#388: Lisa Ling — Exploring Subcultures, Learning to Feel, and Changing Perception

"It requires time and energy to get invested in other people's stories, but I do in my heart of hearts believe that you emerge a better and smarter human as a result of taking that time." — Lisa Ling

Lisa Ling (@lisaling) is the host and executive producer of the CNN Original Series This Is Life with Lisa Ling. It returns for its sixth season on Sunday, September 29 at 10 p.m. ET. In each episode, Lisa immerses herself in communities across America giving viewers an inside look at some of the most unconventional segments of society. In 2017, the series won a Gracie Award.

Lisa is also host of the CNN Digital series This Is Sex with Lisa Ling, which explores the taboos around sex in America and This Is Birth with Lisa Ling, which explores how healthcare legislation, income inequality and cultural shifts shape how people have children in America.

Before coming to CNN, Lisa was a field correspondent for The Oprah Winfrey Show and contributor to ABC News' Nightline and National Geographic's Explorer. She has reported from dozens of countries, covering stories about gang rape in the Congo, bride burning in India, and the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, among other issues that are too often ignored.

Lisa got her start in journalism as a correspondent for Channel One News where she covered the civil war in Afghanistan at 21 years of age. She later went on to become a co-host of ABC Daytime's hit show The View, which won its first daytime Emmy during her time at the show.

Lisa has also served as a special correspondent for CNN's Planet in Peril series and is a contributing editor for USA Today's USA Weekend magazine. In 2011, her acclaimed documentary journalism series Our America with Lisa Ling began airing on OWN.

Lisa is the co-author of Mother, Daughter, Sister, Bride: Rituals of Womanhood and Somewhere Inside: One Sister's Captivity in North Korea and the Other's Fight to Bring Her Home, which she penned with her sister Laura. In 2014, President Obama named Lisa to the Commission on White House Fellows.

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