A trailblazing anchor, Darlene Rodriguez reflects on breaking barriers, balancing motherhood and the privilege of telling New York’s stories for 25 years.

As Darlene Rodriguez was in the early stages of her now 25-year career as an anchor at NBC New York she was pregnant with her first child and was told: “I hope you’re going to get a live-in nanny.”

“First of all, my grandmother would kill me,” said Rodriguez. “That’s exactly what I didn’t want. And she said to me with a straight face, ‘I would be concerned about you being able to do this job.’”

Not only did Rodriguez prove her wrong, but she went on to excel in her career, becoming a leading anchor in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the U.S. During her time with NBC New York, Rodriguez has covered defining moments in the city’s history including the Sept. 11 attacks, Hurricane Sandy and COVID. Additionally, Rodriguez is a board member of the Cristian Rivera Foundation, an organization working to fight pediatric brain cancer. 

“I always want other women in this business that I work with to know that it’s okay. Nobody’s gonna remember that you took the day off to take your son on the school trip. You’ll remember if you don’t,” said Rodriguez.

It was clear that a lot of people just thought I didn’t belong or that I just got this job because I’m a Latina and that there’s no way I’m really qualified like everybody else. That’s always been the case, and for me that fuels me.

Darlene Rodriguez, leading anchor at NBC New York

Rodriguez’s ambition to be a journalist started when she was a kid;she said she “never wanted to do anything else.” 

“My mother was a news junkie. We lived in the Bronx. My mother was a single mom, super hard working. … Every evening, when she got home from work, she was cooking and we’d watch the news.”

Rodriguez credited much of her career success to her upbringing:

“I think being a woman, being Puerto Rican, being from the Bronx, growing up poor, those are things that a lot of people would consider… strikes against you. I wasn’t raised like that. I actually felt like and still feel like that makes you strong. That gives you a grit. That gives you an exterior.”

Nobody’s gonna remember that you took the day off to take your son on the school trip. You’ll remember if you don’t.

Rodriguez

“I think having that tough exterior—because so many people always thought so little of me—I would get to places, and especially in this business in the very beginning, it was hard because it was clear that a lot of people just thought I didn’t belong or that I just got this job because I’m a Latina and that there’s no way I’m really qualified like everybody else. That’s always been the case, and for me that fuels me.”