User:Broadcastbioblanche/Blanche Araj Shaheen

Blanche Araj Shaheen is an American television personality, writer, producer and model. Blanche was born and grew up in San Francisco, graduating from Lowell High School. She then graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, getting a major in Political Economy of Industrial Societies, with a minor in Spanish Language and Literature. After her undergraduate degree, Blanche began working behind the scenes in television as an intern then production assistant for ABC (KGO) San Francisco, CNN in San Francisco. She won the Howard Clete Journalism Award in 1996 for her essay on the future of broadcast media, in which she wrote on how journalists will eventually give instantaneous new reports from the field though streaming video. She then moved on to become an associate producer for children’s programming at KTEH (PBS) in San Jose that same year. While at KTEH She earned an Emmy award for her production work on the national program Real Science. In 1997 she became a television host for an independent film show on PBS called Video i. She continued to be the host for this show 11 years in a row--scouting independent films, covering film festivals, and interviewing celebrities and filmmakers. She also completed her graduate degree in Broadcast Journalism that same year, graduating Magna Cum Laude from San Francisco State University. In 1999 Blanche entered the high-tech world of Akamai Technologies. She used her television production skills to help create Akamai’s Forum Software, which was one of the pioneers of streaming media platforms. She also moderated high-tech online programs, acquiring clients like ON24, TechOnline, Agilent Technoligies, IBM, and Siebel. Blanche then went on to report for the live daily news show called TECH-Live in the year 2000. She reported live every hour on corporate, business and high tech news. Near the end of her term at Tech-TV she also was a fill-in anchor and covered new stories from the HP/Compaq merger to the September 11th attacks from the field in San Francisco. In 2005 Blanche began a modeling career accidently, after a photographer passed her photos on to a modeling agent. She then entered the world of commercial modeling with clients from Mercedes Benz to Macys. Blanche often freelanced as an on-camera hostess for the international satellite channel Link TV. In 2006 she anchored a Pledge Special that earned the station nearly $20,000 in pledges in one day from viewer support. That same year Blanche became the on-camera correspondent for a brand new live entertainment show, View from the Bay on ABC in San Francisco. She reported daily on green/eco-friendly living, celebrities and Hollywood films, Bay Area concerts and festivals, as well as fashion and restaurant trends. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, with her husband and two children. More information on Blanche Araj Shaheen can be found on her website at www.blanchestudio.com and www.youtube.com/blanchetv

Television Her previous on-camera television work includes: 	PBS’s "Video I ": Television Show host and writer 	"View From the Bay” On-camera reporter/correspondent/producer ABC-KGO San Francisco 	Link TV Television host, San Francisco 	"Tech Live": Tech TV San Francisco, Reporter, Producer, and Host.  Television production work  	ABC Shows: View from the Bay , Marketplace, Straight Talk n Teens 	TECH TV (Now  G4) 	Akamai Technologies 	CNN San Francisco 	PBS (KTEH & KQED)  Blog Blanche’s blog, www.blanchetv.com/journal covers topics such as film reviews, green living tips, fitness, and woman body image issues  Model