Vanessa Araiza

Vanessa Araiza joined Arizona’s Family in September 2023. She serves as the 9 p.m. Anchor and reports and anchors for many other newscasts throughout the week. In her free time, Vanessa enjoys hiking and exploring beautiful Arizona.

Vanessa came to Phoenix from WFTS in Tampa, where she worked as the weekend evening anchor and senior reporter. While in Tampa, Vanessa traveled to Puerto Rico to cover the devastating earthquakes in February of 2020. Vanessa also broke a story involving inadequate and harmful living conditions in lower-income housing that resulted in legal changes within the city's jurisdiction.

Prior to Tampa, Vanessa served as a general assignment and breaking news reporter at WKMG in Orlando. In the year after hurricane Maria in 2017, Vanessa spent a month on the ground in Puerto Rico covering stories of the people there rebuilding their homes and lives.

Vanessa also spent time reporting for the CBS affiliate in Dothan, Alabama, Fox affiliate in Birmingham, Alabama, and for the ABC affiliate in Pensacola, Florida.

Vanessa is a proud graduate of the University of West Florida where she studied communications.

In every city Vanessa has worked in, she’s also made it a priority to give back to the community she’s serving. Throughout the years she’s joined local groups and volunteered her time. In Birmingham she joined the Rotaract Club and read to lower income students as part of the Better Basics program. In Tampa, Vanessa joined the Junior League of Tampa and created the inaugural Family Food Fest that offered health screenings, free food, and literature for children.

Her care for the community she lives and works in carries over into her storytelling. Vanessa strives to tell stories that will make a difference and shed light on important topics that may not always get the spotlight they should. She’s grateful to call Phoenix home and is looking forward to learning more about everything Arizona has to offer.