Jennifer "Jen" Leigh is a news anchor for

WFLA-TV WFLA-TV (channel 8) is a television station licensed to Tampa, Florida, United States, serving as the NBC affiliate for the Tampa Bay area. It is owned by Nexstar Media Group alongside St. Petersburg–licensed MyNetworkTV affiliate WTTA (channe ...

Tampa, Florida Tampa () is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The city's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and ...

where she anchors weeknights at 5, 5:30, 7 & 11pm. She has been with

since 1993.

Early life and college

Leigh was born in

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

but grew up in

Lakeland, Florida Lakeland is the most populous city in Polk County, Florida, part of the Tampa Bay Area, located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa. According to the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal c ...

. She is the oldest of seven children. She graduated Cum Laude from the

University of South Florida The University of South Florida (USF) is a public research university with its main campus located in Tampa, Florida, and other campuses in St. Petersburg and Sarasota. It is one of 12 members of the State University System of Florida. USF is ...

with a bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications in 1994.

Career

Leigh joined

as an intern and later was hired as an assignment editor at while still a USF student in 1993. Two years later, she launched News Channel 8’s Polk County bureau and became a full-time reporter there. She served as a weekend anchor, morning fill-in anchor and evening fill-in anchor. She became the 7 p.m. anchor in 2012. She replaced

Gayle Sierens Gayle Sierens (born 1954) is an American former broadcast journalist and television news anchor on WFLA-TV. Early life and career Sierens joined the Tampa NBC affiliate in 1977 as a weekend sports anchor and reporter after working with WFSU i ...

first at the 11 PM News in 2014 and then at 5 PM when Sierens retired the following year.

References

External links

Jen Leigh's bio
at WFLA ** {{DEFAULTSORT:Leigh, Jen Living people American television reporters and correspondents People from Lakeland, Florida Year of birth missing (living people)