Nicquel Terry Ellis is an award-winning journalist who serves as a Senior News Desk Reporter for the Digital News team. She joined CNN in November 2020.

Ellis has spent much of her time at the network covering issues of race, ethnicity, and equality.

Her coverage has included the controversy surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in corporate America, higher education, and government. Ellis has also covered the efforts to remove Black History curriculum from classrooms, the fight to get more attention on cases of missing people of color, the fall of Roe v. Wade and its impact on marginalized communities, and the health disparities laid bare by the COVID-19 pandemic.

In addition to writing for CNN Digital, Ellis has made appearances on various shows including CNN New Day, CNN Newsroom, CNN This Morning, and Early Start. She has also hosted podcast episodes for the CNN Political Briefing and Coronavirus: Fact vs. Fiction. Ellis is a five-time winner of the NABJ Salute to Excellence awards including an honor in 2022 for an interactive project on the maternal health crisis facing Black women. Ellis has been awarded twice by the New Jersey Press Association.

Before joining the network, Ellis served as a national correspondent for USA TODAY covering race, inequality, and activism. She led much of the newspaper’s coverage of the deaths of Ahmaud Arbery, George Floyd, and Rayshard Brooks, and the Black Lives Matter protests that erupted across America. Ellis also spent six years working in local news at The Detroit News and the Asbury Park Press.

Ellis holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Michigan State University.