Lia Cruz is a

Filipina Filipinos ( tl, Mga Pilipino) are the people who are citizens of or native to the Philippines. The majority of Filipinos today come from various Austronesian ethnolinguistic groups, all typically speaking either Filipino, English and/or other ...

television host A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...

, news and weather anchor, sportscaster,

podcaster A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing. ...

, writer and producer based in the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

Life and career

Lia was born on July 13, 1985 in Manila, Philippines. She graduated from the

Ateneo de Manila University , mottoeng = Light in the Lord , type = Private, research, non-profit, coeducational basic and higher education institution , established = December 10, 1859 , religious_affiliation = Roman Catholic ( Jesuits) , academic ...

in Manila in 2005, with a degree in AB Communication. She began her TV broadcasting career while still a student here, reporting in the UAAP for

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN (an initialism of its two predecessors' names, Alto Broadcasting System and Chronicle Broadcasting Network) is a Philippine commercial broadcast network that serves as the flagship property of ABS-CBN Corporation, a company unde ...

(

Studio 23 Studio 23 (officially Studio 23, Inc. and previously AMCARA Broadcasting Network) was a Filipino television network owned by ABS-CBN Corporation. The network was named for its flagship station in Metro Manila, DWAC-TV and carried on UHF cha ...

). She has worked with the World Meteorological Organization on projects to create awareness for climate change. Her video from the Philippines on
Weather in 2050
was released worldwide leading up to the 2014 United Nations Climate Summit in New York City. Lia is also a founding member of the international organizatio
Climate Without Borders
founded in 2017 in Brussels, Belgium. Lia has been an endorser of Adidas products in the Philippines. She is married and has one child.

Television and Radio

Lia began her career as she clinched a courtside student-reporting stint in 2005 and 2006 for Ateneo at the

University Athletic Association of the Philippines The University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP), established in 1938, is an athletic association of eight Metro Manila universities in the Philippines. The eight-member schools are Adamson University (AdU), Ateneo de Manila Univers ...

(UAAP) collegiate basketball league on Studio 23. Lia's former TV projects include House of Hoops ( ABC 5), Man and Machine (MTV, Studio 23) Auto Extreme (

Solar Sports Solar may refer to: Astronomy * Of or relating to the Sun ** Solar telescope, a special purpose telescope used to observe the Sun ** A device that utilizes solar energy (e.g. "solar panels") ** Solar calendar, a calendar whose dates indicat ...

), U-Rock (radio show on NU107), and DJ on Heart 103.5. She grew a following from her stints as the main host for BTV under

and as a courtside reporter for the

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

(PBA). In 2010, Lia joined the Kapatid Network, TV5, as one of the hosts of morning news show ' Sapul Sa 5.' She became a weather anchor, and a news anchor for late night news, as well as covered major international sporting events such as the 2012 London Olympics, 2016 Rio Olympics, 2014 FIBA World Cup and the Southeast Asian Games. In 2017, Lia was named as the main presenter of

ESPN 5 One Sports (formerly ABC Sports from 2004 to 2008, Sports5 from 2011 to 2017 and ESPN5 from 2017 to 2020) is the sports division of TV5 Network, Inc. and jointly-operated with sister company Cignal TV. One Sports supplies and airs major spor ...

's flagship sports newscast,

SportsCenter Philippines ''SportsCenter Philippines'' is the flagship newscast of One Sports, the sports division of TV5 Network. It aired on TV5 from December 17, 2017, to January 10, 2020. It is the local version of ''SportsCenter'' following TV5's partnership with g ...

, along with fellow Sports5/ESPN5 presenters

Aaron Atayde Aaron Joshua "Josh Strike" Atayde (born March 10, 1986) is a DJ, TV host, and sports anchor for ABS-CBN Sports' coverage of the UAAP. He is now sports anchor for UFL on AKTV and doing courtside reportage for PBA. Life and career Atayde is a son ...

Magoo Marjon Magoo Marjon is a Filipino sports play-by-play commentator. Career Marjon started his career in 2008 as a courtside reporter for the Philippine Basketball Association games when it was still produced by Solar TV. He was then elevated as a comme ...

and Amanda Fernandez. It was the local version of

SportsCenter ''SportsCenter'' (SC) is a daily sports news television program that serves as the flagship program and brand of American cable and satellite television network ESPN. The show covers various sports teams and athletes from around the world and o ...

following TV5's partnership with global sports network

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

. For this, she and Atayde received training in ESPN headquarters in Bristol, Connecticut in the United States.

Writing

When she was a teen, Lia started writing for Candy Magazine, a magazine for teenage girls published by

Summit Media Summit Publishing Co., Inc., trading as Summit Media, is a Filipino digital lifestyle network in the Philippines. It has 15 media brands attracting around 20 million monthly unique visitors and approximately 33 million social media follower ...

. She was part of the very first Candy Council of Cool, and went on to write for other magazines and publications. She wrote a short story, "claire'sworld.com," for Summit Books' young adult anthology "Coming of Age." She is currently a contributor for the lifestyle section of the

Philippine Daily Inquirer The ''Philippine Daily Inquirer'' (''PDI''), or simply the ''Inquirer'', is an English-language newspaper in the Philippines. Founded in 1985, it is often regarded as the Philippines' newspaper of record. The newspaper is the most awarded br ...

Podcasting

In 2021, Lia launche
What Glass Ceiling?
a podcast about inspiring women and their struggles, together with Stef Orandain-Virata and Trypod Network.

TV shows

* UAAP Basketball games (

Studio 23 (now ABS-CBN Sports & Action) Studio 23 (officially Studio 23, Inc. and stylized in all uppercase as STUDIO 23) was a Philippines, Filipino television network owned by ABS-CBN Corporation. The network was named for its flagship station in Metro Manila, DWAC-TV and carried ...

, 2005-2006) - courtside reporter * PBL (

Studio 23 2008 A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery ( ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industria ...

, 2005-2007;

Solar TV Solar TV (stylized as SOLARtv) was the flagship television network of Solar Entertainment Corporation's television arm subsidiary Solar TV Network, Inc., which is the replacement of C/S 9. This was the revival of the former Solar channel Sol ...

, 2009-2010) *Auto Extreme (

, 2007) *House Of Hoops ( ABC, 2008) *Man and Machine (

MTV Philippines MTV Philippines was a 24-hour music/entertainment television network owned by All Youth Channels, Inc., through a partnership with MTV Networks Asia Pacific. The network originally started its broadcast on January 1, 2001. Two other MTV-brand ...

, 2008-2009) * PBA ( TV5, 2008-2009;

, 2009-2010) - courtside reporter *

Sapul sa Singko ''Sapul sa Singko'' (English: Bullseye on Five), formerly ''Sapul'' (English: Bullseye) was TV5’s daily morning show. The two-hour program premiered on April 5, 2010, as ''Sapul'' and due to its widespread success and viewership, it was expan ...

( TV5, 2010-2012) - host *Tech Trip ( TV5, 2010–2012) - host *Aksyon News Alerts (TV5, 2011-2017) *

Pilipinas News ''Pilipinas News'', roughly translated as ''Philippine News'', was the flagship Filipino language late night news program broadcast by TV5. The show premiere on February 20, 2012, replacing ''Aksyon JournalisMO''. It was anchored by Paolo Bedio ...

( TV5, 2012-2014) - Aksyon Weather anchor * Aksyon Tonite (TV5, 2014 - 2017) - news anchor *

(

ESPN5 One Sports (formerly ABC Sports from 2004 to 2008, Sports5 from 2011 to 2017 and ESPN5 from 2017 to 2020) is the sports division of TV5 Network, Inc. and jointly-operated with sister company Cignal TV. One Sports supplies and airs major spor ...

, 2017–2019) - lead anchor and presenter, correspondent

Radio

* Heart 103.5 (as a DJ, 2007) *U-Rock (

NU 107 Nu or NU may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Nu metal, a heavy metal fusion genre * Nu jazz, a jazz fusion genre * Nu-disco, a genre of dance music * Nu gaze, a shoegaze fusion genre * Nu prog, a subgenre of progressive rock * Nu-funk, ...

, 2005-2010)

Podcasts

What Glass Ceiling? with Lia Cruz
(2021)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cruz, Lia Ateneo de Manila University alumni VJs (media personalities) Filipino television presenters Filipino women television presenters Living people Sports commentators 1985 births News5 people Place of birth missing (living people)