Michele LaFountain (born 1969) is the first Puerto Rican to become anchor of

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

version of SportsCenter.

Early years

Michele was born and raised in

San Juan, Puerto Rico San Juan (, , ; Spanish for "Saint John") is the capital city and most populous municipality in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the United States. As of the 2020 census, it is the 57th-largest city under the juri ...

. She earned a

Bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and American Literature at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

. She also received a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Mass Communications from

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...

Career at ESPN

In 1997, Michele began her sports broadcasting career as a co-anchor for ''ESPN's SportsCenter International''. In 2000, Michele joined

WNJU WNJU (channel 47) is a television station licensed to Linden, New Jersey, United States, broadcasting Telemundo programming to the New York City area. It is one of two flagship stations of the Spanish-language network (the other being WSCV i ...

, the

Telemundo Telemundo (; formerly NetSpan) is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television network owned by NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises, a division of NBCUniversal, which in turn is owned by Comcast. It provides content nationally with pr ...

station in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and served as anchor for the nightly newscast "Noticiero 47" (News Center 47) and also as the host of "Deportes 47" (Sports 47), a weekly sports show. Michele was also the New York correspondent for "Titulares Telemundo," a national sports show. She received three Emmy Award nominations for her work at Telemundo. Michele returned to

in 2003, when she was named anchor together with Heriberto Murrieta, Fernando Palomo and Jorge Eduardo Sanchez to launch the Spanish version of ESPN SportsCenter on

ESPN Deportes ESPN Deportes (, ''ESPN Sports'') is an American multinational Spanish-language pay television sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications ...

. She also hosted an interview program created by ESPN called "Primera Plana" (Headliners), featuring exclusive chats with sports stars of the moment. In 2008, LaFountain became a regular anchor on

ESPNews ESPNews (pronounced "ESPN News", stylized ESPNEWS) is an American multinational digital cable and satellite television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between the Disney Media Networks division of The Walt Disney Company (which owns ...

External links

El Diario
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lafountain, Michele 1969 births Living people ESPN Latin America Puerto Rican journalists Boston University College of Communication alumni Harvard University alumni Journalists from San Juan, Puerto Rico Puerto Rican people of French descent

Early years

Career at ESPN

See also

External links