In an industry where the early morning light often signals the start of a grueling day, Adriana Mendez rises to a new challenge as the co-anchor of TMJ4 News Today. According to a statement obtained by Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Mendez, formerly a traffic anchor since 2019, is poised to take her seat beside Tom Durian on Monday following the departure of Symone Woolridge.
Adriana's path to the anchor desk is the stuff of local legend, having started over a decade ago as a part-time receptionist, a sizable commute from Kenosha to Milwaukee sat at the beginning of her determination and broadcast trajectory. "Back then, many people questioned why I would make a 50-minute trip just to work a few hours a day, however; deep down, I believed it would be the first stepping stone to something greater," Mendez reflected in a statement shared by TMJ4.
Following her tenure as receptionist, Mendez's career encompassed roles far beyond the confines of the TMJ4 lobby; she served as a general assignment reporter in Waco, Texas, and a traffic anchor and multimedia journalist in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Asheville, North Carolina before circling back to Milwaukee. Her academic credentials include a degree from the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, fortifying her position in the newsroom as not just a witness to history but as a well-informed interpreter of local and national narratives.
News Director Tim Vetscher is no stranger to singing Mendez's praises, describing her as one of the hardest working individuals within the station's ecosystem, he emphasized how she is "also the first person to recognize other coworkers for good work,” in an interview reported by Adweek, so, not only is she a strong journalist, she is a great teammate and we could not be more thrilled that Adriana is taking this next step with TMJ4 News. As Milwaukee's early risers look towards a new face delivering the morning news, they can rest assured that the anchor desk is in steadfast hands, hands that have served, learned, and grown within the same TV house they turn to for their daily news fix.
Mendez expressed her gratitude towards the viewers, who have become her extended family, saying, "For the past six years, I’ve called TMJ4 my second family. I met so many incredible and wonderful viewers who have also felt like extended family and friends," she stated on TMJ4.
