Early Life and Career
Diaz is a native of Southern California, and a first generation Mexican American. She was born in Santa Paula, California a small community in Ventura County California. Her family moved to the Santa Clarita Valley when she was four years old.
Diaz graduated from Hart High School before moving to San Luis Obispo, California to attend California Polytechnic State University (Cal Poly SLO) where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. Her first job in television was at KSBY in San Luis Obispo followed by one at KFSN in Fresno, California. Laura Diaz anchor returned to Southern California in 1983 as a reporter for KABC-TV at the station's bureau in Orange County. She covered several major stories as a reporter at KABC-TV including the 1986 Los Angeles Central Library Fire, the 1992 Los Angeles Riots and the Northridge earthquake in 1994.
In 1985, she began working as a weekend anchor and three years later, she began anchoring KABC-TV'S 6 p.m. weekday evening newscast. In 1997, she became part of Los Angeles television history when she was named lead anchor for the station’s centerpiece 5 p.m. and 11 p.m. newscasts. This promotion made her the first female Hispanic weekday news anchor at an English language television station in Los Angeles.
Diaz joined KCBS-TV in September 2002 as co-anchor of the CBS 2 News at 5 and 11 p.m. with Harold Greene and in 2004 Paul Magers joined her as co-anchor. Diaz was also one of the original hosts of the groundbreaking Vista L.A. on KABC-TV, one of the first public affairs program in Southern California to serve the English speaking Latino audience in the region. That program won the coveted Imagen Award twice while she was co-host. Her work on Vista L.A. also won three prestigious Emmy Awards. In August 2011 Laura Diaz won a third Imagen award when “Eye on Our Community” was selected as Best Local Informational Program. Laura Diaz (anchor, journalist, and producer) is one of the leading Hispanic television personalities in the nation and a fourteen-time Emmy Award winner. In addition, Diaz has won numerous other honors from industry, community and civic organizations, including several that have recognized her as a pioneer and a role model for young women.
Laura Diaz joined the FOX L.A. weekend news broadcasts alongside FOX news anchor Susan Hirasuna starting May 2012.
Read more about this topic: Laura Diaz (TV Anchor)
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