Before beginning work for Fox News, Dean worked at several radio and television stations in Canada and the United States, including CHEZ-FM, and WCBS-TV. Before starting her career in broadcasting she was a Canadian By-Law Enforcement officer. In 2009, Dean's application for the American Meteorological SocietySeal of Approval was granted. The Seal is not a meteorology certification. Rather, it was launched in 1957 as a way to recognize on-air personalities for their sound delivery of weather information to the general public, and the AMS is no longer accepting applications for the Seal of Approval Program. Dean is not included in the lists of certified meteorologists maintained by the AMS. During her stint on Fox, Dean also became an author, writing a series of "Freddy the Frogcaster" children's books. Her book, Mostly Sunny: How I Learned to Keep Smiling Through the Rainiest Days, was released on March 5, 2019. Both of Dean's husband's parents, each of whom was a resident of an assisted living facility or nursing home in New York, died due to complications of COVID-19. In the aftermath, she attributed both deaths to a State of New York advisory that required admissions and readmissions of assisted living and nursing home residents without virus testing, and became an outspoken high-profile detractor of New York's Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo and of competitors of her employer, Fox News. The admissions advisory was issued on March 25 and was maintained for 46 days, during New York's pandemic state of emergency that was declared on March 7, 2020. Her father-in-law died on March 27, the second day after the advisory's issuance, and her mother-in-law died two weeks later. Dean also criticized media outlets other than her employer Fox News and its affiliates, including CNN, “Good Morning America” and People Magazine, for doing “puff pieces” on Gov. Cuomo's actions relative to the pandemic that didn’t touch on the nursing home subject, while implying that Fox News was innocent. Coincidentally, on-air personalities of Fox News Channel, Dean's employer, generally oppose or denigrate Democratic Party political figures and positions, and promote or praise Republican Party politicians and their policies. Also, Governor Cuomo's brother is Chris Cuomo, the presenter of "Cuomo Primetime," a weekday-evening news analysis show on one of Dean's employer Fox News Channel's competitors, CNN; Dean criticized the behavior of both men regarding an appearance of the governor on the show with his brother, describing it as "an insensitive, giggling interview."
