Rodney Hawkins is the founder of Tiny Hawk Productions (THP), a full service production company specializing in feature length documentaries and documentary series. In the first six months of launching, THP successfully delivered a historical documentary to Paramount, produced a highly acclaimed immersive art gallery exhibition and executed productions in West Africa, New York, Houston, Austin, Honolulu and New Orleans. Rodney founded THP after more than a decade with CBS News where he earned three National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences Emmy nominations, an Alliance for Women in Media Foundation’s Gracie Award, an American Bar Association Silver Gavel Award and a National Association of Hispanic Journalist Al Neuharth Award.

 

Rodney worked with almost every news team, bureau and show for CBS News. Beginning his career as an intern in the DC bureau, he quickly rose up the producer ranks in the Broadcast Center (HQ) in New York and ended his tenure in the Southern Bureau making his debut as on-air talent. He covered two presidential elections, produced countless breaking news and feature stories across the country and became a go-to producer for documentaries and news specials. 

 

One area of focus for Rodney has been racial injustice and inequality. This became his vocation at an early age after Rodney’s uncle was shot and killed by police officers in 2002. At CBS, Rodney made it his mission to cover cases similar to his family and give them a platform his family never received. His journey began as the courtroom associate producer for the George Zimmerman murder trial for the death of Trayvon Martin, and it culminated a decade later as the coordinating producer for CBS News coverage of the Ahmaud Arbery murder trial. Continuing to expand his capabilities, he on-air reported for CBS Mornings a deeply personal three part series on the restoration of his family’s nearly 200-old-cemetery with connections to his enslaved ancestors.

 

Rodney’s experience led him to create THP and name it after one of his childhood heroes who inspired him to become an entrepreneur: his late grandmother Leona “Tiny” Hawkins was a Dallas icon that served her community while employing them. Tiny Hawk Productions will continue Tiny's powerful legacy.