I’m coming up on three years of work with State Senator Vincent Hughes, who is the Democratic Appropriations Chairman in the Pennsylvania State Senate. I enjoy the work and the challenges it presents as someone who likes to get things done. The role can be tough because Sen. Hughes is very energetic and a leading voice on all of the important causes, which means working to properly position him in a number of conversations on a local and national level. During the pandemic, we have shifted to a lot of digital

Prior to working for Sen. Hughes and the state Senate, I spent three and a half years as a reporter with Pennlive.com/The Patriot-News. It was different environment than my comfort zone — both as a new Pennsylvania resident and at a tri-weekly paper — yet it was a great challenge. My roles shifted constantly to handle the news needs of the time. I began as a breaking news reporter doing stories, then I shifted to covering crime and courts in Lancaster County. After moving to the Lancaster County-focused beat, I ended up being thrust into most of the breaking news situations in our region, Central Pennsylvania or the “midstate” as locals call the Central Pennsylvania near around Harrisburg.

I blogged about my experiences in journalism here. The blog’s title is a bit deceptive because I don’t do it every day, yet the goal is to share experiences that may shape or change opinions on journalism, journalists and “the media.” That will continue to evolve as I move from being a working journalist.

I received my bachelor’s degree in journalism from Eastern Kentucky University in May 2014. I love the news and am finding my niches within the journalism industry to write and report about different issues. Prior to PennLive.com/ThePatriot News, I completed an internship with The Washington Post where I worked for the Metro desk covering cops and courts. I also interned at The Courier-Journal in Louisville, Kentucky., the Interior Journal in Stanford, Kentucky. and The Oldham Era in LaGrange, Kentucky.

I completed undergraduate school as the editor-in-chief of the The Eastern Progress. It was a great learning experience that challenged me to think about larger goals and helping people, while still doing my own work. I also spent time as a reporter, copy editor and assistant news editor with The Progress.

Before to transferring to EKU, I attended the University of Kentucky and worked at the The Kentucky Kernel as the opinions editor and reporter. Through these experiences I have honed my skills writing, reporting and critically thinking. I have also developed leadership, organizational and outreach skills through my various positions at newspapers.

I’m originally from Tacoma, Washington, which is why I’m a fan of the Seattle sports teams. I tacked on North Carolina basketball when I was 7 years old because my dad is from South Carolina and I thought that was the team all people from the Carolinas rooted for (I’ve been a fan since and it’s very authentic. I get very defensive about the UNC fandom because it’s the only thing that doesn’t quite make sense, but is very rationally explained). I also enjoy music, anime, radio, movies and a few other things, which makes me a pretty good critic on most things.

Feel free to check out some of my clips to get a better idea of me as a writer.

Thanks for visiting!