Honoree 2017, In 2012, Cynthia Cisneros was appointed Vice President of Community Affairs at ABC13. She was hired at ABC13 in 1989 and while no longer filing daily reports, she is deeply involved in community efforts. As a native Houstonian, Cisneros has witnessed much of the city’s astounding growth firsthand.
Growing up in the city of South Houston, Cisneros later attended and graduated from the University of Houston, graduating with a degree in journalism. As a teen, she worked summer jobs at Foley’s and Astroworld.
Cisneros began her broadcasting career in 1982 in Jacksonville, Texas, at a local radio station where she hosted a morning talk show. While there, she received several local and regional awards for her spot news coverage and educational stories. In 1986, while still in radio, she became a television news reporter in Longview for KLMG-TV covering news in several east Texas cities.
A year later, she went to KBAK-TV in Bakersfield, California. While there, Cisneros’s reporting duties included extensive coverage of Caesar Chavez and the United Farmworkers Union. She also won awards for her coverage on human rights issues among migrant workers, which caught the eye of executives at ABC news.
Cisneros joined Eyewitness News as a general assignment reporter in August 1989. She’s covered hurricanes and other adverse weather stories, as well as breaking news. Over the years, she’s won several awards for her coverage of spot news and human interest stories.
Cisneros has been honored by the Mexican American Bar Association as a Media Pioneer, LULAC 402 Woman of the Year, Fiestas Patrias Distinguished Hispanic, Solo Mujeres Journalist of the Year. Cisneros is also a member of Harris County Hispanic Elections Advisory Committee, COH Citizenship Month Executive Committee, Aga Khan Southwest Advisory panel, Catholic Charities Advisory board and AAMA school board. Cisneros has created campaigns at ABC13 for voter registration, college registration and bone marrow donation. She has brought to the forefront, several community events including the historic MLK Oratory Contest, the City of Houston Veterans Day Parade, and the Cinco De Mayo and Fiestas Patrias Parades. She has helped to lead the station’s historic campaigns for food donations, back to school supplies, electronics for recycling and pet adoptions to record breaking levels.
But Cisneros says her greatest accomplishment has been the birth of her two children. She enjoys time with her husband of 28 years and their two children, a daughter and a son. Cisneros still likes to go to South Houston to catch up on neighborhood news and she enjoys running into old high school buddies.
Cynthia Cisneros
Vice President of Community Affairs
ABC13 | KTRK-TV | ABC owned station
3310 Bissonnet, Houston, TX 77005, Ph. 713-663-4630
cynthia.cisneros@abc.com
