Melanie Woodrow

Connect: LinkedIn

Position: Emmy winning investigative television reporter for ABC7 News in San Francisco, yoga instructor at Yoga Flow SF, Institute for Integrative Nutrition health coach and grief educator 

College and Class Year: College of Human Ecology, 2001

Tell us about what you're doing with your life, including what brought you to the Bay Area.

I began my career in finance, joining an investment bank in New York City after graduating from Cornell. My first day on the job was 9/11/2001. It was after that life-changing day that I felt a deep calling to become a journalist.

Two years later, I left banking to start from the ground up as a Production Assistant at MSNBC. I eventually transitioned to in front of the camera, with early on-air roles in Hagerstown, MD and Norfolk, VA. My big break came in Los Angeles, where I worked as an investigative television reporter on the daytime nationally syndicated talk show The Doctors, before relocating to the Bay Area in 2014.

For more than 20 years, my on-air reporting has been driven by a deep desire to uncover the truth and amplify the voices and stories of those who might otherwise go unheard. To stay grounded, I turned to vinyasa yoga in 2009, became certified to teach in 2010, and have been teaching ever since. My teaching practice and personal practice balance the energy of investigative reporting. I recently completed a grief educator training program with David Kessler and plan to facilitate support groups for those experiencing disenfranchised grief around fertility and IVF.

In what ways have you stayed connected with Cornell since graduating?

I serve as a member of the President's Council of Cornell Women and a mentor to Cornell students. I love reminding the students I mentor that it's okay if they don't have it all mapped out by the time they graduate. Up until senior year I intended to go to law school and then I changed my mind. I've had at least one major early career change, moving from finance to journalism. And I've reinvented myself along the way as well, becoming a certified yoga instructor, health coach and now grief educator.

If you could go back to your years on the Hill - what one piece of advice would you share with that younger version of you?

Out of uncertainty comes great possibility. Whether you're still figuring out what you want to do, where you want to live or who you want to be -- an open, blank canvas is filled with options. Your life will evolve and change for decades to come, well past graduation day. I remind myself daily, that embracing uncertainty is the same as embracing possibility. I truly believe everything is possible for everyone. Limitations are mostly our own beliefs, which we can change at any time.

What was the most important class, club or connection made while at Cornell that has been important in your career (or life) journey?

The career center in the College of Human Ecology and the campus-wide career center. Keep in mind, I graduated before the days of LinkedIn and AI! I honed my resume writing, networking and interviewing skills in the career centers. These skills have served me well, especially as a journalist.