Born on September 17 1982, to Roseann Zlemek and Thomas Mele, Jillian Mele is an American television correspondent. Mele originally hails from Glenside, Montgomery, but most of her professional career had been based around the Philadelphia area. She started her career in broadcasting as an new desk anchor for local stations in Presque Isle, Maine, and Binghamton, New York. She later moved on to a seven-year stint at NBC 10, the local affiliate station for Philadelphia. Subsequently, she was recruited to become a member of Comcast SportsNet Philadelphia, where she was one of four co-hosts of Breakfast on Board. Since the cancellation of that show in February of 2017, Mele has continued her career on cable at the Fox News Channel, where she has become part of the Fox and Friends team.
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Jillian studied communication for two years at The University of Scranton before moving to and graduating from La Salle University in May of 2005, with a degree in arts and communication. During this time, she was very active in sports and would participate in hockey, softball, and volleyball. Her enthusiasm and dedication to sports was not relegated to only the field. After her graduation, she had her first stint at Comcast Sportsnet Philadelphia, albeit only as an intern. But this internship would eventually lead her career back to CSN, where she would go on to win two Emmy Awards for her work with Breakfast on Board.
There is precious little personal information about Jillian on the internet as she tends to keep a low profile. And even following her on social media, fans have come to find that she is rather elusive when it comes to giving out information concerning her private life. However, despite her usually mum nature regarding such matters, she has let it slip on a couple of occasions in tweets that she has a boyfriend from Boston. Her fans have speculated that she may be secretly married to this mysterious boyfriend. Yet, no official records or certificates can confirm such rumors. When she is not busy with her work, she spends her time partying, travelling, reading, writing and keeping herself fit. Jillian has revealed next to nothing regarding her childhood or her early days. The only thing she has said so far was on Mother’s Day as she reminisced about how her mother has always been there for her and always been very supportive of her goals and ambitions throughout her life. Thus far, no mention regarding her father or other siblings have been made publicly.
Her broadcasting career thus far has always had a strong emphasis on sports related coverage as exemplified by her association with CSN. However, she is also known for being extremely versatile during her time as a local news anchor. And, in that capacity, she’s covered some major news events including the destructive floods which occurred in June of 2007. She has also played a special role as a traffic reporter during her time with NBC 10.
Before NBC 10, she was at Binghamton, New York working as a co-anchor for the local evening news. It was there that she covered the 2007 floods, during which she gained an appreciation for how helpful and important the information in weather reports and news coverage could be for local communities and how impactful the nature of her work was in general.
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While Jillian is still a relative newcomer to the media field, her versatile skillset and already impressive resume has certainly started garnering the attention and respect that she deserves. As mentioned before her work on Breakfast on Board for Comcast SportNet has already netted her an Emmy Award, and her continued work on a national cable network like Fox News is sure to get her furthered noticed by the American public.
However, Jillian’s involvement in public life is not just limited to her various roles in news media, she also currently sits on the board of Philadelphia’s Equality Forum. The Equality Forum is a non-profit organization which coordinates and educates on behalf of the LGBT community. Their works have included the production of multiple acclaim documentaries and hosting of the largest annual national and international LGBT civil rights summit. Her involvement demonstrates her dedication to a rather progressive stance on the issue of marriage equality in the United States. In fact, some of her followers have openly speculated whether her role with the Equality Forum would put her at odds with the decidedly conservative crowd over at her current job at Fox News Channel.
While she tends to reveal very little in terms of personal details, this doesn’t seem to keep her from being rather active on social media and Twitter, where fans can follow her to get more updates about her current work and projects. As mentioned before she did tweet recently that she has a boyfriend from Boston. Some commenters, however have speculated that these are nothing more than fabrications designed to keep people from knowing too much about her private life. And it should be noted that, a few rumors have been circulating that due to her involvement with the Equality Forum, and rather nebulous references to an alleged boyfriend, that Mele may indeed be a lesbian, though of course this rumor isn’t not something Jillian would comment on.
Like other news personalities in the media, Jillian generally seem to keep a very low profile when it comes to such aspects of her personal life. It’s claimed that by keeping their professional and personal life separate, coverage can be presented in a more impartial manner with the focus remaining on the content matter rather than the delivery. Keeping a relatively low profile also helps reports maintain a modicum of privacy for their family and loved ones. However, if Jillian is indeed being coy about her mystery boyfriend to cover for her sexuality, it’s completely understandable as she wouldn’t be the first to do so. Her fellow Fox News alumnus Shep Smith famously avoided coming out for over 20 years into his broadcasting career.
Last Modified: Apr 8, 2020