ABOUT
My name is Andryanna Sheppard. I’m the Investigative Communications Manager and Reporter at FOX5 Vegas, the FOX-affiliate serving the Las Vegas Valley, Nye and Mojave counties. I launched the station’s first Investigative Unit. I deliver impactful storytelling throughout the market, state, and often, the country. Over the last year, I’ve demonstrated exceptional leadership in content strategy and audience engagement for on-air and digital platforms
Before taking my talents to FOX5, I joined WINK News as a multimedia journalist in February 2020 after nearly 3 years at KDRV NewsWatch 12, the ABC-affiliate of Southern Oregon and Northern California. In July 2021, I was promoted to Senior Consumer Communications Lead. I made it my mission to help viewers stretch their dollars in their already tight budgets. I have also been the go-to reporter in this market regarding information and investigations into Florida’s homeowners insurance crisis. After Hurricane Ian, I’ve helped countless victims get their insurance checks, fix their homes and finally put the physical reminders of the devastating storm behind them.
My website has several tabs showing the main topics. As you scroll down the home page, you’ll find my résumé and on-air portfolio displaying some stories I’ve worked on over the years. Both my on-air portfolio and résumé have their own pages as well.
The next tab is the half-hour Black History Month special I anchored, produced and helped edit while as the Senior Consumer Communications Lead. I also pitched, wrote scripts, produced, and edited a number of stories within the special. In this half-hour special, we take you on a journey through time, through our Southwest Florida community and the state’s most influential-and sometimes painful Black history. We also introduce you to some of the folks who are keeping those stories alive today.
The “Investigations” tab has six stories. I investigated a Florida homeowners insurance company in the next two stories. The company is suing more than a hundred of its policyholders for repairing their homes more than a year after Hurricane Ian. These three stories led to the state looking into whether the insurance company can actually take their customers to court. This series of stories earned a finalist award for the Florida chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists. The following story shows what happens when you don’t research a pet store before you spend thousands on a furry family member. One family learned the hard way and is now suing the infamous store for selling them a sick puppy. The next story dives into the City of Fort Myers keeping their promise to turn an old lime sludge site in an underserved neighborhood into a park. The park still does not exist. You’ll also find a story about my struggle making sure my preventive colonoscopy was covered.
In the “Insurance Crisis” tab, you’ll see stories all about Florida’s homeowners' insurance crisis. You’ll find stories about premiums costing more than mortgages, the state promising to help pay some folks’ deductibles without a plan ahead of the announcement and how homeowners could miss out on thousands of dollars in their returns since Congress did not declare Hurricane Ian a 'qualified disaster.’ This reporting led to Congress giving Ian that distinction.
The “Getting Results” page shows three stories of community members and victims coming to me with problems they tried fixing themselves but could not yield results. I helped a homeowner get a new and cleared check from her insurance company to repair her home after she was hit with an “insufficient funds” charge when she tried to cash the first check the company gave her. Florida Power and Light lowered one woman’s $13,000 power bill once I stepped in. She received that bill about a month after Hurricane Ian even though the storm knocked out her home’s electricity for weeks. Another woman was finally able to put that devastating storm behind her after I helped her get answers and money from her insurance company. Right below that is the final story in the years-long investigation into an unlicensed contractor. My reporting led to his arrest and later conviction after a family accused him of taking their money to repair their Hurricane Irma-damaged condo. They're in the process of getting their money back almost 7 years after they first hired the unlicensed contractor.
The "Savvy Shopping” page shows just a taste of some of the stories I did after tracking the prices of the same 10 common grocery items at the same Walmart, Target and Publix over the course of three years. You can see how much money the same basket will cost you 2024 compared to 2021. I also discovered shoppers spend more money opting to pay for their groceries online and pick them up in store instead of going up and down the aisles and paying at the register themselves.
In the final “In the Community" tab, you’ll find a number of stories educating and uplifting the community as well as exposing injustices. There are stories about the racial disparities in surviving breast cancer and the neighborhoods around Southwest Florida without access to fresh food and grocery stores.
I believe all of the stories you will find on this website show my skills and dedication to uplifting the communities I live in and helping others through storytelling. I hope to continue this work as a communications professional for your agency.
