• Michele Tafoya is an American sportscaster known for her work with NBC Sports.
• She developed anorexia at a young age, and studied at the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Southern California.
• She began her career at KFAN-AM and WAQS-AM before moving to CBS Sports and ABC Sports and ESPN.
• She joined NBC Sports in 2011 and won 2 Sports Emmy Awards.
• She is married to Mark Vandersall and has 2 children; her net worth is estimated at over $2 million.
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Who is Michele Tafoya?
Michele Joan Tafoya Beaurain was born in Manhattan Beach, California, USA, on 7 December 1964 – her zodiac sign is Sagittarius and she holds American nationality. She’s a sportscaster who’s probably known best for the work she has done as a reporter for NBC Sports, a programming division of the TV network NBC.
Early life and education
Michele was raised by her father Orlando Tafoya who’s a retired engineer, and is a huge fan of sports, and her mother Wilma Conley Tafoya who’s a housewife. As she hasn’t spoken of having any siblings, Michele’s believed to be an only child.
Michele developed the eating disorder anorexia at a very early age, and has been struggling with it to this day, however, she’s stated that she’s learned how to manage it. She studied at Mira Costa High School at which she became interested in journalism and sports, and was encouraged by her teacher to pursue a career as a sportscaster. Michele matriculated in 1983, and then enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley from which she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in mass communication in 1988; she continued her education at the University of Southern California, from which she obtained her Master’s degree in business administration in 1991.
Early career
She launched her career while still an undergraduate, by working at the radio station KFAN-AM licensed to Rochester in Minnesota, where Michele mostly covered basketball games of the University of Minnesota and the Minnesota Vikings’ women’s teams.
After leaving KFAN-AM, she was invited to join WAQS-AM operating in Charlotte, North Carolina, and while working there, she was mostly known as ‘Mickey Conley’. She went on to join Midwest Sports Channel, covering the games of the professional basketball team the Minnesota Timberwolves as a sideline reporter and a host. Michele was also in charge of covering Big Ten college basketball and volleyball. She then spent three years working at the TV station WCCO-TV licensed to Minneapolis, as a reporter and sports anchor.
Later career
Michele started attracting attention in September 1994, when she joined CBS sports as their host and reporter, and was soon made the host of the channel’s sports anthology show “CBS Sports Spectacular”; during her first years there, she was in charge of covering college basketball. Michele then began hosting their show “At the Half”, and also covered the 1994 US Open Tennis Championship.
In 1997, she became their reporter for the National Football League (NFL), and in 1998 she also covered the National Championship Orange Bowl, as well as the Nagano Olympics in Japan. The same year saw her host the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Tournament selection show, while she also covered the US Open Tennis Championships and Goodwill Games.
In 1999 after five years with CBS, Michele left when invited to join ABC Sports and ESPN.
She officially began working for the networks in January 2000, joining the ABC Sports’ show “Monday Night Football” covering the 2004 and 2005 NFL seasons, while she also covered the 2006 NFL season for the show “ESPN Monday Night Football”. She could also have been seen hosting “The Mike Trico Show”, and helping cover Super Bowl XL.
An incident occurred on 10 October 2003 when Michele lost her composure, as she has admitted herself, and poured beer over two people at a game between the University of Michigan and the University of Minnesota. She afterwards apologized for her behavior.
On 21 October 2008, she announced that she would no longer be covering NBA, and would instead focus solely on football; Michele then started hosting the shows “The Sports Reporters II” and “Pardon the Interruption”. In the early 2011, she quit working for ESPN and joined NBC Sports, and has since been working as the sideline reporter for their show “NBC Sunday Night Football”.
Two of the other channels and networks she has worked for include WCCO-AM and KQRS-FM.
Awards and nominations
In 1997, Michele was presented with The American Women in Radio and Television Gracie Award for Outstanding Achievement by an Individual On-Air TV Personality.
In 2011 and 2013, she won a Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Sports Personality – Sports Reporter, while she’s been nominated for it five more times.
Love life and husband
Michele prefers to keep the details of her love life to herself, and hasn’t disclosed how and when she met her future other half Mark Vandersall, although it’s widely believed that they met in 1993 while she was working. The two exchanged vows in front of their closest friends and family members on 30 May 2000, and Michele gave birth to their son Tyler in 2005 – prior to which Michele had suffered four miscarriages – while she and Mark adopted their daughter Olivia from Colombia in 2009. As of May 2021, the family of four seems to be leading a happy life together in Edina, Minnesota.
Mark Vandersall was born in Minnesota, and was raised alongside his sister Kristen. He attended Plymouth’s Robbinsdale Armstrong High School at which he played baseball and football, and after he matriculated in 1990, enrolled at the University of Minnesota at which he continued to play baseball, looking up to his father Bruce Vandersall, who passed away in 2016. After he obtained his Bachelor’s degree in finance in 1995, Mark began working as a private wealth advisor at Ameriprise Financial Services.
Neither Michele nor Mark have spoken of any other people whom they had perhaps been with before meeting each other.
Hobbies and other interests
Michele loves to travel, and her career has made it possible for her to go all around the US, visiting nearly every state, while she’s also been to a couple of European and Asian countries such as Italy, Germany and France (Europe), and China and Japan (Asia).
She likes to read books in her spare time, and has uploaded numerous pictures onto her Instagram account featuring her favorite quotes.
Michele has recently gone on a mission to watch all four “A Star Is Born” movies. She usually watches a movie every night, and some of her favorite actors and actresses are the late Robin Williams, Will Smith and Scarlett Johansson, and a couple of her favorite movies include “Patch Adams”, “I, Robot” and “Lost in Translation”.
She occasionally works out with her husband at the small gym they‘ve built at their home.
Age, height and net worth
Michele’s age is 56. She has long brown hair and brown eyes, her height is 5ft 9ins (1.75m) and she weighs around 143lbs (65kgs).
As of May 2021, her net worth has been estimated at over $2 million.
