A member of the Nez Perce people, she was the first Native American to file a report on a national news broadcast.
[1][2] She spent the first three years of her life on the Nez Perce Reservation in Lapwai, Idaho before moving to Seattle with her mother.
She continued her education at the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication under a WCCO-TV Minorities in Broadcasting Scholarship.
[2][3] Kauffman started her career on college radio at the University of Minnesota.
She then began to report and anchor for KING 5 News in Seattle, earning four Emmy Awards.