multi-award winning newsroom leader
Samantha M. Wender has been creating award-winning and nominated stories for two decades. She’s a multi-Emmy Award winner that has traveled to every state in the U.S. and more than one-hundred countries.
Her independently produced documentary JUST KIDS will world premiere at Tribeca Film Festival in June 2025.
As an Executive Producer at CBS News, Samantha holds a key editorial position leading development, production and execution of multi-part live and taped series as well as studio and field-based special projects for CBS News Streaming Series & Special Coverage. She also produces for the CBS Evening News' "Eye on America" franchise and topical beats. Before coming to CBS News, she was a senior producer at VICE News where she managed, supervised, produce and collaborated on feature, documentary, multi-part series and breaking news stories for Vice News Tonight and VICE on Showtime.
From 2005-2012, at ABC News Magazines (Primetime & 20/20), Samantha produced, field produced and supported major newsmaker interviews and process hours including Diane Sawyer’s Hidden America series. She spent the better part of two years following the lives of five homeless teens, eight months on the Lakota Sioux Pine Ridge Reservation and several months with the Amish, heroin addicts and foster youth, chronicling the stories of those living in poverty, out of the mainstream and on the fringes of society.
In 2012, Samantha left ABC News to produce a 90-minute feature documentary for MTV while simultaneously producing for their True Life series at Gigantic! Productions. She also spent time developing series, pilots and special pitches for a variety of networks and outlets including Yahoo! where she produced sponsored digital video content.
Samantha lives in New York City and is a lover of food and travel.
