At 11 years old, Traci Mitchell was too young to walk the beat, but old enough to know she wanted to be a news reporter.

Any weekday morning, you now can find her covering news out of the nation's Capitol at the Hearst-Argyle Washington Bureau. She joined the team in the summer of 2003, launching the Bureau's first-ever morning news segment.

Traci kicked off her career at our sister station, WCVB-TV in Boston. She moved on to new markets in West Virginia and North Carolina as an anchor, reporter and public affairs show host.

She also worked as a Washington Correspondent for Cox Broadcasting, then headed to San Francisco to cover local breaking news as the lead reporter and a substitute anchor for KTVU-TV.

Traci taught broadcast journalism courses at the University of Maryland at College Park.

Traci lives in Maryland with her husband and young son.