Wikipedia Biography / Profile Background
Introduction :
Vanessa Ruiz is an Emmy nominated and award-winning television anchor, host and reporter with a unique and vibrant on-air personality. Currently, she serves as the Associate Vice President for Arizona State University, while also being the Fill In News Anchor for PBS NewsHour.
Personal Life : Parents, Family and Education
- Vanessa was born in 1980, in Miami, Florida. She has mixed ethnicity and primarily Latin heritage.
- Family :When she was just a child, the family moved to Colombia in South America, where she grew up with her grandparents, while her mother worked hard to provide for her family.
- She returned to Miami for a few years, but then headed to Spain to complete her initial education, which taught her about the importance of learning from and accepting other cultures and their traditions.
- Education : In 2009, she graduated with honors from Florida International University with a major in Broadcast Journalism and a minor in International Relations.
- Currently, she is based in Phoenix, Arizona.
Controversy :
- In 2015, she was targeted by Arizona’s local TV viewers when she pronounced a few Spanish words correctly on an English program.
Career, Job, Salary and Net Worth :
- Vanessa’s career started off as an assignment desk editor for Telemundo Network in the early 2000. She gained valuable experience covering the September 11 attacks.
- Some of Vanessa’s TV career highlights include – Being the Lead Anchor for “12 News at 5, 6 & 10pm” and “7-N-30” as well as a weekly program of the world’s top news stories.
- She was also a Co-Anchor at “Antenna Live,” the main daily newscast launched in Feb 2012 & a host for “Estado de SATS.”
- In 2012, she was an Emmy Award Nominee for production in special programming and documentaries.
- In 2013, she was the winner of the David Burke Distinguished Journalism Award.
- In 2020, Ruiz was named to the Phoenix Business Journal’s 40-under-40 list, which honors young leaders making a difference in the community.
Interesting Facts and Trivia :
- In her long career, Ruiz has covered crime, political happenings, breaking news, celebrity gossip, and human interest stories, bringing them to the homes of 5 million + U.S. and Latin American viewers both in English & Spanish.
- Fashion, art, design, music, pop culture and entertainment are just some of her many interests.
- She was Telemundo International’s youngest international news anchor and executive producer.
- She was a volunteer at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
- She is bilingual – completely fluent in English and Spanish.
- She considers her motto to be: “Have courage. Be kind.”
- Her height is around 5 feet 5 inches
