Jessica Aguirre is the 6 and 11 p.m. evening anchor at NBC Bay Area News and an Emmy award winning journalist. Jessica has been a primetime, evening anchor, in the Bay Area for the last 20 years. She began her career at the Spanish Language network, Univision, while attending the University of Miami. Before arriving in the Bay Area in 1998 she anchored and reported in Los Angeles and Miami, earning Emmy awards for her series on the struggles of migrant children and for her investigative work on child molesters. Her journey to Cuba, chronicling the struggles of boat people fleeing the island, won an Associated Press award. During her tenure at NBC Bay Area Jessica won an Emmy for her poignant, two part series, on the emotional journey of an East Bay transgender teen and her efforts to preserve her fertility before undergoing sex reassignment surgery and another Emmy for her live coverage of the "Ghostship" warehouse fire in Oakland.
More recently Jessica won an Emmy for field anchoring from the deadly Sonoma and Napa county firestorms. As the daughter of immigrant parents, she deeply involved in organizations that promote literacy and help stem the Latino achievement gap including The Silicon Valley Education Fund. Her Emmy nominated education show "Class Action" took a deep look at the issues facing California educators and public schools. Her signature interviews with education leaders like U.C. President Janet Napolitano, State Superintendent of Education Tom Torlakson, and reform activist Michelle Rhee have distinguished her as a leading education specialist in the Bay Area. Her investigative reporting into the aftermath of the Napa earthquake and the impact on local schools led to school safety legislation being introduced by Assemblyman Bill Dodd.