Hazel Mae

Early Life and Education

Hazel Mae is the eldest of five children born to Tito Cagulada and Estrelita Cagulada (née Pizarras). Her parents are from the central Visayas region in the Philippines.

In 1973, when Mae was just a toddler, her father made the difficult decision to give up his law practice and leave the country. This choice was partially driven by the escalating political unrest and instability under President Ferdinand Marcos, an authoritarian who declared martial law in 1972. Hazel Mae and the rest of the Cagulada family moved to Canada. However, Tito’s law degree wasn’t recognized in Canada, so he settled for a job at SickKids hospital in Toronto.

Hazel Mae attended St. John Paul II Catholic Secondary School in Scarborough. Her father, who became an avid sports fan partly to fit in at the hospital, was a major influence in developing her own passion for sports. She competed in track and field and played other team sports in high school. Even so, pursuing a career in sports was not regarded by her father as a suitable option. Mae has said that the absence of an Asian woman covering sports profoundly influenced her aspirations when she was young. (“I don’t even know why I had the gall to think that I could be among the first,” she told CBC Radio in 2026.)

Mae went to the University of Toronto for post-secondary studies and enrolled in a general sociology program. But she only completed one year before deciding to leave that field. She then took one communications class at York University.

Early Career

Hazel Mae began her broadcasting career delivering sports updates on CHRY 105.5 FM, the community-campus radio station at York University. While doing brief stints on the radio, she spent years working mostly in the hospitality business in Toronto. At one point she was the manager of a Keg restaurant. She often held conversations with customers about her growing sports knowledge to keep them engaged.

Career Highlights

In 2001, Hazel Mae got her big break at the age of 31 when she landed a job at Rogers Sportsnet. She took over as anchor of the morning program SportsCentral AM. She was also assigned to host the weekly show JZone. It covered Major League Baseball (MLB) with a focus on the Toronto Blue Jays.

Three years later, Mae took her talents to the United States. From 2004 to 2008, she was the lead anchor of the late-night program SportsDesk on the New England Sports Network (NESN). Her hosting job also expanded into other NESN shows such as Red Sox Rewind and hockey show The Buzz. By the time Mae parted ways with NESN, she had covered two Red Sox World Series championships and a Super Bowl won by the New England Patriots.

In fall 2008, Hazel Mae was hired by the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. There, she helped launch the show MLB Tonight. It provided live reports and baseball game analysis. She also anchored various high-profile shows, giving her a substantial on-air presence.

In November 2011, Mae returned to Toronto to anchor the 6:00 p.m. edition of Sportsnet Connected. She also appeared as co-host on Sportsnet Central and Blue Jays Central, a live studio pre-game show for all Toronto Blue Jays broadcasts. By 2015, she had begun her assignment as an on-field reporter. As a reporter, Mae has taken pride in her ability to cultivate “regular, normal” relationships with players and team personnel. She has said, “You don’t want the players to think, ‘OK, here comes Hazel, she wants something from me.’”

Personal Life

Outside of her work at Sportsnet, Hazel Mae has actively participated in numerous charitable events across Canada, raising funds for various initiatives and awareness of racial injustice.

Mae has been married to former MLB player and current Blue Jays radio commentator Kevin Barker since 2011. They have one child together: a son, Chase.

Mae’s autobiography, Before I Let You Go: My Life in Broadcasting, Baseball and Beyond, was slated to be published by HarperCollins Canada in November 2026.

Fashion Design

In 2012, Hazel Mae founded Hazel Mae Design Inc., a Canadian-made line of dresses. She established the brand out of a desire to create the looks she wanted to wear on camera. Her husband first suggested the idea of making her own dresses after a frustrating and fruitless day of dress shopping. Mae designs the contemporary, solid-colour dresses with fashion designer Ali Lawee. Each dress design is named after a woman Mae admires.

Hazel Mae Design received a significant boost in publicity in 2017. Sophie Grégoire Trudeau wore one of the company’s dresses on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s first official visit to Mexico.

Honours

A proud Filipino Canadian, Hazel Mae was nominated for the RBC Top 25 Canadian Immigrant Award in 2024. In 2025, she became only the second woman to receive the prestigious Jack Graney Award from the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. The award is given to “a member of the media who has made significant contributions to baseball in Canada through their life’s work.” She was also named as an honourable mention in Toronto Life’s list of the most influential personalities of the year.

In 2026, Mae was honoured by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television with the Gordon Sinclair Award for her “exceptional body of work.” She received the special recognition during the 14th Canadian Screen Awards.