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Michele Tafoya Age, Salary, Net Worth, Ethnicity, Husband

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• Michele Tafoya is a 55-year old Emmy Award-winning sportscaster and reporter who is famous across the globe
• Her ethnicity is unknown, though she is believed to be multiracial
• She grew up in Manhattan Beach, California, and attended the University of California, Berkeley and University of Southern California
• She has been a sportscaster for NBC since 2011, and has won a Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality – Sports Reporter three times
• Her net worth is estimated to be over $2 million, and her body measurements are 5ft 9ins tall, 137lbs, 35-25-35, 40B bra size, dark brown hair, and dark brown eyes.



Known for movies

Herself - Sideline Reporter

1999 Army-Navy Game (1999)
as Herself - Sideline Reporter

Herself - Sideline Reporter

1996 Army-Navy Game (1996)
as Herself - Sideline Reporter

Herself - Sideline Reporter

1997 Army-Navy Game (1997)
as Herself - Sideline Reporter

Herself - Sideline Reporter

2001 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl (2001)
as Herself - Sideline Reporter

Short Info

Net Worth$2 million
Date Of BirthDecember 17, 1964
SpouseMark Vandersall
FactLongtime resident of Minnesota.


Who is Michele Tafoya?

Born Michele Joan Tafoya under the sign of Sagittarius on the 17th of December 1964, in Manhattan Beach, California USA, Michele Tafoya is a 55-year old Emmy Award-winning sportscaster and reporter. She is famous across the globe thanks to her eight-year long involvement with NBC Sports as a reporter, bringing her into the spotlight at the majority of the most significant sporting events in the US. She has also had a multitude of other successes over the course of her often lucrative career in journalism since 1993.

What is her ethnicity?

To the surprise of many interested fans, even though Michele is arguably one of the world’s most popular sportscasters, no authoritative source is yet able to clarify what her ethnicity is. She is believed by most to be multiracial, but up to the end of 2019, the origins of her parents have remained unknown to the general public.

Early life: Her father’s daughter

Michele was brought where she was born, by her father Orlando Tafoya, an engineer, and mother Wilma Conley Tafoya, whose profession is not known. Michele’s childhood was sporting from the outset, thanks to Orlando’s insatiable passion as an avid sports fan. The future star spent a lot of her time watching TV with her father, meanwhile learning about rules and regulations in various sports, memorizing individual players, and soaking-up other information that would later prove vital to her career choice. Regarding education, Michele attended an unspecified high school in her birthplace, matriculating from there in 1982. She afterwards enrolled into the University of California, Berkeley, subsequently graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in mass communication/media studies in 1987.

Two years later Michele expanded her academic resume even further, enrolling into the University of Southern California, graduating from there with a master of business administration degree in 1991.

Career: Quality and quantity

Tafoya started her extensive career in sports broadcasting in March 1993, by joining WAQS-AM alongside Gerry Vaillancourt in Charlotte, North Carolina. She was known as Mickey Conley at the time, commentating the University of North Carolina (UNC)-Charlotte men’s basketball games, effectively becoming the first female reporter to perform that task. She moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota in December of the same year, having gained a reporting job at KFAN sports radio, where she aided broadcasts involving the Minnesota Vikings American Football team, as well as the University of Minnesota women’s basketball team.

At the same time, she performed the hosting job for Minnesota Timberwolves basketball matches, serving as a sideline reporter for the Midwest Sports Channel, and to top it off, also a play-by-play commentator for women’s Big Ten volleyball and basketball. In September 1994, Michele left her previous positions and started reporting games and hosting shows in the studio for “CBS Sports Spectacular”, meanwhile also hosting “At The Half”, thereby covering college football, basketball and the NFL telecasts. Her first on-air appearance took place during the US Open Tennis Championships – she retained these positions for the next five years.

1998 and 1999 – the turning points

Michele entered 1997 as a well-established sports reporter with more possibilities than ever before, at that point also taking up the position as a commentator on WNBA Lifetime.

In 1998 she was chosen to host the CBS Goodwill Games, and late-night Winter Olympics programs, but moved on again in 1999, joining ESPN, as well as ABC Sports in early 2000. She held a variety of on-air positions at the time, and performed a multitude of duties simultaneously. Tafoya’s positions remained unchanged until 2004, and then she became the sideline reporter for “Monday Night Football” on ABC, in which position she stayed until the end of 2005. In 2006 she performed the same duty for ESPN’s eponymous program. She took a break from her main position in October 2008 due to household issues, but returned to the screen in April 2009, this time at WCCO-AM as a replacement for the previous talk radio host for the evening drive time segments, actually through until January 2012, but claimed the best job in her career slightly earlier.

Finally at NBC

In May 2011 it was decided by the managers of ABC Sports that Andrea Kremer be replaced by Michele as the brand-new sideline reporter for their “NBC Sunday Night Football” program. Tafoya happily accepted, and has kept that position since. In September of 2011 she also joined KQRS-FM as the co-host of “The KQ Morning Show”, which she also retains. Over the course of her stay at NBC, she was given various prestigious tasks beside her regular one, such as reporting the swimming competition at the 2016 Rio Olympics. In 2019 this is how she makes most of her income, with her position at NBC thus far making the greatest contribution to her net worth.

Love life: Who is Tafoya’s husband?

Michele’s known romantic involvements are tied to only one man, starting with the day she met financial advisor Mark Vandersall in 1993.

The two dated for seven full years prior to marrying on 30 May 2000, kept a secret from the media, as only their friends and family attended. They initially made numerous attempts at having offspring, but Michele miscarried four times, until her fifth pregnancy turned out successful, and in 2005 their son Tyler was born. She and Mark stopped trying to have children after the joyous event, but made the decision to adopt a girl called Olivia from Colombia in 2009. The family reside together in Edina, Minnesota, and haven’t been subject to controveriesy.

Childhood difficulties

In an interview with ivillage.com, Michele had the opportunity to talk about her unfortunate struggle with anorexia during her teens.

Michele Tafoya

The accomplished sports reporter explained that she was influenced by peer pressure and advertising to start an extreme forced diet to obtain a better body shape. She thankfully emerged from the situation by the time she’d hit adolescence, but some of the issues followed her through life, one of them involving problems with the uterus, which caused her to have the miscarriages. When asked about the way she edges her children on in life to help them avoid the situation she had, Michele said ‘I always try to let them know that I think they’re beautiful.’ She bases this statement on her previous conclusion: ‘You look at a magazine cover and you say ‘I wish I looked like that.’ Well, why do you wish you looked like that? Because you don’t like yourself the way you are? And why don’t you like yourself the way you are?’

Her awards

As can be read on Michele’s NBC profile page, she is the only person in the history of broadcast journalism to have won the Sports Emmy for Outstanding Sports Personality – Sports Reporter three times, and the only female to be nominated for it during its eight years of existence. It was stated by the Sn Francisco Chronicle that Michele is ‘widely recognized as the best sideline reporter in sports.’

How high is Michele Tafoya’s salary? What is her net worth?

Michele’s annual salary is approximately $330,000, and her net worth is over $2 million as of late-2019. She garnered her wealth thanks to consistent excellence in reporting for the most prestigious media outlets in the US, most lucratively for NBC since 2011.

Posted by Michele Tafoya on Wednesday, July 13, 2016

Body measurements

The ultra-popular sportscaster’s physical traits are as follows:

  • Height: 5ft 9ins (174cm)
  • Weight: 137lbs (62kgs)
  • Vital statistics: 35-25-35
  • Bra size: 40B
  • Hair color: Dark brown
  • Eye color: Dark brown
  • Complexion: Tanned

General Info

Full NameMichele Tafoya
Net Worth$2 million
Date Of BirthDecember 17, 1964
Height1.75 m
ProfessionJournalist, Sports commentator
EducationUniversity of California, Berkeley, University of Southern California
NationalityAmerican

Family

SpouseMark Vandersall

Accomplishments

AwardsSports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality - Sports Reporter
TV ShowsNBC Sunday Night Football, Monday Night Football, WNBA on ESPN

Social profile links

Facebookhttp://www.facebook.com/MicheleTafoyaNBC
IMDBhttp://imdb.com/name/nm1650208

Facts

#Fact
1Longtime resident of Minnesota.
2Gave birth to her first child in November of 2005.

Pictures

Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya
Michele Tafoya

Movies

Miscellaneous

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Lionel Richie and Friends2012TV Movie management: Lionel Richie - as Michelle Tafoya

Self

TitleYearStatusCharacter
All or Nothing: A Season with the Arizona Cardinals2016TV SeriesHerself
Super Bowl XLIX2015TV SpecialHerself - Sideline Reporter
2014 NFL Pro Bowl2014TV SpecialHerself
Big Break NFL Puerto Rico2013TV SeriesHerself - Host
2013 NFL Pro Bowl2013TV SpecialHerself - Commentator
Super Bowl XLVI2012TV MovieHerself - Sideline Reporter
2011 Discover Orange Bowl2011TV MovieHerself - Sideline Reporter
Kobe Doin' Work2009TV Movie documentaryHerself
NFL Monday Night Football2006-2008TV SeriesHerself - Sideline Reporter
Russillo & Kanell2007TV SeriesHerself - Co-Host
The 2007 NBA Finals2007TV Mini-SeriesSideline reporter
Super Bowl XL2006TV SpecialHerself - Sideline Reporter
The 2004 NBA Finals2004TV Mini-SeriesHerself (Courtside Reporter)
The View2004TV SeriesHerself
2001 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl2001TV MovieHerself - Sideline Reporter
1999 Army-Navy Game1999TV MovieHerself - Sideline Reporter
The NFL on CBS1998TV SeriesHerself - Sideline Reporter
1997 Army-Navy Game1997TV MovieHerself - Sideline Reporter
1996 Army-Navy Game1996TV SpecialHerself - Sideline Reporter

Archive Footage

TitleYearStatusCharacter
Rome Is Burning2007TV SeriesHerself

Awards

Won Awards

YearAwardCeremonyNominationMovie
2014EmmySports Emmy AwardsOutstanding Sports Personality - Sports Reporter
2012EmmySports Emmy AwardsOutstanding Sports Personality - Sports Reporter

Nominated Awards

YearAwardCeremonyNominationMovie
2015EmmySports Emmy AwardsOutstanding Sports Personality - Sports Reporter
2013EmmySports Emmy AwardsOutstanding Sports Personality - Sports Reporter

Source: IMDb, Wikipedia
Author

Benjy is currently a reporter for BiographyPedia based in Adelaide, Australia. Prior to joining BiographyPedia in July 2019, he was a Bizarre TV reporter and theatre critic at TheSun. Benjy has also written for DailyMail and TMZ. Benjy studied journalism at Goldsmiths University of London, graduating in 2009. You can contact him at [email protected].

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