Personal

Costello is a graduate of Minerva High School, a public high school in Minerva, Ohio, and Kent State University where she earned a B.A. in journalism. After attending Kent State University, Costello worked at Akron, Ohio's WAKR-TVas an award-winning police and court reporter. Following that Costello was an Emmy-award-winning anchor/reporter for WSYX, the ABC affiliate, and WBNS 10-TV, the CBS affiliate in Columbus, Ohio. She also worked as the 6 and 11pm news anchor for WBAL-TV in Baltimore between 1992 and 1995.

Career

Costello worked as an anchor at CNN Headline News (now called HLN) and was also the anchor of Good Morning Washington and an investigative reporter at WJLA-TV, the ABC affiliate in Washington, D.C., during the September 11 attacks.

She also worked out of the network's New York City bureau. She was part of CNN's Peabody-winning coverage of Hurricane Katrina and the 2008 presidential election, and also covered the Virginia Tech massacre, the inauguration of Barack Obama and the Casey Anthony trial. Costello has done in-depth reporting on bullying, coal ash, and women's issues. After a CNN viewer nominated her, Costello ran with the Olympic torch through the streets of Atlanta prior to the Atlanta Olympics.

As a reporter and anchor, Costello has interviewed Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and George H. W. Bush. Previously, Costello anchored the CNN early morning program CNN Daybreak and also was news reader and correspondent on American Morning. She was the anchor of CNN Daybreak, then a New York-based correspondent, and subsequently a contributor to The Situation Room. Costello hosted the 9 am–11 am slot of CNN Newsroom, based out of CNN's New York news bureau.

Costello elicited criticism when she referred to audio of Bristol Palin describing an assault on her to police as "quite possibly the best minute and a half of audio we’ve ever come across.” Paul Bedard called Costello’s "rude and crude enjoyment" an easy slap by a prominent female media star on a young woman. Costello later stated that "in retrospect, I deserve such criticism and would like to apologize."

Costello also covered the 2016 political campaign for CNN and anchored from both conventions and was part of the network's coverage during the debates.

Costello covered the terrorist shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando and anchored wall-to-wall coverage of flight MH-370 and the George Zimmerman trial. Additionally, she was a part of CNN's Peabody Award winning coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill, the 2008 presidential election and Hurricane Katrina. During her time with CNN, she has also reported on the Boston Marathon Bombing, on the last Space Shuttle launch, the Ohio midterm elections, the shooting at Virginia Tech, the tsunami disaster in South Asia, the Russian school hostage crisis and Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne.

On January 30, 2017, Costello announced that she would return to HLN to host a new program from Los Angeles. She explained that she made the decision to move her life and career to the West Coast for personal reasons. xplaining that she made the decision to move her life and career to the West Coast for personal reasons. She did mention that her husband had gotten a fantastic job in Los Angeles at LMU and she missed him. She also said she would miss all here viewers too, mentioning thanks to them also. She claimed her viewers made her job easy because they were so engaged and happy to greet her on the street. It was easy for her to enjoy her work both inside and outside the workplace.

Awards

Costello has been honored with many awards during her illustrious broadcasting career including the Peabody award for her coverage of the Gulf Oil Spill, Emmy Award in the year 1991, several Associated Press Awards, and UPI award. Costello's work has been honored numerous times, a 1991 Emmy Award for a special on crack and cocaine, a UPI award, several Associated Press awards and multiple Emmy nominations. She was also nominated for an Emmy in 1993. She was nominated to carry the Olympic torch in Atlanta before the beginning of Atlanta Olympics.

Career Highlights

Costello has covered many major news stories including the 2008 presidential election, the hurricanes Katrina, Ivan, Charley, Frances and Jeanne, space shuttle launch, Virginia Tech shooting, South Asian Tsunami, inauguration of President Barack Obama and Casey Anthony trial. She has also interviewed high profile personalities like Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, and Hillary Clinton.

Costello was in the news when she was mugged in a leafy Atlanta Street talking on her IPhone. There were many such similar incidents happening during that time as reported by ABC citing the muggings as Apple Picking, where thieves steal the IPhones and sell them for one thousand dollars or more. Costello is known for her highly interactive interviews where she has clashed with the personality she interviewed on more than one occasion. In 2012 October, she had abruptly concluded an interview with the spokesperson for American Family Association, Bryan Fischer because of his continuous spewing of anti-gay sentiments. She also focuses special attention on contentious women’s issues and bullying.

A former resident of Atlanta, Georgia, Costello moved to the New York area after marrying Timothy Law Snyder in 2004. She and Snyder later moved to Baltimore, Maryland. In October 2015, Snyder was named president of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. In January 2017, Costello cited her husband's relocation as a primary factor in her decision to leave CNN for HLN and move to Los Angeles.

In April 2015, Costello wrote that she became a "lapsed Catholic" after losing her younger brother Jimmy to cancer when she was 25. However, she stated that Pope Francis "reawakened my faith"