Ciara Encinas

    The rush of picking up a camera and running to the car to be the first on a crime scene or taking the time to learn the community’s story is what fuels my passion for journalism.

 

    I am currently a multimedia journalist at ABC 10News in San Diego covering the southern border and rich culture in Southern California. 

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    My reporting career didn't begin in San Diego, my last stop was in Tucson, Ariz. where I geared up and taken on the rugged terrain of the southern border to inform the state about smuggling techniques, technology deputies are using to secure the border, and even how immigration issues are impacting migrants hoping for a chance to call the U.S. home. My reporting in Tucson has also embedded me in the most vulnerable communities of Tucson leading me to uncover how water contamination dating back four decades is still impacting families. 

 

    Before Tucson, I spend two years reporting at KYMA in Yuma, Ariz the day after I graduated college. As the nightside MMJ, I was on the frontlines of the border crisis. I broke the news to the country when the mayor was the first to declare a State of Emergency because of the record number of people crossing into the United States. I was the first on the scene when a  triple homicide made state-wide headlines on Labor Day 2018 and when a cross-border drug tunnel was discovered by Homeland Security Investigations. All of my experience led me to be #1 in the market on social media platforms in 2019 and also led me to two Emmy wins.

 

    I credit my journalism career to my time as the anchor for my elementary school’s morning announcements. From that point on, I made it my goal to find out how I could do it for a living. Ten years later, I found myself taking on the challenge of being a first-generation college student at The University of Arizona’s School of Journalism. The rest is history.