| Personal Information Summary | |
|---|---|
| Name | Karla Heath-Sands |
| Age / How old / Birthday / Date of Birth / DOB | As of 2025, she is around 61 years old. An old January 2007 article on her had mentioned her age as 44 back then. |
| Wedding & Marriage / Husband / Spouse / Partner | Married. Check the full bio for relationship details. |
| Children / No. of Kids | 2 |
| Ethnicity / Origin / Heritage / Race | Black (African-American) |
| Nationality | American |
Wikipedia Biography / Profile Background
Introduction :
The highly experienced American anchor Karla Heath-Sands has been a long-time anchor at WALB, Albany’s NBC affiliate. Her newscasts are at noon, 4, 5, and 6 p.m. Furthermore, she hosted the WALB’s public affairs program, “Dialogue.”
Personal Life : Parents, Family and Education
- Brunswick, NJ, is the city where Karla was born.
- In May 2022, Karla was featured in WALB’s “Mother’s Day Special,” where she shared how her mother inspired her early in life to value service and faith. She has also publicly spoken about her father’s influence…her dad was an educator and encouraged her interest in literature, which led her to choose English as a major.
- She attended Mercer University where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English.
- Karla is married to W. Sands, a Senior Judge of the Middle District of Georgia U.S. District Court. It was reported that the couple has two children together.
- As a member of Bethel AME Church, she is active in the community. Additionally, she is a member of the Georgia Humanities Council.
- In September 2023, Karla celebrated the college graduation of her youngest child, sharing photos from the ceremony and expressing gratitude for her family’s support.
Career, Job, Salary and Net Worth :
- As a Miss Brunswick-Golden Isles and Miss America competitor, Karla first participated in the American pageant system in the early and mid-1980s.
- She says that through pageants, she learned how to be calm during interviews as well as how to be calm when you are anxious inside. Also, the pageant scholarships paid off her Mercer University’s student debt.
- In 1989, Karla changed her career direction from beauty pageants to TV broadcasting. WMAZ-TV in Macon was the first station where she worked as a meteorologist and as a community service director.
- Besides, being a TV personality, Karla is also a singer. She was a lead singer for Bob Cummings and the Reflections, a classic band that performs a wide variety of music. She has performed at Six Flags Over Georgia and was a semi-finalist for Star Search in Atlanta in 1998 as part of the Cherry Blossom Festival in Japan.
- Aside from that, she has appeared on BET’s Bobby Jones Gospel Hour and is part of the Bob Cummings and Reflections Band.
- Karla is a formal winner of the Georgia Association of Broadcasters’ “GABBY” award for Best On-Air Personality.
- Currently, Heath-Sands works at WALB with other famous anchors and reporters.
- In 2022 and 2023, Karla received the WALB Community Leadership Award for her organizing work with “Feed the Need,” a food security charity campaign aired live on the station.
- Karla’s career timeline includes 35+ years in broadcasting, and she has increasingly mentored young broadcasters, and is often featured as a panelist at Georgia Broadcasters Association events.