Laura Harris – 20 Under 40
Co-anchor NBC 5 Today
Education: Georgia Southern University
Laura Harris, NBC5 Today co-anchor, started her journalism career as a sports logger for CNN in Atlanta.
She primarily covers news now but still gets to cover sports occasionally, including the Tokyo Olympics for NBC 5 in 2021.
“I was literally paid to watch sporting events and log detailed notes about each play. I learned the value of a dollar quickly,” Harris said of her time as a sports logger. “My father used to tell me, ‘If you make a dollar, save 50 cents.’ While he wasn’t being literal, he was instilling in me that we had to save what we could. It’s that whole preparation thing that is so important to me even now. My parents always wanted us to be sure that we could support ourselves and be ready for anything, especially financially.”
Since then, she has worked as a reporter and fill-in anchor for WNEG-TV in Toccoa, Georgia, a morning anchor/mid-morning co-host at WCIV in Charleston, South Carolina, and co-host of ABC Action News at WFTS-TV in Tampa, Florida, before joining NBCDFW in 2018. Throughout her career, she’s won Emmy and Associated Press awards.
While in Tampa, Harris covered Pope Francis’ historic visit to Cuba in 2015 and then-President Barack Obama’s visit to the country in 2016.
In her new home of Dallas, Harris helped start NBC 5’s Reading With You initiative, a childhood literacy program in partnership with Reading Partners North Texas that encourages elementary-aged children to read at least one book weekly throughout the summer to combat summer learning loss. She often emcees and hosts charitable events, including GRACE Grapevine’s gala, and volunteers at her church, Holy Trinity Catholic Church.
“I want the next generation coming after me to see hard work breeds a successful career,” Harris said.
Who’s your biggest inspiration and why?
My mom and dad. They often tell my sister and me the story of when they moved to Atlanta from Ohio with only a bean bag to their name. They would sometimes even eat dinner on the floor of their apartment until they had enough money to buy a dining room table. My parents not only got off the floor, literally starting from the bottom, but they found a way to get to the top. Raising two daughters in a middle-class household and helping us not just survive but thrive. It’s because of their hard work and dedication to their own careers and our education that I became the person I am today, and my sister is a successful litigator in Alabama.
What’s a fun fact that someone wouldn’t know about you?
I can play the violin.
What are you most excited about for the future?
GETTING MARRIED! 2023 is the year my fiancé (Patrick Means, who runs the Park Cities branch of Charles Schwab) and I will tie the knot, and we are so thrilled!
