Suburban Indianapolis will always be home to Cleveland 19 News anchor Sia Nyorkor. It’s where she grew up and where her parents still live, along with two of her five siblings. But she fully expected her career to take her someplace like Washington, D.C., or New York City.
No one was more surprised than her when that city was Cleveland.
“During my first visit, I stayed in this nice hotel where I could see everything out my window, and it just seemed like the city was on fire,” she says. “When I was offered the job, I said, ‘I have to take it. This city is amazing.’ And it’s been amazing ever since.”
That was in 2015, and she has no plans to leave any time soon — if ever. Nyorkor has covered major sports moments, like the Cavs’ Finals win and the then-Indians’ World Series loss; she was even on the ice when the Lake Erie Monsters clinched the Calder Cup.
Reporting all over town gave her the chance to get to know the city quickly and intimately. But Nyorkor also put in a lot of personal effort, asking tourism centers for recommendations.
Her favorite spots include the West Side Market, where she buys ingredients to make jollof rice, spicy stew and kale salads; CLE Urban Winery, whose bring-your-own-food policy she loves; and the Cleveland Garlic Festival (“That garlic ice cream is so weird, but I’m like ‘Hell, yeah, give it to me’”). Eight years in, she’s yet to tire of taking out-of-towners to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, where she’s starstruck all over again by Michael Jackson’s bejeweled glove, Beyonce’s dazzling dresses and Nina Simone’s music ledgers.
Nyorkor’s parents emigrated to the U.S. from Liberia (they met at a NYC party in the 1970s). Her first name means “first daughter of the father” and her surname means “fierce warrior” in Kissi. She’s active with the National Association of Black Journalists and says she’s proud to work for a station dedicated to sharing diverse voices.
“We want to show different backgrounds and tell different stories,” she says. “We want to see people on-air that reflect this community.”
That includes Nyorkor herself. In 2018, she started wearing her hair natural, later posing with other Black female journalists for a photo that went viral with the #NaturalHairOnAir hashtag. In 2021, she shared her natural hair journey in a nighttime news segment that educated viewers about the CROWN Act, a bill to ban race-based hair discrimination in Ohio.
“I’m so happy that I’ve been able to help people understand, and that many of them now support this legislation, too,” she says.
Though Nyorkor says she can be shy off-air, she’s one local celebrity who doesn’t mind being recognized in public. She likes it when viewers say hello, and she feels a rush of pride whenever someone says they can’t believe she’s not a native Northeast Ohioan.“When you work in TV, it’s really hard to find that kind of community,” she laments. “Every two years or so, you’re moving.”
After stints in New Jersey, New York, Kansas and Florida, Nyorkor finally feels settled in Shaker Heights, just a four-and-a-half-hour drive from her parents. She visits her family every few months and never misses their annual gathering to pick more than 1,500 pears from the fruit trees in her parent’s backyard.
When she first moved here, her parents hoped it would be short-lived — that she might end up closer to home. Now, though, they show their love by sending her off with hundreds of pears and dozens of cans of homemade jam to take back to her coworkers.
“My parents are like, ‘She ain’t comin’ home. Cleveland is her home now,” Nyorkor says. “I’m all in. I love it here.”
Sia Recommends:
Lucky Me by Rich Paul: “I just got to see him speak at Tri-C, and it was so great.”
Black Hair in A White World by Tameka Ellington: “It’s important we continue the conversations regarding hair discrimination and The Crown Act.”
My People: Five Decades of Writing About Black Lives by Charlayne Hunter-Gault: “What a joy to meet this shero,” Nyorkor said of a book signing with the author, who is one of her sorority sisters, at The City Club of Cleveland last fall.
Dream Town: Shaker Heights and the Quest for Racial Equity by Laura Meckler: “I’m always excited to learn more about the town I reside in,” says Nyorkor, who has called the East Side suburb home since she first moved to Cleveland.
Sia Nyorkor, photographed at the House of Blue's Foundation Room.
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