María Vargas-Pion

Is a National Emmy Award-Winning Journalist; she has been News Correspondent and News Reporter at  Telemundo Network, Univisión Nueva York, News 12 Networks, NY1 Noticias, and worked at CNN / Headlines News, where she started her career before graduating from college. 

Among the stories covered by María is the exclusive interview with the mother of a ten-year-old girl who was raped and had to travel from Ohio to Indiana to get an abortion. The case became known globally after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, and abortion laws became more restrictive in 2022. During a news conference, President Joe Biden mentioned the girl's case to announce an executive order to protect access to abortion services. The exclusive interview by Vargas-Pion was cited by other news media organizations with English speaker audiences on television, radio, and in newspapers. The news report won her a 2023 Telly Award.

With over a decade of experience, Vargas-Pion has covered the COVID-19 Pandemic from the initial epicenter of the virus, New York City; various presidential elections, including the U.S. 2020 presidential election; immigration stories, as family reunification; many protests, including demonstrations against the death of the African American, George Floyd from NYC in the middle of the Pandemic. The case of a missing five-year-old child, Dulce María Alavez, who vanished from a city park in N.J. during a visit with her mother and younger brother in 2019; the story brought concern nationally and internationally. In 2020, Vargas-Pion received two regional Emmy nominations for her continuing coverage of more than four months. Vargas-Pion covered the 2016 Chelsea Terror Attack in Manhattan and the fatal Hoboken train crash; both coverages were nominated for the regional N.Y. Emmy Awards. She has covered many breaking news, crimes, natural disasters, health, human interest stories, and entertainment. 

Besides earning a National Emmy Award as part of the Noticias Telemundo team under the category of Outstanding Newscast in September 2021 by the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, María also won a 2022 Telly Award for a story she did during a Noticias Telemundo special to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the Terrorism Attacks on September 11, 2001. Vargas-Pion, won three Garden State Journalists Memorial, including one in 2014 for a two-part interview with Senator Robert Menéndez after the U.S. Senate approved the immigration reform bill in 2013. Among other recognitions: She was the recipient of Reporter of the year 2018 by Premios Latinos N.Y., Communicator of the Year 2016 by Up Rising Stars, N.J., recipient of a Proclamation and Citation by the Jersey City mayor's office in conjunction with the Juan Pablo Duarte Association during the Dominican Independence Day. Throughout the years, she has participated in a few Dominican Parades in New York and New Jersey.  

María's passion for informing the Hispanic community goes beyond the newsroom and reporting from the field. In 2009, Vargas-Pion became a National Spokeswoman for the "Go Red for Women" and "Go Red Por Tu Corazón" campaigns of the American Heart Association dedicated to creating awareness about heart disease, the number one cause of death among Latinas. In 2010, her dedication and effort as a volunteer in this cause led her to be recognized as New York Exceptional Latina 2010 by New York City's oldest Hispanic newspaper, El Diario N.Y.

María Vargas-Pion graduated Magna Cum Laude from Kean University. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Media and Film, International Broadcast Journalism option, and has a second major in Spanish. Vargas-Pion was born and raised in the Dominican Republic and lived a few years in Venezuela, from where she immigrated to the United States. Currently, María resides in New Jersey with her husband and son.