Cheryl Wills is an award-winning reporter and one of the most tenured on-air personalities at NY1.
As anchor, Cheryl has covered numerous events, including the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and the 2003 crash of the Staten Island Ferry. She also acted as a moderator during televised discussions about the presidency of Barack Obama.
Cheryl also hosts many of NY1's special events, including the exclusive invitation-only Fashion Week, where she has interviewed some of the biggest designers in the world, including Betsey Johnson, Carmen Marc Valvo and Vera Wang.
For nearly seven years, she served as NY1’s Health Reporter, breaking critical stories like female genital mutilation among African immigrants living in New York City. She was also among the first to report on robotic surgeries, which are now performed in hospitals nationwide.
In recognition of her outstanding health reporting, Cheryl received an honorary doctorate degree from New York College of Health Professions in May of 2005.
She is also the recipient of a CUNY Medical School achievement award, and has won awards for outstanding reporting from various medical societies and community and professional groups. In February of 2010, McDonald's honored Cheryl as one of its broadcasting legends in a regional ad campaign seen in hundreds of its restaurants.
Cheryl is a charter member of the NY1 News team, having joined NY1 before the station went on the air in 1992. She began as one of the station's first producers, and shortly thereafter became NY1's medical reporter. She was named NY1's weekend evening anchor in 2002.
Cheryl is the author of "Die Free: A Heroic Family History" which is about her great-great-great grandfather Sandy Wills, who served in the Civil War as a member of the United States Colored Troops, and her father, Clarence Wills, who was the first black firefighter at Engine 1/Ladder 24 – the oldest engine company in Manhattan.
Cheryl is a graduate of the renowned Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, where she majored in broadcast journalism and today prides herself on her accuracy and fairness.
Cheryl’s father died in September of 1980 in a terrible motorcycle accident. Cheryl, who was raised in Queens, dedicates her work as a television journalist to the memory of her dad, one of New York’s Bravest.