In 1990, while at The Washington Post, Norris received the Livingston Award for articles she wrote about the life of a six-year-old boy who lived with a crack-addicted mother in a crack house.

[12] While at NPR, Norris interviewed a range of politicians and celebrities, including President Barack Obama,[13] Susan Rice,[14] Quincy Jones,[15] and Joan Rivers[16] among others.

Norris announced on October 24, 2011, that she would temporarily step down from her All Things Considered hosting duties and refrain from involvement in any NPR political coverage during the 2012 election year because of her husband's appointment to the Barack Obama 2012 presidential reelection campaign.

[23] Norris is also the author of The Grace of Silence,[24] a memoir and reported non-fiction book that started as an extension of the Race Card Project.

[25] In the book Norris writes of discovering her father's shooting by a Birmingham police officer and also her maternal grandmother's job as an itinerant Aunt Jemima.

[27] Norris lives in the District of Columbia with her husband, Broderick D. Johnson, the former White House Cabinet Secretary for President Barack Obama,[31] and her daughter, son, and stepson.