Samaia Hernandez is a first-place Society of Professional Journalists award-winner. She first appeared on FOX61 while covering crime as a newspaper reporter for the Hartford Courant. Samaia was thrilled to return, this time on-air with FOX61 in November 2022 after stints in several Connecticut newsrooms.
Samaia has had a passion for storytelling since she was a young girl watching and discussing the evening news with her favorite person, her late grandfather - an Army veteran who earned 5 bronze stars!
Samaia launched her journalism career in Connecticut at the Record-Journal. That’s where she was honored by Connecticut SPJ for scooping the New York Times on a profile in a New Haven-based U.S. Supreme Court case.
She has also worked at Connecticut Public Radio and WFSB and has held roles outside of journalism on Capitol Hill and in state government. Prior to joining FOX61, Samaia covered the morning news on-air for several years, throughout the pandemic as a reporter/anchor for WTNH.
In 2014, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Connecticut recognized Samaia with the Victoria L. Soto Memorial Award for mentoring excellence in honor of the heroic educator killed at Sandy Hook.
Samaia was born in Austin, Texas and raised in Los Angeles. She graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara and is a long-time New England transplant.