A Compassionate and Community-Focused Storyteller
Karys Belger is an Emmy-nominated reporter for 11Alive News in Atlanta, G.A. Over the last two years, she’s made it her mission to tell the often overlooked stories in her community. Whether she’s interviewing political candidates or K-Pop singers, Karys is dedicated to finding the heart of everything she covers. She joined the team at 11Alive in October of 2021 and shoots, writes, and edits all her own stories.
Karys was previously a reporter for the Daybreak morning show on WGRZ in Buffalo, New York. As a member of the Daybreak team, Karys covered everything from the investigation into Governor Andrew Cuomo to the preservation of Black American Sign Language.
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Karys played an integral part in WGRZ’s coverage of how the pandemic impacted Buffalo’s Black community. She also used her perspective to enhance her station’s coverage of the Black Lives Matter Movement in Western New York.
Karys was born in Washington D.C. raised in Maryland by two news-junkie parents. She graduated from Spelman College and received her master’s From the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She spent part of her academic career at Queen Mary University of London where she studied literature and theater.
Her professional career began right after Northwestern when she went to work for WFTX in Fort Myers, Florida. In Florida, Karys immediately began reporting on the aftermath of Hurricane Irma and the use of the internet in human trafficking.
Karys has lived with Sickle Cell (SC) Disease all her life and she is passionate about using her platform to educate the public about the condition and the everyday struggles of people living with it.
She was nominated in the local news reporter category for Access Atlanta’s Best of 2022. In 2019 The Links Inc. of Erie County recognized her as an outstanding woman of color in media. That same year she was selected for Buffalo’s Changemakers 30 Under 30 Class of 2019.
She has had work published digitally for the Baltimore Sun, Sojourners Magazine, and US News and World Report. She is also a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.