Tanya McRae is an award-winning anchor, reporter, and television producer. She joined Spectrum News 1 SoCal as a multimedia journalist in 2018 when it launched. She is now an anchor and host of In Focus SoCal, which has garnered many award nominations and won the Best Talk/Public Affairs Program Award from the LA Press Club in 2024.

Tanya was born in New York City and raised in Massachusetts. She graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree from the Annenberg School for Communication. She began her career in television as a network assignment desk assistant for ABC World News Tonight and Nightline in NYC. Her news background includes local, cable, and national news outlets. She also was nominated for two Emmy Awards for investigative stories she did for the NBC affiliate in Palm Springs, California.

In addition to her work in news, Tanya also has an extensive background in producing and field directing television shows. She’s worked on lifestyle, travel, newsmagazine, docu-series, reality TV, and talk shows. Tanya has produced projects for Bravo, OWN, Travel Channel, Lifetime Television, BET, SyFy, and other networks. She won an Emmy Award in 2015 for Outstanding Lifestyle Program as a Senior Producer on the OWN series, Home Made Simple.

Additionally, she produced several projects through her company, Amazonia Productions. She is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, Los Angeles Press Club, Radio & Television News Association of Southern California, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ), and served as Vice President of NABJ’s Los Angeles chapter.

Tanya has lived in California for more than 25 years, and her passion for talking to all different types of people allows her to delve into current events, civic issues, and local politics on Spectrum News 1. Her goal as a journalist is to provide people with unbiased information about things that are impacting their daily lives, as well as to tell compelling and thought-provoking stories.

You can follow her on Instagram @tanya_mcrae77, Facebook @tanyamcraeTV, and on X (formerly known as Twitter) @TanyaMcRaeSoCal.