I grew up north of Kansas City in Kearney, MO. I’ve known I wanted to go into journalism since eighth grade when I took our junior high’s multimedia class. I made sure to continue my involvement with this throughout high school. I eventually became a producer and technical director for KHS-TV. In high school we also live streamed different sporting events through BBN (Bulldog Broadcasting Network).
My Type A brain loves the puzzle of how to piece a story together, how to effectively organize a show and what question will get the answer I'm after in an interview. These skills have only been sharpened thanks to my time in Columbia.
Being able to go to Mizzou was a dream come true for me. Choosing to emphasize in convergence multimedia producing was extremely challenging, but well worth it. I have learned invaluable skills through real-life experiences helping out at many newsrooms like Vox Magazine, the NPR affiliate KBIA and the newspaper the Columbia Missourian.
While at Mizzou I worked at KOMU, the NBC affiliate TV station run by Mizzou students and faculty. I started producing the fall semester of 2019. I was lucky enough to get the chance to work in an EP role for a few months on our morning show the semester before I graduated. I'll always be grateful for my mentors and the foundation KOMU gave me.
I also studied English with a specialization in creative writing. For my thesis I started work on my novel which I hope to someday publish.
My first stop after college was KCCI in Des Moines. I started as a weekday morning producer and ended as a weekend evening producer. I then moved back home to KMBC in Kansas City. I produced weekend evenings there, then was promoted to the 4:00PM newscast producer a year later.