Resume

Experience

Anchor/Director of Storytelling (WATE-TV)
August 2020-Present

  • Emmy award winning storyteller who oversees storytelling efforts and training for newsroom employees including editors, photographers, reporters, digital journalists, producers, and news managers
  • Top notch communicator who respectfully teaches others and developed 10 session storytelling workshop to train team on writing, editing, and shooting techniques for successful visual and written storytelling
  • Virtual storytelling workshops sent out to Nexstar stations across the country, the largest parent company of TV stations in the US
  • Trusted and respected manager often approached by newsroom employees seeking advice and guidance
  • Expert in ethics who implements new protocols to maintain integrity and foster responsible coverage based on industry-wide discussions through involvement and memberships with three national journalism organizations
  • Award winning writer and newsroom leader who approves written scripts for air and articles for online publication
  • Excellent under deadline and created “breaking news checklist” to manage high-stress and fast paced coverage situations with priority on “accuracy above all” approach
  • Organized, quick, and calculated under pressure and solution oriented
  • Encourages employees and committed to making the workplace genuinely positive to foster passionate and quality work
  • Hosted “Instagram Takeover” for Radio Television Digital News Association (RTDNA) to offer career advice to followers

Anchor/Managing Editor (WPDE-TV)
October 2015-July 2020

  • Managed and anchored for the number one rated evening news team in the market
  • Led media training for local university employees, first responders, and medical professionals to teach communication and interviewing skills
  • Launched the stations first investigative team with work leading to state law changes
  • Attended several of the nation’s top storytelling workshops biannually to build skills and train other journalists
  • Led storytelling training for visual and digital journalists
  • Ambitious, gritty, and unafraid to stand up for what is right
  • Fostered relationships with sources to earn trust
  • Dogged commitment to first amendment rights led to a bill introduced in South Carolina to promote transparency within government agencies
  • Relentless in the face of intimidation and uncovered criminal activity within a police department that ended with arrests, indictments, and multiple internal investigations
  • Built the largest social media following of any news anchor in the market on Facebook
  • Versatile personality proven in launching weekend cooking segment now successfully in its fifth year 
  • Earned more than a dozen journalism awards for writing, editing, videography, communication, investigative, and digital skills
  • Wrote article for national journalism organization, RTDNA, on succeeding with chronic illness

Anchor/Multimedia Reporter (KLTV-TV)
June 2013-June 2015

  • Shot, wrote, and edited reports for the number one rated news station in East Texas
  • Anchored and produced several newscasts using writing, technology, and public speaking skills
  • Embraced team mindset 
  • Responsible for digital and social media coverage on weekends

Reporter (The Dallas Morning News)
January 2012-January 2013

  • Daily crime and feature reporter for the paper and DallasNews.com
  • Conducted interviews, took photos and videos, and wrote various stories

Volunteer Work

Dysautonomia International
2019-Present

  • Spoke at the annual international conference for autonomic dysfunction and emceed the awards ceremony in front of more than 2,000 attendees from around the world
  • Educates and spreads awareness using social media
  • Report on POTS, a form of Dysautonomia, gained viral recognition on Facebook and Twitter
  • POTS report earned an Emmy nomination and won several other major journalism awards
  • Advocates for medical education, eliminating medical bias, and better treatment for disabled people especially those with invisible illnesses

American Heart Association
2013-Present

  • Volunteer for AHA since 2013 with various chapters from Texas to South Carolina to Tennessee
  • Held various roles including Heart Ball event planning and fundraising committee and executive leadership team
  • Energetic, engaging, and uplifting emcee of Heart Ball and Heart Walk five years in a row and subject of “Open Your Heart” impact video on POTS

Anderson Oaks Assisted Living
2019

  • Therapy dog volunteer
  • Took professionally trained pets, Sundae and Bowen, to socialize with residents once a month

CercleSocial
February 2012-May 2013

  • Promotional video editor
  • Shot, edited, and wrote promotional videos for nonprofit organization in Benin

Akilah Institute for Women
January 2012

  • Promotional video editor
  • Spent two weeks in Kigali, Rwanda shooting, editing, and writing a documentary style promotional video as a solo journalist
  • Helped spread awareness about women’s education hardships in Rwanda post genocide

Continuing Education

Sound of Life Storytelling Workshop
2019, 2018, 2017

Sinclair Boot Camp
2019, 2016

National Press Photographers Association News Video Workshop
2018

RTDNA/SPJ Excellence in Journalism Conference
2016, 2012

SCBA Workshop with Boyd Huppert
2016

Organizations

National Press Photographers Association
Radio Television Digital News Association
Society of Professional Journalists

Internships

News Intern (WFAA)
January 2013-May 2013

News Intern (KTVU)
Summer 2012

Production Intern (PBS “Down to Earth”)
June 2011-January 2012

Feature Intern (The Danville Weekly)
Summer 2008

Awards

Southeast Emmy Award Team Coverage
2020
Hurricane Dorian

Southeast Emmy Award Nominee Health Report
2020
A Story From the Heart

First Place RTDNAC Anchor Team of the Year
2020
Anchor Team of the Year

First Place RTDNAC Health-Medicine
2020
A Story From the Heart

Southeast Emmy Award EMMA Honorable Mention Investigative Report
2020
The Rat Squad

First Place RTDNAC Anchor Team of the Year
2019
Anchor Team of the Year

First Place RTDNAC General News by an MMJ
2019
The Rescue

Southeast Emmy Award Nominee Investigative Report
2019
The Domino Effect

Southeast Emmy Award Breaking News Coverage
2019
Officer Involved Shooting

Southeast Emmy Award EMMA Honorable Mention Investigative Report
2019
The Domino Effect

Southeast Emmy Awards EMMA Honorable Mention General Assignment
2019
The Rescue

First Place RTDNAC Anchor Team of the Year
2018
Anchor Team of the Year

First Place RTDNAC General News
2018
The Domino Effect

First Place South Carolina Broadcasters Association STAR Award
2017
North Myrtle Beach Fire Facebook Live

First Place RTDNAC General Assignment by an MMJ
2016
Brittanee Drexel Talk of the Town

First Place RTDNAC Education
2016
ABC 15 Investigates: Energy Positive Schools

Texas Lone Star Emmy Evening Newscast
2015
Disaster in Van

RTDNA Pete Wilson Journalism Scholarship
2012
Ethical and Responsible Journalism

Education

Southern Methodist University ’13
Major: Convergence Journalism
Minor: Ethics

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