Melissa Martz

Melissa Martz is a photojournalist and Twins blogger for WCCO-TV.

She started her career in Fargo, N.D. at WDAY-TV, covering blizzards and floods. She also produced the 5 and 10 p.m. newscasts for a year, but discovered she just didn’t like sitting at a desk, so she focused on photography, where she can be out covering the news.

After Fargo, Melissa moved to Fort Myers, Fla. Where she worked for WINK-TV, a CBS affiliate. She worked there for four months before Hurricane Charley hit, with the eye of the storm passing right over her house. She describes it as “four months of normal and then nothing but hurricane stories for a year.”

In addition to Hurricane Charley, she has covered five other hurricanes: Frances, Ivan, Jeanne, Wilma and Rita.

After a year of hurricane coverage, Melissa moved to Topeka, Kan., where she worked for KTKA-TV and covered Kansas University basketball and football.

She also covered a lot of military stories because Fort Riley is nearby. One that stands out for her is the story of Afghan soldiers who were being trained in security by U.S. soldiers. Both the U.S. and the Afghan soldiers let Martz film a bomb-scare scenario in a village with fake ammunition. She was able to follow the soldiers on foot, shooting and taking insurgents into custody.

Before coming to WCCO-TV, Melissa worked at WDAF-TV in Kansas City. She covered a lot of ice storms and tornadoes.

Melissa grew up on a farm in Cando, N.D. and was really excited to take the job at WCCO-TV to be much closer to home. She’s a big Twins, Vikings and Fighting Sioux fan. She has a Bachelor of Science in Mass Communications from Minnesota State University – Moorhead.

Melissa also loves animals. She has a dog, Linkin, and two cats: Lil Bit And Spartacus.