She has earned six Emmy awards for her work, which includes in-depth reports on Los Angeles public schools and the rise of homelessness among women and children. While focused on news in southern California, she has also reported live from Havana, Cuba, the Vatican, and Sydney, Australia. Baldonado began her journalism career as a student at Berkeley when she was chosen for the Cal in the Capital program, which provided her with an internship with the ABC News Bureau in Washington DC. She also credits Berkeley for instilling in her a commitment to giving back, and has been a volunteer mentor with Big Brothers Big Sisters for 8 years.