The Transformation Of Dylan Dreyer From Childhood To 41 Years Old
NBC meteorologist Dylan Dreyer has been an integral part of Americans' morning routines for quite some time now. And much like weather, her life has undergone a number of changes. From being a part of an HBO series and succeeding as a meteorologist on NBC, to having kids and writing two children's books, she has accomplished a lot — and there is only more on the horizon.
And Dreyer has worked hard to get where she is. Of her impressive career, she once said in an interview with her alma mater, "The road to becoming a broadcast meteorologist is anything but easy. It takes sacrifice, commitment, perseverance, and a very thick skin. A good dose of luck didn't hurt either."
While her life hasn't always been sunshine and rainbows, Dylan Dreyer has dealt with it all with strength and grace, never letting anything stop her from growing. Throughout the years, she has lived a life that encourages and inspires us all, and her incredible transformation is something worth admiring.
Dylan Dreyer was born in New Jersey
Dylan Dreyer was born in New Jersey in 1981. "I'm very proud to be from New Jersey," she once told New Jersey Monthly. "It's the reason I am who I am." Dreyer grew up with her mom, dad, and two older brothers in Manalapan Township.
In 2019, Dreyer made a trek to her hometown and brought "Today" with her. During the filmed segment, she took viewers on a tour of some of her favorite spots, including the property that used to be her grandparents' farm and the ice cream shop she worked at. (A fitting gig, given her last name.) But the true highlight? Her childhood home. "This is the most exciting part," Dreyer said as she walked up the drive. "This the house I grew up in. ... The house my dad built!" Though the meteorologist's family no longer owns the home, she and her father got a chance to go inside and see what's changed and what's stayed the same since they lived there. Next, she and her father hit the aforementioned ice cream shop and her favorite pizza place. "It wouldn't be a trip home if we didn't come to Federici's," she said.
Softball was a big part of her childhood
Dylan Dreyer graduated from Manalapan High School in New Jersey in 1999. In 2017, Dreyer took "Today" back to her alma mater for a tour down memory lane. Though she enjoyed academic subjects like physics, her favorite part of high school was an extracurricular. "My true passion in high school: softball," she shared in a voiceover.
During her visit, she reunited with her former coach, who declared, "This young lady was the toughest, the fastest, quality person that we had here at Manalapan for a long time." The two even recalled how he once threw a bat out of annoyance when Dreyer had a particularly tough game. For the segment, she suited up and played with the team, even scoring a run.
Dreyer's love of the game began early, thanks to her older brothers. "I always wanted to be doing whatever they were doing," she once shared on the "Break a Bat" podcast. "So I started playing [T-ball] when I was five years old." Before she knew it, she was playing for her high school's softball team.
The college class that changed her life
By the time Dylan Dreyer got to university, her softball career began to wane. "I didn't go on to play in college, I wasn't good enough to play at Rutgers," she told the "Break a Bat" podcast. But she eventually found a new passion. In a video package for NBC News, she shared that she originally planned to study engineering at Rutgers University, but once she was there, it didn't take her much time to find her true calling. "My favorite freshman year class was Meteorology 101. It was before I even knew I wanted to get into meteorology," she said.
Thanks to that class, Dreyer switched her major to meteorology, and the rest is history. According to her NBC News bio, she graduated cum laude from the university in 2003. She was one of the few women in the department at the time, but as she said in New Jersey Monthly, "I never really thought, Oh I'm a girl in a male field." She also was a weather anchor for the Rutgers radio station and television network.
She was briefly seen in a 2002 Sex and the City episode
Even if you are a day one "Sex and the City" fan who has seen every episode at least a dozen times, we'd be willing to bet you did not know Dylan Dreyer was a part of the hit series. While taking "Today" on a tour of her hometown, Dreyer revealed that Jake's Cree Mee Freeze was not only where she worked her first job, but it also set the stage for her first-ever television appearance. As New Jersey Monthly noted, she pops up in "SATC" Season 5 episode "I Love a Charade."
In the episode, Dreyer can be spotted wiping her nose in the background at the ice cream shop as Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) invites Jack Berger (Ron Livingston) to a party in Hamptons. The meteorologist noted on "Today" that she didn't have to audition for her stint on the series. "'Sex and the City' wanted to shoot a scene at a 'Long Island-y looking' ice cream shop, and this was in New Jersey, and I was in the background serving ice cream," she recalled to her cohosts. Dreyer also assured them that was not sick on the job; the nose wipe was a result of being nervous about, you know, sharing a scene with SJP. Hey, who can blame her?
She has been with NBC since 2003
Per her NBC News bio, Dylan Dreyer joined the NBC family in 2003 when she became the meteorologist for WICU-TV in Erie, Pennsylvania. After that, she went to WJAR-TV in Providence, Rhode Island, and Boston's WHDH-TV. (She once told New Jersey Monthly that thanks to her time on the "Today in New England" team, people incorrectly assume she hails from Beantown.) In 2012, she joined "Weekend Today" as a weather reporter, and then became a regular on "NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt" and "Today." In 2022, Dreyer announced she'd be leaving "Weekend Today" after almost a decade, but would still be on the weekday show "3rd Hour Today."
Throughout her years working with NBC News, she has served as a live reporter during some of the worst weather calamities, such as Hurricane Harvey. She also started hosting "Journey with Dylan Dreyer" in 2016, and the series ran for two seasons. She has been hosting "Earth Odyssey With Dylan Dreyer" since 2019.
While her career has been full of impressive achievements and successes, that's not to say Dreyer hasn't met some road blocks along the way. Alongside an Instagram photo of a rejection letter she received in 2003, she wrote, "Stumbled upon this today...a perfect reminder to never give up!!"
Dylan Dreyer fell in love Brian Fichera
Dylan Dreyer and Brian Fichera were coworkers first. As Dreyer shared on their wedding website, "We met at WHDH, where Brian is an in-studio technician, or 'The Camerman' as we call him." After working together at the Boston station for a few years, sparks flew. As reported by The Boston Globe, the couple got engaged in July 2011.
The proposal took place on the front porch of Fichera's parents' house in Easton, and apparently, everyone but Dreyer knew that Fichera was about to pop the question — Dreyer's friends and family were already there in the backyard, waiting for her to say yes. However, Dreyer, being Dreyer, didn't take much time to realize what was about to happen. She told the outlet, "When I saw there were roses and two glasses of champagne, I knew." The power couple tied the knot in October 2012 and has been going strong ever since.
In 2016, Dylan Dreyer became a mom
In June 2016, the "Today" host revealed that she was expecting her first child, a baby boy, during a round of Friday Fishbowl on the show. In a blog published by Today, Dylan Dreyer wrote, "[My husband and I] weren't in a rush to have kids and, to be honest, there was a time when we declared we never wanted kids! Then one day we both looked at each other and said 'I want a baby!' As usual, we were on the same page and it all just seemed right."
Throughout her pregnancy, Dreyer recorded video dairies for "Today" where she regularly got candid and emotional about pregnancy, parenthood, and her future. ""I had this moment the other day. This moment of — oh my gosh, in two months we're going to have a baby. And I'm kind of scared to death about how my life is going to change!" Of course, her life was going to change, but as she would remind herself, that change would be for the better. "I get into that excited phase again where I just can't wait to meet this little guy," she added.
Dreyer and Brian Fichera welcomed their first son, whom they named Calvin Bradley Fichera, in December 2016. Going by Dreyer's Instagram grid, the now-5-year-old is clearly an excellent older brother to his younger siblings.
She has been open about her fertility issues
In April 2019, Dylan Dreyer and Brian Fichera went on "Today" to talk about the miscarriage Dreyer endured while she was already struggling with secondary infertility. Secondary infertility is a condition that prevents someone from successfully having a baby after they've given birth before. In the segment, she noted that she wanted other people suffering from secondary infertility to know that they are not alone.
In a 2021 Instagram post, Dreyer opened up about her struggles with pumping milk as well as her inability to put an end to breastfeeding. In the caption, she wrote, "Pumping gave me such dysphoria...a feeling that wasn't really a depression, just a momentary fleeting feeling of hatred toward everyone and everything in the moment and a feeling of nausea that was sickening." However, despite having an experience that bad, she found it difficult to stop breastfeeding altogether. Secondary infertility and breastfeeding struggles are very real but not frequently discussed, and Dreyer using her platform to shine a light on both struck a chord with many.
Dylan Dreyer is a proud mother of three sons
In July 2019, Dylan Dreyer announced she was expecting her second child. Later that day, during the "3rd hour of Today," the meteorologist's then-two-year-old son Calvin helped reveal the sex of the baby in the sweetest way possible. Surprising the audience as a special guest, Calvin Fichera, who wore a blue shirt with "big brother" written on it, entered the set in a blue kid's SUV with blue balloons attached to it. Brian Fichera came along with Calvin sporting a blue tuxedo as well. "I'm a boy mom," Dreyer emphasized during the reveal.
The couple's second son, Oliver George Fichera, made his grand entry into the world in January 2020. Their third son, Russell James Fichera, joined the family of four in September 2021. According to Today, the couple was expecting their third child to be born in November 2021, but Dreyer's water broke early, and they ended up having the baby in September that year.
While she clearly loves being a mom to three, that's not to say it's always a breeze. In April 2022, she posted a photo of her sons and husband that she snapped before heading out to work one morning. "Sleep is on short supply. I'm so tired I'm dizzy," she shared. "But no matter how tired and irritable I am, I couldn't help but feel a little heartbreak leaving this morning. I miss them all the second I leave the house."
Her love of meteorology inspired a book series
As the old saying goes, write what you know. Dylan Dreyer knows a thing or two about weather and meteorology, and she made sure to incorporate all of that into her children's book series. In October 2021, "Misty the Cloud: A Very Stormy Day" hit shelves, just weeks after the birth of her third son. While announcing the release of her book on a March 2021 episode of the morning news show, Dreyer broke down the premise for her "Today" co-hosts. "So Misty, she's a cloud, you know, and she and her friends are going through all of the things our kids are going through, but when Misty has a really bad day, her day turns into a giant thunderstorm," she explained. Dreyer also shared that her husband, Brian Fichera, was involved in the series' development. "This has been something that's ten years in the making. Brian and I came up with this idea and it's finally here," she said.
The sequel, which is titled "Misty the Cloud: Friends Through Rain or Shine," was released on September 13, 2022. As Dreyer shared on "Today," the book explores universal subjects like sharing, friendship, and compromises. Yes, even an anthropomorphized cloud has to learn how to compromise. "We all need to figure out our emotions and what to do with them sometimes and this one especially, it's all just about getting along," Dreyer told E! News. How thunderful, er, wonderful.