Natalie Spala is currently working as an anchor and multi-media journalist for WPBN-TV NBC/ABC covering news, sports and weather in Traverse City, Michigan. 

 

Ask any journalist and they would likely tell you their first years in the industry were nothing like they expected.  If you ask Natalie, she knew her first job following graduation from the University of Michigan-Dearborn (2015-2019) would be an assortment of hard work, adaptation and growth.  However, what surprised her the most was the amount of sheer joy this industry would bring her, unbeknownst to the fact that her words had the ability to positively perpetuate change.

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It is Natalie's ambition and drive that have placed her in the position to take on the biggest stories that have swept across northern Michigan over the last two years.  From covering a 500-year flood that decimated mid-Michigan communities, a kidnapping plot against Michigan governor, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, to the historic 2020 Election and the allegations of election fraud that followed... oh, and let's not forget a world-wide pandemic.  To accompany the surplus of headline news, Natalie has also taken on stories where she has provided a voice to the voiceless, something she believes is the achilles heel of journalism. She was involved in implementing a no-passing zone on a dangerous stretch of highway that had claimed the lives of several, and halted the construction of a $20 million project that would have cut down some of Traverse City's oldest trees. 

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And Natalie knows her work is just beginning. 

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As a four-year member of Michigan's women's basketball team, Natalie is no stranger to the power of teamwork and playing a role to ensure her team in the best position to be successful.  It is something she has translated into her career: not only being a reliable member of the newsroom, but having taken on the welcomed role of a leader who pushes those around her to be better than they were the day before.

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Natalie is excited to become a member of your team, and is confident she would be an integral part of any newsroom built around innovation, credibility and hard work.  She will bring creativity, charisma and charm, as she believes the best journalists are the ones who remain curious and are never truly satisfied. 

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