American journalist Jenna Lee is no stranger to the public eye. She grew up surrounded by it, and she clearly thrives in that environment. Lee is most known for being a former news anchor on the Fox News channel. The 39-year old journalist has left Fox News in 2017 with the goal of continuing to inform Americans in a better way. Lee has contributed greatly to the network in the entire decade she spent there from 2007 to 2017, and her news reporting has inspired many young journalists looking to establish a name for themselves. If you’re not familiar with Jenna Lee, here are 10 things that you should know about her.
1. She’s a California native
Born on May 30, 1980, Jennifer Anne Lee is a San Francisco native. She spent most of her life there and didn’t even go too far off to attend college. Lee attended the University of California, Santa Barbara, where she graduated with double Bachelor of Arts degrees in English and Global Studies. During her time there, she played college softball for the university team–the Gauchos–before she graduated in 2002.
2. She did freelance work
Freelance is a great way to get your feet wet in any industry. As a journalism student, Lee took advantage of freelancing in order to gain experience in the industry. After she graduated from UC Santa Barbara, Lee spent a couple of years writing for a local San Francisco newspaper, the Marina Times, as a freelance reporter. This experience would give her fuel to pursue her career even more.
3. She pursued graduate education
Lee crossed over to the east coast in order to get her master’s degree. She ended up attending Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, which helped her hone her craft and style of journalistic news reporting. While she was studying at Columbia, she worked at NY1, a cable news TV channel. She also did some freelance work for Forbes.com. Eventually, Lee left NY1 to work full-time for Forbes. This move allowed her to slowly transition to being in front of the camera.
4. Fox hired her because of her perseverance
Getting to the main stage wasn’t an easy road for Lee. She heard more no’s than yes’s back in those days, and many television executives told her she’d never make it in front of the camera. Lee begged to differ, and she kept pursuing her dream regardless. Fox took notice of her after she compiled her work with Forbes, and the rest was history. As soon as she got her foot in the door, the opportunities just started pouring.
5. Her work schedule was unusual
Working the Fox Business Morning segment every weekday morning meant that Lee’s schedule was very unusual and challenging. On her workdays, she would have to get up by 2am in order to be at the office by 2:30am. The segment started at 5am each morning and ended at 7am, but her work didn’t stop there. She also did the “Money for Breakfast” segment from 7am to 9am, and anchored FoxBusiness.com live at noon. She typically doesn’t get to leave her office until 3pm, which is more than a 12-hour workday. However at that point, she would have to spend some time to prep for the following day. Being in bed by 8:30pm might sound early enough, but it really wasn’t for Lee–she had to be up by 2am the following day.
6. She grew up around athletes
When we mentioned earlier that Jenna Lee was used to being in the public eye, it was because she had semi-celebrities for family members. Her father, Robert Lee, was an NFL quarterback, who played for the Atlanta Falcons. Jenna Lee’s bother Zac was also a former NFL quarterback, who played for the Seattle Seahawks. If that’s not enough strong ancestry for you, Lee’s grandfather happened to work for the Associated Press in San Francisco as a war correspondent. His name was Paul Kern Lee.
7. She appeared in a magazine
Most news anchors and reporters are considered local celebrities. Once you get to the national stage, you could easily be considered a bigger celebrity altogether. It seemed that Lee was a big enough celebrity that the famous magazine publication Cosmopolitan featured her in the October 2009. It was interesting, however, because she was featured on the publication to talk about her wardrobe strategy.
8. She has an interesting personal life
Jenna Lee is proud to be a military wife. In 2011, Lee married a former Navy SEAL officer, Lieutenant Commander Leif Babin. Her husband is a decorated soldier, and he also happens to be the son of a US Congressman. The couple met in 2008 at a Navy-sponsored dinner, and the rest was history. Nowadays, Lee and Babin are busy taking care of their two children, Brian Marc and Liberty Josephine.
9. She started up Smarther News
When Lee left Fox News a couple of years ago, she told her fans that she’s got something up her sleeve. It turns out that the “something” was actually Smarther News. Smarther News is a journalism platform that focuses on quality news geared towards women. Lee writes the content for the site, and she also has a podcast set up on the webpage. It was a smart way to transition out of television into something that she would have more control of. After years of reporting for Fox, Smarther News was a good more towards a little more creative freedom for Lee.
10. She has an impressive net worth
Jenna Lee may have been young in the industry during her career peak, but she was not someone to take for granted. Lee worked hard, but she also worked smart. She knew what her career goals were, and she unapologetically ran towards them. Because of her hard work and dedication, Lee has been able to amass a solid net worth of at least $5.5 million USD. That’s more than enough money to care for her family, her children, and for her to be able to pursue a new dream.
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