Fox News Meteorologist Maria Molina was just five years old when she decided to pursue a career in weather. Hurricane Andrew was pounding away at her South Florida home and it gave Molina the idea that one day she wanted to be able to inform people about what to do and how to prepare in case of a major storm. She ended up doing just that.
As a college graduate of Florida State University, with a Bachelor of Science in Meteorology, Molina taught seventh grade science for a year. She then moved on to Pennsylvania to work for AccuWeather as a bilingual meteorologist. She said the move "gave me the experience I needed to cover weather nationally."
But the move to Pennsylvania wasn't all that easy. The Nicaragua-born Latina was only a couple of years old when she and her family moved to the South Florida area. According to Molina, her father was slated to fight against the U.S. with Sandinista forces but was granted U.S. asylum before heading out to fight.
Growing up in Miami made the transition into American life easy, Molina said. After all, the city is a Latino haven and as Molina said, if you don't know Spanish in Miami, you won't fare well. "I don't think it was much of a culture shock for my parents moving there [Miami-area]. Moving to Pennsylvania is when I really felt a big change," she said.
Soon after moving to Pennsylvania, Molina received an offer to work for Fox News as a meteorologist. In October 2010, after putting grad school plans on hold, Molina moved to New York City to begin working for the news station as an English-only meteorologist.
The young Latina, whose day usually starts with an appearance on Fox & Friends First around five in the morning, said she now does work for several Fox entities, including Fox News Latino.
Molina also gets to do something she's wanted to do for years-cover New Years Eve live from NYC's Time Square. For the second year in a row, Molina will be joining the Fox special All American New Year with hosts Bill Hemmer and Megyn Kelly to ring in the New Year.
According to Molina, covering the ball drop in the iconic New Years Eve city has always been a dream for her. She recalled watching the event every year on TV with her family in South Florida. After spending her first New Years Eve as a spectator in 2011, Molina presented for the first time last year.
"It's great. It's amazing. The energy out there is amazing," Molina said. "The people-over a million people-it's very loud and it's a great place to be."
The special, which airs tonight at 11 p.m. EST, will feature performances by Pat Benatar, Sarah Brightman and the cast of the Broadway musical Million Dollar Quartet. Fellow Fox News Channel presenters Kimberly Guilfoyle, Greg Gutfeld and Anna Kooiman will also join Molina.
Spectators will be able to join in the New Years Eve fun, Molina said. Viewers are encouraged to text in their holiday messages to the network. To do so, viewers should text "uText + (their message)" to 36288.
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