OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — Alyssa Curtis is the newest addition to the anchor desk at KMTV 3 News Now, but she also works as a reporter in the field who writes, edits and records her own stories. She traded the beaches of Miami for the windy plains of Nebraska in order to continue her passion for journalism.
Miami Native
Alyssa was born and raised in sunny Miami, Florida. A lover of all things "305," Alyssa spent her many weekends lounging at the beach. She loves the warmth and all the culture that the south Florida city brings and loves going back to visit as much as she can. While she’s made Omaha her new home, Miami will always be home, especially with most of her family still there.
Upstate New York
Alyssa studied at Ithaca College in upstate New York. There, she majored in journalism and minored in sports studies and spent a lot of her time participating in extracurricular activities. She was a writer for the sports section of the college's newspaper, The Ithacan, and also reported and anchored for the student-led broadcast, ICTV.
In addition, she wrote for a number of other publications like Passion Project and Buzzsaw. Through the journalism program, Alyssa also covered the 2019 Women’s March in D.C., which is still one of her favorite reporting experiences. Many people ask why Alyssa left Miami for upstate New York, but she loved her time in Ithaca and chose it specifically for its journalism program.
Dance
Alyssa started dancing when she was three years old and still likes to take classes once in a while. She’s professionally trained in classical ballet and modern dance. She’s also done tap, lyrical, hip hop and jazz. She was on the junior dance team for the Miami Marlins when she was younger. Alyssa was also the captain of her college dance team, ICDT, where she choreographed for her team performances at football and basketball games.
Dog Mom
Alyssa is a proud dog mom to Biscuit. Her little brother surprised her with Biscuit during the pandemic after his friends found a stray dog. While Biscuit's breed has never been confirmed, Biscuit is likely a terrier mix. He loves belly scratches and Goldfish, but hates the snow.
Budding Career
Alyssa has always wanted to be a journalist. When she was in elementary school she was a part of the morning news, WRGE-TV at Royal Green Elementary. She often read the school lunch menu, weather and sometimes ran the camera. Alyssa likes to think that’s where her reporting career began.
Proud Heritage
Alyssa is of mixed race and comes from a Caribbean background. Her mom is half-Cuban and half-Colombian and her dad’s family is from the Bahamas. She’s not completely fluent, but she does speak and understand Spanish. She’s working on becoming fluent.
Alyssa's grown up eating food authentic to her ethnicity, so that has meant lots of conch fritters and arroz con pollo. She loves that her family raised her with a strong connection to her history.
Family
Alyssa has two brothers she’s very close to. While they don’t all live close together anymore, they hope to one day soon. She says her brothers, one who is older and one who is younger, are her best friends.
She also has two nieces and another niece or nephew on the way — it's too early to say which. She visits them as much as she can and, of course, spoils them rotten. Auntie days often look like High School Musical marathons, lots of cookies and making TikTok videos.
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