Battiste graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Politics, Philosophy and Economics. She began her career as an NBC News Page, working on "Saturday Night Live" and "Today," before working as a production associate at "Today." Later, she was an award-winning ABC News producer and reporter based in New York. She traveled the globe to cover breaking news and feature stories for all ABC News broadcast platforms, including "Good Morning America," "World News Tonight," "Nightline," "20/20" and ABCNews.com. In May 2017, Battiste began working at CBS News as a freelance correspondent for CBS Newspath, the Network's 24-hour television newsgathering service for CBS stations and broadcasters around the world. Battiste has won several Emmy, Edward R Murrow, and CINE Golden Eagle awards, and a Peabody, Deadline, and Front Page award.