Dari Mandell joined the NJN News team in October 2006. Mandell has worked for NJN Public Television since 2001 as an associate producer for award-winning documentaries and writer and on-air host for NJN’s weekly calendar – Here Comes the Weekend. Since joining the newsroom, she has covered the top news of the day and feature stories. Some of her in-depth reports include the 2007 Pinelands forest fire, New Jersey floods, and stories on the preservation of historic buildings. She loves the excitement of going out on stories and never knowing what she’ll uncover and the joy of meeting new people all over the state.

In addition to hosting Here Comes the Weekend, Mandell was a contributing segment producer and reporter for the Emmy-award winning show, Classroom Close-Up from 2001 to 2007. In 2003, she received a NY Emmy Award and Golden CINE Eagle Award for her work as associate producer on the documentary about the preservation of open space in New Jersey, The Race for Open Space.

Mandell graduated from the Phillip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland with a bachelor's degree in Broadcast Journalism. As a college student, she reported, produced and anchored Maryland Newsline, a nightly news program that broadcasts to suburban Maryland and Washington, DC. She produced the documentary Smith Island: Tides of Change and received the SPJ Mark of Excellence Award for Best Feature and Best Feature Photography.