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 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.
