Nicola McAlley is a Scottish journalist, currently the Highlands and Islands correspondent for STV News programmes in Northern Scotland.

She grew up in the Hilton area of Inverness

Inverness

Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...

 with her two sisters and first worked for Moray Firth Radio  as a news and travel girl before moving to North Scottish News Services before joining STV North (previously Grampian Television

Grampian Television

Grampian Television is the ITV franchisee for the North and North East of Scotland. Its coverage area includes the Scottish Highlands , Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and parts of north Fife...

) in January 2000, first as a North Tonight

North Tonight

North Tonight was a Scottish nightly regional news programme covering the North of Scotland, produced by STV North .-History:North Tonight began on 7 January 1980 with presenters John Duncanson and Selina Scott...

reporter in Aberdeen

Aberdeen

Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....

 before a secondment to the station's Inverness

Inverness

Inverness is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for the Highland council area, and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands of Scotland...

newsroom almost two years later as the Highlands and Islands regional correspondent, working alongside senior cameraman Alistair Macpherson.