MY JOURNALISM JOURNEY
ST. PETERSBURG TIMES
& MY HIGH SCHOOL NEWSPAPER
Journalism has been a passion of mine ever since I drew my own magazine with crayons and recorded myself reading books as a child. In middle school, I got the opportunity to write for the St. Petersburg Times (now, the Tampa Bay Times). I was a member of the X-Team, the newspaper's teen reporters.
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As soon as I started high school, I was eager to join the newspaper staff. The Packer Press was an award-winning newspaper run by kids who lived to question authority. I wrote a guest article freshman year, joined the staff as the sports editor sophomore year, and was Editor-In-Chief during my senior year.
STUDYING JOURNALISM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
I’m a proud J-School Grad of the University of Florida! Reporting, anchoring and producing for fully functional newsrooms taught me the real hustle and grind of journalism. I was in the AM 850 WRUF newsroom for the 2000 Presidential Election/Debacle. On the morning of September 11, 2001, I was producing the noon show for WUFT-TV.
While in college, I earned an award from the Society of Professional Journalists, served as president for our chapter of the Radio-Television News Directors Association, and attended the RTNDA Conference in Las Vegas. I interned in Orlando (WKMG-TV) and Tampa (WFTS-TV), producing my own weekend show, covering breaking news, and swimming with a false killer whale!
The experience opened the door to my first news jobs out of college in Orlando at Central Florida News 13, AM 580 WDBO, Star 94.5, and Metro Networks. I also covered local news for the BBC and ABC News Radio.
