Melissa Stokes
{{Short description|New Zealand newsreader and reporter}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=May 2025}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Melissa Stokes
| birth_name = Melissa Tania Stokes
| birth_date = {{Birth based on age as of date|41|2020|February}}
| birth_place =
| television = {{Hlist|1News|Breakfast}}
}}
Melissa Tania Stokes (born {{Birth based on age as of date|41|2020|February|noage=y}}{{Cite news |date=20 February 2020 |title=TVNZ presenter Melissa Stokes on balancing working mum life |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/tv-guide/119578799/tvnz-presenter-melissa-stokes-on-her-career-and-custommade-wardrobe |access-date=10 May 2025 |work=Stuff}}) is a New Zealand television newsreader and reporter. She is the newsreader of 1News during the weekends.
Early life and education
Stokes grew up in Tauranga. Her first job was working at the deli section of a New World supermarket.{{Cite news |date=12 October 2024 |title=TVNZ newsreader Melissa Stokes opens up about parenting her ADHD son - No Such Thing as Normal |url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/tvnz-newsreader-melissa-stokes-opens-up-about-parenting-her-adhd-son-no-such-thing-as-normal/WMLH6XCOJRDOLNN334Z3JJMZZM/ |access-date=10 May 2025 |work=The New Zealand Herald}} Her parents ran fabric shops and she worked for them as a teenager. At age 16, she and her family moved to Christchurch, where she finished high school and attended broadcasting school. Her uncle, Spencer Jolly, was a TVNZ journalist during Robert Muldoon's term as prime minister, and later worked for Channel 9 in Brisbane. Because of this, as a teenager Stokes visited the channel's studio. She has said her uncle partly inspired her to work in television.
Career
Stokes began working for TVNZ in 2001, as a reporter for the morning news programme Breakfast. Between 2006 and 2008, she was the TVNZ Europe correspondent.{{Cite news |date=11 December 2023 |title='Her Majesty': The story Melissa Stokes will never forget |url=https://www.1news.co.nz/2023/12/11/her-majesty-the-story-melissa-stokes-will-never-forget/ |access-date=10 May 2025 |work=1News}} In December 2018 it was announced that Stokes would replace Peter Williams to become the 1News at 6pm newsreader during the weekends.{{Cite news |date=6 December 2018 |title=Melissa Stokes to replace Peter Williams as the host of 1 News on the weekends |url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/109139282/melissa-stokes-to-replace-peter-williams-as-the-host-of-1-news-on-the-weekends |access-date=10 May 2025 |work=Stuff}} On the same day of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, Stokes travelled to the United Kingdom as a presenter for TVNZ's rolling coverage of the event.
Personal life
Stokes is married to Dave Pierce, a cameraman,{{Cite news |date=17 January 2024 |title=Melissa Stokes on her mum's lasting legacy: "She didn't want to be in pain anymore" |url=https://www.nowtolove.co.nz/celebrity/celeb-news/melissa-stokes-mum-cancer-48175/ |access-date=10 May 2025 |work=Woman's Day}} and they have two children. Her mother chose to die by euthanasia after having cancer for about seven years.{{Cite news |date=13 January 2024 |title=Melissa Stokes: The day my much-loved mother chose to die |url=https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/01/15/melissa-stokes-the-day-my-much-loved-mother-chose-to-die/ |access-date=10 May 2025 |work=1News}}