MEET VICTORIA

Victoria Babu is a familiar voice in St. Louis.  The broadcasting veteran is part of the Big 550 KTRS team and can be heard hosting her own health and fitness program, Body by Babu, every Saturday from 4-5 p.m. www.ktrs.com
      You can see Victoria on Charter Communication's “Smart Living” every Wednesday through Friday at 9:30 p.m. on Channels 3 and 8 and again at 7:00 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday or get it on demand. She's been a two-time Emmy nominee for her work on the program.
    As a certified personal trainer and wellness corporate consultant, Victoria is thrilled to marry her passion for fitness with her love of broadcasting. It is her hope to help make St. Louis one of the country’s healthiest cities!
    Victoria’s extensive clientele has included teens, adults and those suffering from an eating disorder. As a lifetime member of Weight Watchers, Victoria can relate to the yo-yo dieter! She also understands the psyche of the “weekend warrior.”

    At 50, Victoria is even more aware of the role nutrition plays in our health and well-being and has adopted a whole food based diet. Check out what her entire family does to bridge the gap between their eating habits and preventing disease.         https://www.juiceplus.com/nsa/pages/vb14857    

                                COMPETITIONS             

    Victoria's competed in many events over the years. Her final long-distance event was completing the 2006 Escape From Alcatraz in San Francisco. Rated the number one triathlon in the world for it's grueling and challenging course, especially the cold, choppy 1.5 mile swim in San Francisco Bay, Victoria finished after splitting open her knee on the final "leg" of the 8-mile run. She took a tumble following the legendary "sand steps."  A visit to California Pacific Hospital took care of her war wound!

     She’s competed in several local sprint-distance triathlons and two Olympic-distance triathlons in Florida and California while raising money for the Leukemia Society.

     Marathons include St. Louis and Chicago and several half-marathons.  She put aside running and walked her first half-marathon in 2007 to lead a team of 150 participants in 2007 for Prevention Magazine's "Team Prevention" at the St. Charles Lewis & Clark marathon. She still blogs for them when she can fit it in! www.prevention.com/babu

    These days Victoria enjoys pilates, walking, working out in her home gym and golf. Less stress! Her goal for 2009 is to make more time for cycling.

                               BROADCASTING

    Aside from her weekend radio and daily television health shows, Victoria also co-hosts weekday afternoons on The Big 550 KTRS from noon to three with Fox 2's John Brown on The Mindset. www.ktrs.com

     Her freelance work includes serving as spokesperson in adfomercials for Charter Communications and emceeing many corporate and charity events.

    Victoria’s background in documentary work has led to running her own production company. In the summer of 2004, Victoria traveled to Russia and Ukraine to profile area YMCA teens as part of a cultural exchange on behalf of the Greater St. Louis YMCA.  The half-hour documentary of their journey aired on Charter Cable in December 2004.

    Her first documentary, Africa: The Carolina Story garnered the then 26-year-old a national IRIS award for her coverage of the famine and drought in West Africa and the work of North Carolina missionaries and peace corps workers. This body of work can be seen in the Museum of Broadcasting in New York City.
      For nine years, Victoria woke St. Louisans with the first news of the day as morning television anchor and co-host at KTVI FOX 2. An Emmy nominee several times, Victoria won a regional Emmy for outstanding news anchor during her tenure as morning anchor at FOX 2. Before that, she covered breaking news as a reporter for KSDK NewsChannel 5.
     Victoria’s broadcasting career began as a teen in radio in her hometown of Springfield, Illinois. Television news anchor jobs followed in Cape Girardeau, Missouri and Greensboro, North Carolina before arriving in St. Louis.

                         COMMUNITY INTERESTS
     She is active in the Orthodox Christian community and helps out with many charities including Our Little Haven, the Wellness Community and the American Heart Association. She is a past board member with the Asthma & Allergy Foundation. 
     Victoria and her husband David have been married 25 years and have two children.