Fashion runs in the family for Channel 7's Yuna Lee

Grandmother, mother influence reporter’s sense of style.

Lee often wears her mother’s and grandmother’s clothing and accessories. This necklace by St. John belongs to her mother.

Staff photo by Ty Greenlees Lee often wears her mother’s and grandmother’s clothing and accessories. This necklace by St. John belongs to her mother.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Staff photo by Ty Greenlees A dress by one of Yuna Lee's favorite designers, Lilly Pulitzer.

ENLARGE PHOTO

Staff photo by Ty Greenlees Lee’s mother picked out this suit. She says she likes to wear pieces that won’t go out of style.

ENLARGE PHOTO

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By Amelia Robinson, Staff Writer 3:56 PM Sunday, January 8, 2012

Yuna Lee’s journey to news was far from a straight shot.

She left college after two years and moved to New York.

She managed a bebe clothing store in her adopted hometown of Richmond, Va. She worked in a lawyer’s office.

Lee even had a stint as a DJ at a top 40 radio station.

“It was all part of finding out who I am,” the WHIO reporter with the mile high mane said.

Like the Dayton Daily News, WHIO is part of Cox Media Group Ohio.

Eventually, the road lead her back to school and to an English degree from the University of Virginia . She says journalism is where she belongs.

“I think everyone has a story to tell,” Lee said. “It’s an honor for me to share their stories with other people.”

Lee has long loved expressing herself through fashion. She said it was passed down from a stylish mother and an equally stylish grandmother.

“I wore a coat my grandmother bought me the other day and got so many compliments,” Lee said. “I get so many more compliments about clothes my grandmother picks out than those I pick out myself.”

Originally from Korea, Lee and her mother, a ballerina, moved to the United States in 1986 for Lee’s education.

They lived throughout the East Coast. Lee eventually enrolled in a boarding school in Richmond. It was there that she picked up her love for big hair.

“People make fun of my big hair,” she said with a laugh. “It is a Southern thing.”

She found a stylist that can get it to the proper fullness locally at Square One Salon.

Lee came to Dayton in August after a time in Harrisonburg, Va., covering politics, and producing and co-anchoring WHSV’s morning newscast.

Lee started her news career as a weekend radio news anchor in Richmond, Va. Her first television news job was as a traffic reporter in West Palm Beach.

Engaged to a radio personality in Cincinnati, Lee says she loves clothes that remind her of a day on the beach.

“Color makes me happy,” she said. “When I am wearing black, I am not having a good day. I like things that are bright and sunny.”

Through her journey, Lee says she learned who she is and who she isn’t. She knows she’s not a big city girl.

Dayton is just the right size, she said.

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