Adweek’s 2021 Young Influentials is a digital issue featuring 24 standout honorees who span media, marketing, tech, entertainment and everything in between. This year’s group of honorees, all under 40, are using their influence to change the way we think about branding. Through their social media reach, brand partnerships, product development and ethos, they’re effecting positive change in their respective industries and leading their brands to success in the process.
CNN’s senior political correspondent and Inside Politics Sunday host Abby Phillip certainly falls into that category.
From co-anchoring CNN’s top-rated 2020 election week coverage to covering the Jan. 6 insurrection on the U.S. Capitol, Phillip, who turns 33 on Thursday, has shot to nationwide prominence over the past 12 months, helping TV news viewers better understand these landmark political events and what they mean for American democracy.
Her critically-acclaimed on-air work during election season didn’t go unrecognized by CNN’s powers-that-be. She was granted the network’s Sunday 8 a.m. timeslot in early 2021, becoming CNN’s youngest host and one of its few Black female hosts.
“Every day, my hope is to use the platform to illuminate more of the truth and to help people understand politics better,” Phillip told Adweek. “I use my platform to make our political conversations more inclusive and more honest. Often, people who look like me don’t have a seat at the table and I hope to serve as their representative when I can—to bring their concerns and questions into the public square.”
I write for Adweek: “She has been absent from CNN airwaves in recent months. But it’s for a good reason: Phillip is on maternity leave, raising her first daughter, Naomi. Phillip will return to work soon, and looks forward to telling more stories in new ways.”