Lisa Ling is an award-winning journalist who currently executive produces and hosts her own CNN Original Series, “This is Life,” which explores the far corners of America.

Before coming to CNN, Ling was a field correspondent for “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and contributor to ABC News’ “Nightline” and National Geographic’s “Explorer.” She has reported from dozens of countries, covering stories about gang rape in the Congo, bride burning in India and the Lord’s Resistance Army in Uganda, among other issues that are too often ignored. Ling got her start in journalism as a correspondent for Channel One News where she covered the civil war in Afghanistan at 21 years of age.

She later went on to become a co-host of ABC Daytime’s hit show “The View,” which won its first daytime Emmy during her time at the show. Ling has also served as a special correspondent for CNN’s “Planet in Peril” series and is a contributing editor for USA Today’s USA Weekend magazine. In 2011, her acclaimed documentary journalism series, “Our America” with Lisa Ling, was created and began airing on OWN.

Ling is the co-author of “Mother, Daughter, Sister, Bride: Rituals of Womanhood” and “Somewhere Inside: One Sister’s Captivity in North Korea and the Other’s Fight to Bring Her Home,” which she penned with her sister, Laura. She also serves on the Board of Directors for the California Museum.

In the last year, what has been your proudest accomplishment?

My proudest accomplishment has been completing six seasons of my documentary series “This is Life” on CNN. That’s 48 episodes of TV which is very exciting to me. I’m particularly proud of it because as we all know, we are currently amidst a period of intense vitriol and partisan rancor and hostility. And I love that we produce a show that puts something positive and constructive out into the world. We allow people to get to know and familiarize themselves and walk in the shoes of people that they probably are very different from.