After graduating from Stanford, Kagan sent out hundreds of demo tapes. Kagan was hired for an on-air job at a Santa Barbara television station, KEYT-TV. Kagan's next move was to a general assignment reporting position at KTVK in Phoenix. Wanting to do something other than report typical local news stories, she took on the additional role of weekend sports anchor, reporting sports news each weekend in addition to her weekday reporting duties.

After KTVK did not renew Kagan's contract , Jim Walton, the head of CNN/SI, hired Kagan as an anchor and a news reporter. She went on to cover events including the Super Bowl, the NBA Playoffs, and international figure skating championships from Russia. Kagan was later hired by CNN's news division and as a news anchor and a reporter. She also served as host of People in the News when that show first debuted.

After becoming a CNN news anchor, Kagan reported on presidential and mid-term elections. She reported on-site from the Middle