Linda Ellerbee is an outspoken journalist, award-winning television producer,
best-selling author, a breast cancer survivor, a mom, a grandmother and one of
the most sought-after speakers in America.
Ellerbee began her career at CBS, and then moved to NBC News where, after years
covering national politics, she pioneered the late-night news program NBC News
Overnight, which she wrote and anchored. Overnight was cited by the duPont
Columbia Awards as "the best written and most intelligent news program ever."
In 1986, Ellerbee moved to ABC News to anchor and write Our World, a weekly
primetime historical series. Her work on Our World won her another Emmy.
In 1987, Ellerbee and Rolfe Tessem, her partner, quit network news to start
Lucky Duck Productions, first producing documentaries for PBS. In 1991, Lucky
Duck began producing Nick News for Nickelodeon with Ellerbee writing and
hosting. Fourteen years later, Nick News is watched by more children than watch
all other television news shows put together and has earned honors
traditionally associated with adult programming. Known for the respectful and
direct way it speaks to children about the important issues of our time, Nick
News has collected three Peabody Awards (including one personal Peabody given
to Ellerbee for her coverage of the Clinton investigation), another duPont
Columbia Award and three Emmys.
These days, Ellerbee and her work can be seen all over the television universe.
Lucky Duck has and continues to produce primetime specials for ABC, CBS, HBO,
PBS, Lifetime, MTV, A&E, MSNBC SOAPnet, Trio and TV Land, among others. In
2004, Ellerbee was honored with an Emmy for her series, When I Was a Girl,
which airs on WE: Women's Entertainment network.
Ellerbee's first foray into books for kids, an eight-part fiction series
entitled Get Real, published in 2000, won her raves among middle school
readers. Both of Ellerbee's previous adult books And So It Goes, a humorous
look at television news, and Move On, stories about being a working single
mother, a child of the '60s and a woman trying to find some balance in her life
have been national best sellers. Her new book, Take Big Bites: Adventures
Around the World and Across the Table, was released in May, 2005.
As a breast cancer survivor, Ellerbee travels thousands of miles each year
giving inspirational speeches to others. She is as direct with women as she is
with kids; they understand that she understands their lives.
Although Ellerbee has won all of television's highest honors, she says it's her
two children who've brought her the richest rewards. Ellerbee spends her
personal time in New York City and Massachusetts with Rolfe, her partner in
work and life and their two dogs, Ollie and Daisy.
