ATLANTA -- Tara Jones joined the Channel 2 Action News Team in March of 2006 as a part-time reporter. Originally from New Jersey she quickly found her home in the South when she moved to Florida as a teenager. Her love of broadcasting blossomed there when she created and hosted her own syndicated, talk show entitled, Teen Talk, which awarded her a Young Floridian Award in Journalism.

A graduate of Florida State University, this Seminole began her professional journalism career at KSDK-TV in St. Louis, Missouri as an overnight anchor and morning reporter. It was there that she was honored to be a part of the Emmy Award winning coverage of the 1999 Papal Visit of Pope John Paul II.

From the Gateway to the West it was back South to Knoxville, Tennessee at WBIR. There, Tara was able to spread her creative wings working as a feature reporter and field anchor for the news magazine, Live at Five. It was on one of these stories that she met her husband, a ballroom dance instructor.

Before joining WSB-TV, Tara worked as an education and general assignment reporter at WSPA in Spartanburg, S.C. Through her investigative work she was able to uncover numerous school board wrong-doings throughout the state. Her most rewarding story was exposing dangerous bus overcrowding resulting in a change of regulations within the school district to ensure the safety of the children. While in Spartanburg, Tara was nominated as one of South Carolina’s Women of the Year.

When she's not reporting, you'll most likely find Tara around her family…all of whom have relocated to the metro Atlanta area. Tara now lives in Gwinnett County with her husband, Waylon, her daughter, Skylar and her two Jack Russells, Simon and Jiggy.

Tara is also a licensed real estate agent in the state of Georgia.

You can e-mail Tara at tara.jones@wsbtv.com.