Her first guests have been Mark Hertling, Jason Kander, Leyla Santiago, Kevin Sullivan, Josh Clark as well as many more Americans talking about why there is division and what can be done to fix it.

Later, while working as a reporter at the South African Broadcasting Corporation, she completed an Honours degree in Political Studies at the University of Witwatersrand.

In her late twenties, she won a Chevening Scholarship to study for a Master’s degree (M.phil) in International Relations at Cambridge University.

Her maternal grandparents, Robert and Margaret Oxley, were immigrants to South Africa from Warrington, England, after World War II.

[12] Curnow began her career at the South African Broadcasting Corporation in 1996 as a reporter for the national nightly news bulletin.

She reported on the death of Pope John Paul II from the Vatican, the London bombings, the royal family, the South Asian tsunami, and anchored coverage of the war in Iraq.

She traveled extensively across Africa and reported on the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Mohammad Gaddafi at the African Union in Ethiopia, the rise of Boko Haram in Nigeria, and political upheaval in Zimbabwe.

Curnow was given special access to the 80th birthday celebrations of Archbishop Desmond Tutu for an hour-long documentary on the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate.

[21] In 2013, Curnow led CNN's exclusive coverage of Nelson Mandela's ill health and death and reported live from his funeral.

[24] After Pistorius shot dead his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, Curnow was the face of CNN’s coverage at the murder trial throughout 2014.

[25] Her live reporting and documentary on Anderson Cooper 360 featured exclusive footage and interviews with Pistorius, his family, and his inner circle.

Curnow was on air when coalition forces launched the Mosul offensive in Iraq in October 2016, which earned her and the CNN teams on the ground a News and Documentary Emmy nomination.

In 2018, Curnow received an Emmy nomination with CNN colleagues for an airstrike on a school bus in Yemen that killed dozens of children.

In 2019, Curnow won the Royal Television Society Award for Best Breaking News Coverage for the end of President Robert Mugabe's rule in Zimbabwe with CNN's team in Harare.The coverage was described by judges as a “journalistic and technical triumph that caught the excitement of the moment but kept a cool head.”[30] Curnow has charted the rise of Xi Jinping, Chinese ambitions, and Taiwan.

Additionally, she reported extensively on Russian belligerence in Europe, hosting many discussions on Putin, NATO, the Skripal poisonings, and the Wagner group.

In addition to her broadcasting career, Curnow has written for the Washington Post, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Marie Clare, and the International Herald Tribune.