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 piecing a story together, organizing a show and what question will get the answer I'm after in an interview. These skills were sharpened during 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 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.
I spent most of my time 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 - where I earned two Upper Midwest Emmy's. I ended my time there 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.
Now I find myself in a very different vein of news: agriculture! The switch to Farm Journal came after months of reflection. I've found this allows me more work-life balance, more time to write and more time to connect with the people I'm writing about!