Monica Dean is a National Edward R. Murrow Award-winning anchor and reporter for NBC 7 San Diego. She co-anchors NBC 7’s weekday newscasts. Dean joined NBC 7 in 2004.

Most recently, she led a year-long investigation into the sex trafficking and exploitation of children in San Diego and beyond. The findings of her extensive reporting became the foundation of a seven-episode documentary series and multimedia platform titled “STOLEN,” available at nbc7.com/stolen. Since the digital launch of “STOLEN” in August 2020, Dean’s work has been recognized with a Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) National Murrow Award for Excellence in Innovation, three Regional Murrow Awards, a Golden Mike Award, four Emmy Awards, Silver and Bronze Telly Awards, and three honors from the Society of Professional Journalists San Diego chapter.

Throughout her nearly two decades at NBC 7, Dean has earned Emmy Awards for coverage ranging from the 2007 San Diego wildfires to the 2016 protests at the Donald Trump rally in San Diego.

She also helped establish the KNSD Academy, an experiential learning program at NBC 7 & Telemundo 20 that introduces high school students to careers in television news. She regularly emcees galas for nonprofit organizations supporting children, survivors of sex trafficking, and emergency preparedness and response efforts. Dean is also an accomplished motivational speaker.

Dean has lived and worked around the world, but California has always been home. Raised in a military family, she spent part of her senior year of high school as an exchange student in Australia. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in English from UCLA and her Master of Science in Journalism from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, where she received the Harrington Award, Medill’s top honor for graduate students.

She began her television news career in 1998 behind the scenes at KTTV FOX-11 News in Los Angeles. She later worked on-air as a Washington, D.C. correspondent for WCAX, the CBS affiliate in Burlington, Vermont. From 2002 to 2004, she worked in Bakersfield, California for KBAK/KBFX-TV, the CBS/FOX affiliates, where she received multiple awards from the Associated Press and the Kern Press Club.

Dean is passionate about family, faith, and community. She is married and has three school-age children, all active in their church community. She frequently volunteers at school, teaches art to elementary students, moderates classroom book clubs, emcees school events, hosts church youth groups, and inspires future journalists through interactive presentations. On weekends, she can often be found cheering from the sidelines at her children’s sporting events and performing arts activities.