The Philippines’ Media Maven

“Journalism is the first rough draft of history…” — Philip L. Graham

Beautiful yet ferocious. An extra-ordinary combination. Tune in to the evening news and you’ll know these words rings true for media maven, KAREN DAVILA. She has been honed well in her growing up years that helped in determining God’s higher purpose for her life. Just like what Ferdinand Foch, a French Lieutenant once said: “The most powerful weapon on earth is the human soul on fire.”

Being the eldest of three, Davila knew early on she had to set an example and be the bread winner for her family. She came from a family who struggled financially but this only inspired her more. Armed with positive faith, a never-ending passion and the will to succeed, Davila graduated from the University of the Philippines in Diliman, armed with a Mass Communications degree.

She started her broadcasting career as an investigative journalist and reporting and writing documentaries, winning the UNICEF Child Rights Award for her documentary on Children in Jail, a silver medal for the New York TV and Film Awards for her documentary on children and street drugs. As a contributor for CNN Special Report in 1999, she was awarded the Bronze Medal for her environmental report on the Marinduque Mine Spill. She has won numerous local awards including Rotary Club’s Journalist of the Year in 2004 and several accolades from UST, UP, and De La Salle Award giving bodies. She is a Hall of Fame Awardee with the Anak TV Awards, consistently considered as a top role model for the youth.

She pursued excellence head on and joined the investigative and award-winning TV show “Brigada Siete” alongside veterans Jessica Soho and Arnold Clavio for seven rewarding years. It was here that Davila found a deeper purpose – to tell stories that matter, to make people care and be a force for change. It was a conscious effort to go this route – that there is more substance to her beyond her pretty looks. In 2001, Davila joined ABS-CBN, wanting to reach a much wider audience nationwide in her advocacies. This move proved to be fruitful. Her body of work for “The Correspondents” has been lauded worldwide because of the reaction and heightened awareness it got from the viewers. Davila has chosen to give a voice to the voiceless and marginalized.

If there’s a trend she wants to set, it’s about substance. She practices hands-on philanthropy, raising and donating money and time to beloved causes. And whether she’s a broadcast journalist or advocate, she hopes her enthusiasm for charity work inspires others especially the youth of today. Says Davila, ‘‘My Mother told me I could be whoever I want to be, despite limitations, just as long as I give my heart and mind into it. That served me well.”

One doesn’t become a household name merely by making safe and pretty stories that only lingers in one’s senses for seconds. she is very much headed in a direction. In fact, saying “It’s a Karen Davila piece covers a lot more. So much more.” Her award-winning documentaries on children and the environment has been recognized by CNN, UNICEF, WORLD VISION and countless local award giving bodies. She also earned the much-coveted TOYM (The Outstanding Young Men) Awards for Broadcasting in 2008 and TOWNS (The Outstanding Women in the Nation’s Service) Award for Broadcasting in 2013. Last 2010, Karen was chosen as a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum, an honor given to young exceptional professionals below 40 years of age. This has allowed Karen to take exclusive leadership courses at the Harvard Kennedy School, Yale, and Lee Kwan Yew School of Government. She has moderated televised sessions for the World Economic Forum East Asia Summits in Manila and Jakarta.

Today, she sees her profession as a tool for education, advocacy and pushing for positive social changes in the country - in her own merits and conditions. For Davila never plays for sympathy or likeability. She’s interested in being dynamic, an incredible inspiration to the youth who wants to lead and be a force for change. But as with all the best of the best, her essence and passion is inimitable. She has a staunch sense of truth about what she’s after. Davila is a great broadcast journalist who is always seeking for newsworthy stories in her documentaries, proudly maintaining her ethics and integrity all the way.

She can be seen in three live daily TV and radio programs — interviewing newsmakers on Head Start, a news talk show that airs 8-9 am on the ABS- CBN News Channel or ANC; anchors a political radio talk show in Tagalog on DZMM 630 every 4:30 in the afternoon and is a news anchor for BANDILA, the late-night newscast on ABS-CBN. At present, she also hosts and writes for a weekly news magazine TV show, called MY PUHUNAN, an inspiring business program that features rags to riches stories on ordinary Filipinos hitting it big thru entrepreneurship. As a volunteer, she has involved herself with Habitat for Humanity and World Vision in the last 10 years as an advocate for women and children. Her name is synonymous to credible reporting and compelling and life-changing documentaries especially on stories that’s close to her heart - environment and child labor. She is a social media influencer, having more than 3 million followers on Twitter and more than 400,000 followers on Instagram. Her talent, dignity and work ethic has indeed changed the way we see working women and has given the opportunity to earn respect while looking feminine and still true to her ideals 24 years and counting.