Melissa Holmes co-anchors Western New York's #1 rated morning newscast, 2 On Your Side's Daybreak, each weekday from 4:30 to 7:00 a.m. Melissa joined WGRZ in January 2012 and couldn't be more proud to be part of the Channel 2 News team and stand up for Western New Yorkers. After all, she is one herself.
She grew up in Amherst and is a graduate of Sweet Home High School. Melissa graduated Summa Cum Laude from Syracuse University's S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications where she majored in Broadcast Journalism. She studied abroad in London and traveled Europe while working in the "War Room" at Sky News. Melissa worked at Syracuse's WTVH-5 as a producer, and WSYR-9 as reporter and anchor before returning home to work in Buffalo at WIVB-TV in 2005.
She's covered major stories that have touched the lives of Western New Yorkers, like the search for Ralph "Bucky" Phillips, the Surprise October Storm, the arrest and conviction of the Bikepath Rapist, the Crash of Flight 3407, and the "Snowvember" Storm of 2014.
Buffalo is known as the "City of Good Neighbors" and Melissa is proud to showcase the people and organizations that help the city live up to its name in her weekly "Good Neighbors" and "Selfless Among Us" series which she produces, shoots, writes and edits.
Melissa earned a Regional Edward R. Murrow Award in 2018 for her report "Under the Helmet," profiling a Super Bowl winning NFL player who battled mental illness and the stigma surrounding it. The same story earned Melissa first place for Public Service with the New York State Associated Press awards. She is a three-time New York State Emmy award winner for her 2016 report about two young leukemia patients who fell in love, for Best Morning Newscast in 2014, and for her morning reporting during a windstorm in 2009. In 2013, Medaille College honored Melissa with the Female News Anchor of the Year Award.
What's most rewarding to Melissa though, is being a wife and mom. Her husband, Jay Skurski, is the Buffalo Bills beat reporter for The Buffalo News, and their son, Elliott, is ranked among the top young golfers in the world. You'll find them on the golf course (with Melissa driving the golf cart since she's a terrible player), trying new restaurants (since Melissa can't cook), enjoying Buffalo's many festivals, and attending dozens of charitable events each year. They live in Snyder with their cockapoo Lucy.
E-mail Melissa at Melissa.Holmes@wgrz.com
See her on Instagram @MelissaHolmesTV
Follow her on Twitter @2MelissaHolmes
"Like" her on Facebook at Melissa Holmes-WGRZ
