A'lelia Bundles
Washington, DC
A’Lelia Bundles is the author of four biographies about the women in her family. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times of Madam C.J. Walker, which she began researching while a student at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism, was named a New York Times Notable Book and was the inspiration for Self Made, a 2020 Netflix series.
She was a network television news executive and producer for three decades. After thirteen years as a producer with NBC News, she joined ABC News where she served as a producer for World News Tonight with Peter Jennings, as Washington, DC deputy bureau chief and as director of talent development in New York.
She is Chair Emerita of the National Archives Foundation and on the advisory boards of the Schlesinger Library at Harvard’s Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study, the March on Washington Film Festival and the Smithsonian’s American Women’s History Initiative. A recipient of an Emmy and a du Pont Gold Baton for her television journalism, she has participated in writing residencies at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
She is a Vice Chair of Columbia’s Board of Trustees and Co-Chair of the Public Affairs Committee. She is a former Vice Chair of the Columbia Alumni Association, former Co-Chair of the CAA Strategic Planning Committee and served two terms as a du Pont Broadcast Awards Juror. She is a recipient of a Columbia Medal for Distinguished Alumni Service.
Harvard A.B., 1974
Columbia Graduate School of Journalism, M.S., 1976