of the Year.