Liz Walker is an award-winning television journalist, a documentary film producer, an entrepreneur and a humanitarian currently working in the war-torn country of Sudan.

A 2005 graduate of Harvard Divinity School and an ordained minister in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Liz has chosen to combine her communication skills with her passion for serving the world. To New Englanders she will always be known as Liz, after 32 years as a television news journalist, nearly 20 of those anchoring WBZ Television’s evening newscasts in Boston. Her current show “Better Living with Liz Walker” is aired on WCVB Television.

In the summer of 2001, I traveled to war-torn Sudan on a fact-finding mission on the controversial slave trade in southern Sudan. The experience changed my life. I was so outraged by the human rights atrocities in Sudan I co-founded along with my girl friend and minister, Reverend Dr. Gloria White-Hammond My Sister’s Keeper, a grass roots initiative that advocates for women and children who are trying to rebuild their country and their lives. Gloria and I travel to Sudan often, including the region of Darfur, the scene of the 21st century’s first genocide. We are very excited that My Sister’s Keeper has most recently completed the construction of the Kunyuk Girls’ School, the first of its kind in southern Sudan. Nearly a thousand girls attend the school.

I have learned to shoot my own video during my many trips to Sudan and have produced several documentaries on the troubled country, including the most recent called “A Glory from the God” profiling Gloria. She is an amazing woman who offers a fresh and unique model of leadership based on a passionate desire to serve the world.

I think the biggest lesson I learned from my experiences in Sudan is just how small the world really is and how dependent we all are on each other. I believe my purpose in life is to tell stories that celebrate the world’s interconnectedness and inspires people to build on that reality.

I began my broadcast career in my hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas and worked at television stations in Denver, Colorado, and San Francisco, California, before moving to Boston. In addition to my focus on international education and women’s issues, I advocate for the homeless and survivors of domestic violence. I am on the “Kitchen Cabinet” of One Family Incorporated, a non-profit organization to end family homelessness in Massachusetts. In 1992, I worked with another close friend, former Massachusetts State Legislator, Marjorie Clapprood in co-founding the Jane Doe Safety Fund, a multi-million dollar advocacy group for survivors of domestic violence. If you ask me what I am most passionate about, I would have to say everything. I sit on a number of community boards and I am a spokesperson for people living with HIV-aids, breast cancer survivors, and at-risk youth.

Over my career I have been honored with two Emmy awards, an Edward R. Murrow Award and special recognition from the prestigious Gabriel Awards for my on-air and documentary work. Currently, I sit on the Board of Trustees for Andover Newton Theological School and the Regional Advisory Board of the United Nations International Children’s Education Fund. I am also a member of the Board of Trustees for the Tufts Health Foundation and the Board of Overseers for Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

When people ask me why I do so much community work I can only answer this is what I have been called to do. Throughout my life I have been blessed with so much - a wonderful family,
an enduring career, amazing experiences, and I believe I owe the world something back. I think we all do!

Liz is on the ministerial staff of Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jamaica Plain, where she works with young people. She is the founder and principal of The Walker Group LLC, Communications Specialists, focused on non-profit capacity building and corporate public engagement.