Jenna Lee
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jenna Lee | |
|---|---|
 Lee in 2007 | |
| Born | May 30, 1980 |
| Education | |
| Occupations | Journalist, television news presenter |
| Employer | Fox Entertainment Group |
| Spouse |
Leif Babin (m. 2011) |
| Children | 3 |
| Parent(s) | Janice and Bob Lee |
| Relatives | Zac Lee (brother) |
Jennifer Anne "Jenna" Lee (born May 30, 1980[1]) is an American journalist and former anchor on Fox News, where she co-hosted Happening Now with Jon Scott. Lee had previously co-anchored Fox Business' early-morning business news program, Fox Business Morning, with Connell McShane.[2]
Lee, a San Francisco native, was born to Janice and Bob Lee, a former National Football League quarterback.[3] Her brother, Zac Lee, was also a professional quarterback.[4][5] Lee's grandfather, Paul Kern Lee, was a war correspondent for the Associated Press in San Francisco.[6]
Lee attended college at the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she played collegiate softball for the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos during the 1999 season.[7] She graduated in 2002 with a B.A. in English and global studies.[8] She later attended Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, graduating in 2005 with a master's degree.[9]
Career
Career beginnings
After graduating from UC Santa Barbara, Lee worked from 2002 to 2004 at Marina Times, a San Francisco community newspaper, as a freelance reporter in her spare time.[8] Later, she enrolled at Columbia University, where she worked at NY1 and did freelance writing for Forbes.com.[8] She left NY1 and joined Forbes full-time.[8]
While at Forbes, Lee tried to orchestrate a permanent move in front of the camera.[10] Using some on-camera work she compiled from her time at Forbes, she was hired by Fox Business Network.[10]
Fox Business Network
Lee was hired by FOX News Chairman & CEO Roger Ailes in 2007.[11] With Nicole Petallides, the duo were the original anchors of Fox Business Morning on Fox Business Network when the channel made its debut on October 15, 2007.[12][8]
FOX later added Lee as a contributor to Money for Breakfast and as an anchor to the web-only FoxBusiness.com Live Morning Edition, which launched in February 2009.[8][10][13] Upon the cancellation of Money for Breakfast in December 2009, Lee gained a role on Imus in the Morning, the show that took its time slot.[14]
The last airing of Fox Business Morning was in May 2010, after which it was replaced by Best of Imus as the lead-in to Imus in the Morning.[15]
Transition to Fox News Channel
Lee left Fox Business Network in July 2010 and joined Fox News Channel, where she replaced Jane Skinner as Jon Scott's co-anchor on Happening Now.[16][17][11] She was the first personality to go from Fox Business Network to Fox News Channel.[16][11]
On June 2, 2017, Lee announced on Happening Now that she was leaving Fox News immediately to pursue other projects and opportunities.[18] In 2018, Lee launched the SmartHer News, which she described as a "fact based, nonpartisan" digital news platform.[19]
