Vanessa Gongora joined KGUN 9 as a multimedia journalist in December of 2024. Born and raised in Southern California, her move to Tucson means she's not too far away from home.
Vanessa has a blended family and is the oldest of 12. A first-generation college graduate, Vanessa holds a degree from San Jose State with a major in journalism and a minor in communication studies.
Vanessa fell in love with storytelling by growing up in sports. She played and watched many sports, her favorite being soccer. She was fascinated by how sports reporters go beyond the x's & o's to tell players' stories, and how sports bring people together, inspiring Vanessa to provide the same impact as a journalist.
She is also an advocate for domestic violence awareness. This is a topic that Vanessa knows all too well and uses her platform to not only inform the community but give victims hope and encouragement.
Vanessa wrote for the Spartan Daily Newspaper and was a reporter for Update News at San Jose State. She interned for ESPN3 from 2018-2020. She most recently worked at KYMA in Yuma, Ariz. and held several roles: She started out as a multimedia journalist in the Imperial Valley and worked her way up to weekend Sports/News Anchor, and then became the daily 4 p.m. anchor and producer. Vanessa also co-hosted the local high school football show Varsity Blitz.
She's covered Game 4 of the NBA Western Conference Semi-Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and Golden State Warriors in 2023, the 2023 World Series, the 2024 Men's NCAA Basketball Final Four and the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game in Phoenix.
When Vanessa is not on TV you can catch her with her beautiful Yorkie Maltese Princess, playing soccer, boxing, working out, watching sports, drinking lattes at local cafés, traveling, or enjoying a cocktail at a speakeasy.
She would love to get to know more people in Tucson and brainstorm story ideas!
You can contact her at vanessa.gongora@kgun9.com or on Instagram or X/Twitter.
