ATLANTA — Makayla Richards is a Digital Producer and host with 11Alive in Atlanta, Georgia. They are a Regional Ed. Murrow, Atlanta Press Club, Georgia Association of Public Broadcasters and two-time NABJ Awardee and Emmy Award nominee from Athens, Georgia, with a passion for telling stories of communities overlooked or hidden.
They joined the 11Alive team in 2022, coming from our sister station KUSA-9NEWS in Denver, Colorado, telling stories in the Rocky Mountains, including providing digital coverage of the two largest wildfires in the state's history. Aside from working at KUSA, Makayla has also assisted WWL-TV in New Orleans during Hurricane Ida and KVUE in Austin during a mass shooting in 2021.
Along with writing stories for the city in the forest, Makayla also hosts Uncomfortable Conversations, an 11Alive+ series where guests discuss topics that are historically taboo or hard to talk about in a round-table format to help reduce stigmas.
Makayla holds a B.A. in journalism and a minor in political science from the University of Georgia, where they worked for the Red & Black student newspaper and on the special projects/digital staff for Grady Newsource.
Before that, Makayla attended the University of North Georgia for their associate's degree in journalism, where they served the Vanguard Student Newspaper as its newspaper managing editor and a student instructional lead for its introductory journalism class.
Their love of journalism started in high school, where they worked for Odyssey Media Group at Clarke Central High School and helped form their broadcast program, formally known as ODTV.
Makayla loves producing content that contributes to community activism for human and social rights. Their other hobbies and interests include baking, taking care of plants, spiritual wellness, video gaming, and hanging out with their husband and cats.
Reach out to Makayla now:
Email | mrichards@11alive.com
X (Twitter) | @mk_richards_
Threads | @mk_richards_
Instagram | @mk_richards_