What was your first job as a journalist?
A state history publication feature about a one-a-year publication known as the Pink Press, a paper that comes out once a year on pink paper.
Have you ever used a typewriter?
Yes. I learned to type in high school.
How is social media changing news?
Readers today want instant news, and social media brings the headlines and teasers to the reader at a moment's notice.
Who's your favorite fictional journalist?
Britt Montero from the Edna Buchanan series of books.
What does it mean to be a journalist?
To bring truth to those curious and to those who need the facts.
What's the funniest news-related #hashtag you've seen?
How do you prefer to be pitched on stories?
Email or text.
What tools and software do you use to do your job?
I use a PC with Word, a Chrome browser and Movavi Video and Photo editor programs.
What's your favorite social network?
Facebook
Who do you wish followed you?
Kenneth Branagh, Ian McKellen, Al Roker, Hoda Kotb and Barak Obama
Why did you become a journalist?
It is all I have ever known. I started writing in grade school and it was a natural progression into the business.
Did you work for your high school newspaper? If so, what did you do there?
Yes. I was editor-in-chief, news editor, features editor, sports editor during my four years on the staff.
What story are you most proud of writing or working on?
A series of law and order stories I worked on that highlighted a municipal police force and judicial system.
What advice can you offer to aspiring journalists?
Take all of the media classes you can in college. Learn photography and web design. Join the college newspaper. Start at small papers.
When's the best time to pitch you?
I am available most afternoons.
What's the best pitch you ever got?
Anytime I get to interview an artist, actor or musician.
What's the worst pitch you ever got?
Digging into a politician's background when the person pitching the story had an agenda against the politician. I declined.
What's your favorite drink?
Unsweet tea
When you're not at a computer, where are you most likely to be?
Sleeping or watching TV.
Aside from your own, what's your favorite publication to read?
Washington Post and New York Times
What's the most common misperception about your beat?
That school administrators have an agenda. That performing in theatre and concerts is easy to do and the classes are also easy,
