By Kent Gibbons

Wonder Women of New York, the gala luncheon honoring 15 leading women executives in the TV industry and the 2024 Woman of Influence, Sarah Kate Ellis, has announced three prominent network anchors who will present the awards at the March 21 event at the Ziegfeld Ballroom.

Victoria Arlen, the ESPN host and reporter; Kristine Johnson, anchor at CBS New York/WCBS Channel 2, and Natasha Verma, anchor at FOX 5 New York, will host the ceremony, honoring the 26th annual Multichannel News Wonder Women of New York. Once again, the New York chapter of The WICT Network is MCN’s event partner for the Wonder Women awards.

Multichannel News is proud to have these three skilled on-air news professionals join us in celebrating the accomplishments of women who are helping lead their media and entertainment organizations to success now and in future.

Please meet the hosts of Wonder Women of New York 2024:

Paralympian gold medalist Victoria Arlen joined ESPN in December 2015 and works as a host and reporter. She has hosted the television, international and Snapchat versions of SportsCenter as well as ESPN digital programs including SportsNation, Hoop Streams, TUF and Caps Off. She also has been a fill-in host for First Take. In addition, she is a reporter for the X Games and Special Olympics.

Hired at the age of 20, she became one of ESPN’s youngest regular reporters ever. She made her ESPN television debut as a features venue reporter at the 2015 Special Olympics World Games in Los Angeles. She also has reported from the Invictus Games and for the SEC Network’s coverage of swimming and diving, among other assignments.

Arlen has a remarkable story of overcoming odds and adversity. At 11 years old, she was diagnosed with two rare conditions; Transverse Myelitis and Acute Disseminated Encephalomyelitis. She soon lost the ability to speak, eat, walk and move. She slipped into a vegetative state in which doctors had written her off as a lost cause. Arlen spent nearly four years “locked” inside her own body, completely aware of what was going on but unable to move or communicate. Doctors believed there was little hope of survival and recovery was unlikely, but Arlen was not ready to give up. In 2010, after almost four years, she began the nearly impossible fight back to life, learning how to speak, eat and move all over again.

During her recovery, she became an accomplished motivational speaker, actress, model and competitive swimmer. In early 2012, Arlen qualified to compete in the 2012 London Paralympic Games, winning a gold medal in the 100-meter freestyle event in a new world record time along with three silver medals in the 50-meter, 400-meter and the 4×100-meter freestyle relay. In addition, Arlen has also broken several other World, American and Pan American Records.

In the spring of 2016, Arlen defied odds yet again and after spending nearly a decade in a wheelchair paralyzed from the waist down, she was able to learn how to take one step after another and eventually learn how to walk again. Within a year and a half in the Fall of 2017, she learned to dance as a contestant on ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, advancing to the final five before being eliminated.

Her autobiography, entitled “Locked In,” was published in 2018 and in April of 2018, ESPN Films debuted a 30 for 30 titled “Locked In” based on her story.

Arlen is carrying out her dream of helping others, serving as the Founder and Co-Chair of Victoria’s Victory Foundation, a nonprofit that assists those with mobility challenges to achieve their own personal victory.

In addition to her work with ESPN, she also is a co-host of American Ninja Warrior Junior.

Born in Boston, Mass., Arlen was raised in Exeter, New Hampshire, and attended Exeter High School. Despite missing five years of schooling, she returned to high school and graduated within three years.

Kristine Johnson co-anchors the 5 p.m. & 11 p.m. news at the CBS owned and operated station in New York City. She joined CBS New York in the fall of 2006. Since then, she has been the recipient of several Emmy awards. She has navigated her viewers through numerous breaking news events, including Hurricane Sandy, the Newtown school massacre, the Boston marathon bombings and two separate papal visits to the Big Apple. She also anchors weekly on the network’s digital streaming platform, is a fill-in anchor for CBS Mornings and has filed reports for CBS Sunday Morning.

In 1994, Johnson began her career at WPRI in Providence, Rhode Island. She was hired as a part-time assignment editor. Over the next 10 years she transitioned through several production positions to her ultimate goal of reporting.

She left Providence for New York City in 2004. She was hired by MSNBC and anchored daytime coverage. She is honored to represent WCBS at various events around the Tri-State Area. She’s worked closely with the greater New York chapters of the Susan G. Komen Race for a Cure, March of Dimes, The Brain Tumor Foundation and the Stephen Siller Tunnel to Towers Run. She lives with her family in Northern New Jersey. She completed two NYC marathons and credits yoga for keeping her “balanced.”

Natasha Verma is the co-anchor of The 5 O’clock News, The 6 O’Clock News and The 10 O’clock News at WNYW FOX 5. Verma joined FOX 5 in October 2022 from KUSA in Denver, where she was a weekday morning anchor. Prior to her time in Denver, Verma worked as a reporter and anchor for NBC10 in Boston, and WBBH in Fort Myers, Florida.

She started her career in broadcast journalism as a reporter for News 12 The Bronx in New York. A graduate of Columbia University, she holds a master’s with honors in Journalism, earned at age 18. She is the University of Texas’s youngest-ever graduate and recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Young Texas Exes Award.

At 17, she earned two undergraduate degrees, in Broadcast Journalism and Biology Pre-Med. She is also a cancer survivor and founder of the Verma Foundation, which is a national non-profit organization committed to giving real-hair cap wigs to cancer patients.