Marion Brooks is an award winning anchor and reporter at NBC5 Chicago. She anchors the NBC5 News at 11 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. each weekday and is a member of the NBC5 Investigates team of investigative reporters.

Brooks’ passion is reporting and storytelling and in her investigative work she has been drawn to social and criminal justice issues. Her series of reports on Sex Trafficking in Chicago earned several awards including national recognition from the Alliance for Women in Media (Gracie) and a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award.

That reporting also led her to create Survivors Project, https://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/survivors-project-stories-of-survival-after-sexual-assault-abuse-501565761.html . Survivors Project is an NBCChicago.com based platform for survivors of sexual violence to share what happened to them, how they dealt with their trauma and advice they may have for others. It’s designed to be an outreach and resource to anyone affected by sexual violence.

Brooks’ career has spanned several regions and market sizes in the country. Beginning at the Sarasota Herald Tribune in Sarasota, Fla., Brooks learned the advertising side of journalism in a management training program for the New York Times Newspaper Group.

Her first job in broadcasting was in radio at WGST, a news talk station in Atlanta, in the entry level type of job that exposed her to the long hours, hard work, and adrenaline rushes of newsgathering. She credits this experience with solidifying her desire to work as a journalist.

Her first television job took her to one of the poorest regions in the country, the Mississippi Delta. From there her career wound through markets around the country with stops in Jacksonville, Fla., St. Louis, Mo., Atlanta, Ga., and Chicago.

She's covered everything from major natural disasters to politics, crime and courts to health, consumer issues to two Olympic Games, and much in between.

Brooks has a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Spelman College and is a member of the National Association of Black Journalists.

She is a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, and was raised in Portland, Oregon. Brooks has two beautiful daughters, Brooks Hawkins and Sydney Hawkins.