Melissa Adan

Melissa Adan is a Los Angeles-based multiplatform reporter for ABC ABCABC (American Broadcasting Company) is an American commercial broadcast television network. It grew out of NBC’s Blue radio network, took its name after becoming independent in 1943, developed into a national television network after merging with United Paramount Theatres in 1953, was acquired by Capital Cities in 1985, and has been owned by The Walt Disney Company since 1996. With CBS and NBC it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks, and it is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry News, reporting for Good Morning America, World News Tonight and ABC News Live. Born and raised in Miami, she is a bilingual, first-generation Cuban American who previously worked at NBC NBCNBC (National Broadcasting Company) is an American national commercial broadcast television network. It was founded by RCA in 1926, began as a radio network and later developed television. With ABC and CBS it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks; it passed to General Electric with RCA in 1986, merged with Universal to form NBCUniversal in 2004, has been controlled by Comcast since 2011, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry 7 San Diego and Telemundo 20, NBC 6 South Florida FloridaFlorida is a U.S. state occupying mainly the Florida peninsula, with its capital at Tallahassee; its most populous city is Jacksonville. It entered the Union on March 3, 1845, as the 27th state, and had a population of 21,538,187 in the 2020 census (April 1, 2020).Open the full entry and KLBK in Lubbock.

Contents10 sections

Key facts

2010–2012Miami Dade College

Adan was born and raised in Miami and is a first-generation Cuban American.⁠[1][2]

At John A. Ferguson Senior High School she was one of the youngest TV anchors for FBN 12, from her sophomore year through her senior year.⁠[3]

She earned an associate degree from Miami Dade College, The Honors College, and was Kendall Campus bureau chief for the student newspaper The Reporter in the 2011–2012 school year; she interned at Univision and at CBS4 while living in Miami.⁠[1][4]

2013Boston University and the Marathon Bombing

While a student in Boston, she was one of the first to interview Carlos Arredondo, later known as the “Cowboy Hat Hero,” during the 2013 Boston Marathon bombings.⁠[1][3]

That summer she was selected as an NBC Summer Fellow and intern for CNBC CNBCCNBC is an American business and financial news cable channel launched by NBC in 1989; it merged with its rival FNN in 1991 and since January 2026 has been part of Versant Media Group, spun off from Comcast.Open the full entry, working on two 2013 CNBC documentaries, Twitter Revolution and Rise of the Machines. At the university she also hosted the weekly live show Good Morning B.U. and was online editor of the student newspaper The Daily Free Press.⁠[1][4]

2014–2016KLBK in Lubbock

She graduated from Boston University’s College of Communication with a B.S. in broadcast journalism and a minor in political science. A Miami Dade College student newspaper article in June 2014 described her as 21 and stated that she had started that month as a reporter at KLBK-TV, the CBS CBSCBS is an American commercial broadcast television network. It was founded in 1927 as United Independent Broadcasters, renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System in 1928, and grew from a radio network into a television network under William S. Paley. With ABC and NBC it is one of the three traditional U.S. broadcast networks; it has been owned in turn by Westinghouse, Viacom, ViacomCBS and Paramount Global, has been owned by Paramount Skydance Corporation since 2025, and is one of the five networks that rotate in the White House television pool.Open the full entry affiliate in Lubbock, Texas TexasTexas is a U.S. state in the south-central United States, with its capital at Austin and its largest city Houston. It was admitted to the Union on December 29, 1845, as the 28th state, and the 2020 census (April 1, 2020) counted 29,145,505 residents.Open the full entry.⁠[1][4]

At KLBK she was a weekend evening news anchor and general assignment reporter, and she traveled to El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, to cover Pope Francis’ visit to the U.S.-Mexico border.⁠[2]

2016–2018NBC 6 South Florida

In June 2016 she joined NBCUniversal through the NBC Reporter Development Program and went on to work as a reporter and multimedia journalist at NBC 6 South Florida (WTVJ); an April 2016 Miami Dade College student newspaper article described her as 23.⁠[1][3]

In South Florida she covered breaking news including the mass shooting at the Fort Lauderdale airport, Hurricane Irma and the death of José Fernández, star pitcher for the Marlins.⁠[2]

2018–2023NBC 7 San Diego and Telemundo 20

In January 2018 she joined NBC 7 (KNSD) and Telemundo 20 (KUAN) in San Diego as a bilingual general assignment reporter and anchor.⁠[1][2]

She covered the immigration crisis at the border in Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, and the 2018 migrant caravan in Tijuana. Her reporting from Australia on climate change after destructive wildfires and from the Vatican on Pope Francis’ 2022 consistory each won her a regional Emmy, and her report on sex abuse and money mismanagement at migrant youth shelters in San Diego earned the National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ Al Neuharth award for investigative journalism.⁠[2][5]

She later earned a master’s degree in criminal justice from Florida International University.⁠[2][1]

February 2023Joining ABC News

On February 6, 2023, Wendy Fisher Wendy FisherWendy Fisher is an American television news executive and senior vice president of editorial for CBS News and Stations. She spent more than 30 years at ABC News from 1989, serving as senior vice president of global newsgathering from 2020 to 2023, before joining CBS in 2024.Open the full entry, head of newsgathering at ABC News, announced in a staff memo that Adan and WPVI’s Jaclyn Lee Jaclyn LeeJaclyn Lee is a multiplatform reporter for ABC News, which she joined in 2023 after working as an anchor and reporter at WPVI-TV in Philadelphia and as a reporter and weekend evening anchor at WVEC-TV in Norfolk, Virginia.Open the full entry were joining ABC News as multi-platform reporters, with Adan based in Los Angeles.⁠[6]

March 12, 2024Named Los Angeles Multiplatform Reporter

On March 12, 2024, ABC News released a note to staff from Los Angeles bureau chief Bonnie McLean announcing that Adan had officially joined as a multiplatform reporter based in Los Angeles. The note said that over the previous year she had covered the Super Bowl, the Lahaina wildfires and the Oscars for NewsOne, ABC News Live and the weekend shows.⁠[5]

Her ABC News biography states that she reports for Good Morning America, World News Tonight and ABC News Live.⁠[2]

Personal

Her Instagram bio reads “Wife, Sister, Latina w/ Miami Cuban roots,” and she uses the name Melissa Adan Vargas on LinkedIn LinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry and X.⁠[7][8][9]

Related Organizations, Websites, and Public Accounts

NBC 6 South Florida: Official website: https://www.nbcmiami.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[10]

NBC 7 San Diego: Official website: https://www.nbcsandiego.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[11]

Telemundo TelemundoU.S. Spanish-language television network within NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, offering drama, news, sports and digital programming for Latino audiences. The national network developed from NetSpan, formed in 1984, and adopted the Telemundo name in 1987.Open the full entry 20: Official website: https://www.telemundo20.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[12]

ABC News: Official website: https://abcnews.com/ (opens in a new window).⁠[13]

X: Public account: https://x.com/MelissaABCNews (opens in a new window).⁠[9]

Facebook: Public page: https://www.facebook.com/MelissaABCNews (opens in a new window).⁠[14]

Instagram: Public account: https://www.instagram.com/melissaadan/ (opens in a new window).⁠[7]

LinkedIn: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissa-adan-vargas-68738051/ (opens in a new window).⁠[8]