Things I’ve Done

It all started my senior year of high school–well, really it ALL started when I was, like, five, but I’ll spare you the gruesome details. Anyway. High school. Senior year. I had the marvelous opportunity to take part in an internship program. During high school, I was in a medical magnet program, where I got certified as an electrocardiograph technician. So, thinking that I was going to stick to the medical field, I opted for a more “fun” placement as my internship. It was at the Pinellas County Schools Office of Strategic Communication–the school board newsroom. This was my first experience with reporting. I learned the ins and outs of creating a story, on a small scale. That was also where I first started learning non-linear video editing.

During college, classes in reporting, photography, video storytelling and social media impacted me the most. In those classes I was able to create a final product that I could receive feedback on. These classes provided for the perfect learning opportunities to produce publishable content without running the risk of damaging a publication, in the case that something went wrong.

My next experience out in the field was with Neighborhood News Bureau, reporting on midtown in St.Pete. That was when I got my first story published in “the Weekly Challenger”. At that time, Lane DeGregory had just been a guest speaker in one of my classes. She gave us interviewing tips. I attribute my story getting published to two tips in particular. The first was to “get intimate” and not to be afraid to meet people in their comfortable space. The other, was to sit in silence. It is amazing what information people are willing to give up in order to escape the discomfort of silence.

After that I had a joint internship between Neighborhood News Bureau and the American Heart Association. With that, I worked on “Project: Community” for “Project:Tampa Bay”. This was an initiative that used local student newsrooms in underserved areas to publicize the ways that social determinants may impact health. I was also able to help out with social media at the American Heart Association where I learned how to balance sticking with an organization’s predetermined branding and using a unique voice.

After graduation, I started to freelance. This has given me the opportunity to do so many different types of jobs within the field and meet many people from such diverse backgrounds–getting to know and helping every personal brand and company I work with in a new and unique way and learning from such incredible leaders from within and outside of the industry. where I still currently do, at the Poynter Institute’s NewsU . I am working on the site migration from the old Content Management System to WordPress. This includes copyediting in AP style and updating/removing out of date content and external links.