Kelsey Riggs was born on November 19, 1987, in Charleston, South Carolina, to parents Pam and Bryan Riggs. She discovered a passion for broadcasting while reading news announcements to her classmates in elementary school. Riggs attended James Island Charter High School and, later, Charleston Southern University, where she earned a degree in communications and played soccer for the Buccaneers.

Riggs launched her broadcasting career at WBTW, the CBS affiliate in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, in 2012. She went on to spend three years at WCNC-TV in Charlotte, where she covered the Carolina Panthers, including their Super Bowl 50 run. Her Charlotte work caught the attention of ESPN, which hired her as one of the founding on-air talents for the ACC Network at its launch in August 2019.

At ESPN, she has grown steadily across multiple platforms. She covers ACC football, men’s and women’s basketball, and Olympic sports for the ACC Network, and in 2024 became a full-time SportsCenter anchor. She was inducted into the James Island Charter High School Hall of Fame during its inaugural ceremony in 2023. Riggs married ESPN college basketball analyst Dalen Cuff on January 5, 2025.