Arwa Damon Profile

Vouge Magazine’s Heidi Mitchell profiles CNN’s Arwa Damon…

“She looks like this California hippie with the jewelry and bangles and scarves and everything else,” says Tony Maddox, executive vice president and managing director of CNN International, who was instrumental in hiring Damon. “But she can seamlessly integrate. I always tell people, if you want to know how to dress in a war zone, just check out Arwa.” Beyond her low-key, up-for-anything style, of course, is a dogged determination to go everywhere, to blend in, to shed light on the human toll of war. She’s done big interviews for her network and been known to rattle some chains—most notably when she fought to remain in Baba Amr in Homs, Syria, a neighborhood where veteran war reporter Marie Colvin, a hero and housemate of Damon’s, would later return and be killed. And in 2007, Damon pushed to do a segment on a five-year-old Iraqi boy who had been badly burned in a raid. It was a small story, but the piece led to an enormous outpouring of support from viewers. Ultimately, CNN allowed Damon to find the boy medical care in the States, and then to follow the story for four years. Permitting such a level of engagement between a reporter, a subject, and her audience was something of a first for the network, and it made Damon a popular figure, both inside CNN headquarters and out.