Anchor at CBSN

Lana Zak | Biography 2021

Wife of Former Obama White House Educational Advisor Andrew Seth

• By Reena Chikanbanjar
• Original : August 01, 2021

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Lana Zak is an ‘Emmy Award’-winning American journalist. She is currently serving as an Anchor for CBSN.

Who is Lana Zak?

Lana Zak is an American journalist. She started her journalism career in 2006 as a reporter and producer for ABC News. As a producer for American television journalist Bob Woodruff, Zak became the first female in history to climb the barrels of the world’s busiest automobile bridge, the George Washington Bridge.

In 2015, Zak was elevated to the post of a correspondent. She then became a political correspondent a year later. 

While at ABC News, Zak won two Emmy Awards in 2007 and 2010. In January 2020, she left ABC News to become an anchor at CBSN.

Early Bio: Parents and Education

Lana Zak was born in Korea on 29 December 1979. Later, her parents raised her in Iowa, United States, Her mother, Jane Michong Zak, is originally from Korea and a Buddhist, and her father is Roman Catholic and has Polish heritage.

After finishing high school at Bettendorf High School in 1996, Zak graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Journalism (Mass Communications) from the University of Iowa in 2000. She then went to John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University and graduated with a master’s degree in public policy, international security and political economy in 2003.

Career Start

Zak started her career as an associate director of policy at the City of Providence in 2003. After working there for a year, she worked as a communication officer at Columbia University in New York from 2004 to 2006. 

ABC News

In 2006, Zak joined ABC News and remained there for nearly one-and-a-half decades. She would then serve ABC News as a reporter and producer for ten years before eventually becoming the multi-platform correspondent in August 2015. A year later, she was named political correspondent of ABC News. 

Correspondent

As a Washington correspondent for ABC News, she covered the White House, Capitol Hill, the Supreme Court, and the Trump and Obama administrations. In addition, she covered the 2016 presidential campaign from every battleground state leading up to the election. 

In addition, Zak’s works have appeared on ABC News’ different platforms (broadcast, radio, print, and digital) such as ABC News, ABC News Radio, ABC NewsOne, and ABCNews. 

While at ABC News, she also produced one episode of Good Morning America in August 2010. In January 2020, she left ABC News to join CBSN.

CBS News

After leaving ABC News, she started working as an Anchor for CBSN, a 24/7 digital streaming news service of CBS News. At CBSN, she has been working as an evening anchor and principal weekend anchor. She anchored several breaking news stories, including the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, the second woman to serve on the Supreme Court. She also appeared, updating the results of the 2020 presidential election. At CBS, she also regularly interviews political leaders and has interviewed Sen. Lindsey Graham and New York City mayoral candidate Andrew Yang.

On 13 February 2021, Donal Trump’s defense attorney, Michael van der Veen stormed out of his interview with Zak, claiming Zak didn’t understand the case. The interview was going smooth when she told him about Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who iterated that Trump was still liable for his misconduct as the head of the state. Veen responded calmly at the time, calling it political rhetoric. Later, he accused prosecutors of doctoring evidence.

But when Zak asked him to clarify about the “doctored” evidence by prosecutors, Veen eventually took off the mic in anger, stating that Zak didn’t understand the case. During the interview, Zak questioned the lawyer about his denial of Trump’s involvement in the 2021 Capitol attack. In response, van der Veen blamed Zak for asking slanted questions and stated that he was tired of biased media. 

Accolades

In 2007, Zak was among the producers who received the ‘Daytime Emmy Award’ for ‘Excellence in Morning Programming.’ In 2010, she also received the ‘News & Documentary Emmy Award’ for ‘Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Stories - Long Form’ alongside the team members for the TV special ABC News: Inauguration 2009. She is also a recipient of a few more ‘Emmy Award’ nominations.

Personal Life

Zak married Seth Andrew on 21 August 2004. Her husband, Andrew, is a co-founder of Democracy Prep Public Schools, a public charter school network. He also co-founded Democracy Builders and also served as a former Obama White House educational advisor. The couple together has three children: a twin daughter and a son. They live in New York City.

Controversy

In April 2021, Zak’s husband Andrew was arrested on several charges, including wire fraud and money laundering. He was accused of stealing $218,000 by looting some of the escrow accounts belonging to the Democracy Prep Public School network in 2019. He was also accused of using the stolen money to obtain a more favorable interest rate on the $1.776 million mortgage sum for the Manhattan residence he shared with Zak. However, Zak was not accused of wrongdoing in this criminal case.

Later, Andrew got a bond of $500,000 bond against a property owned by Zak and two other individuals. Democracy builders remove Andrew as its board chair following the controversy.

Did You Know?

Lana Zak remains private on her personal life. Hence, many have searched the word "Lana Zak Wikipedia" on Google Search. However, she doesn't have a Wikipedia page as of date.