About

I’ve got brains in my head and feet in my shoes — and a University of Florida journalism degree in my hand doesn’t hurt. But why did this Georgia native decide to fly south for four years? Some say it was my middle school principal, a die-hard Gator swimming in a sea of minnows that were destined to be Dawgs. Some say it as my infallible need to get away from Alpharetta. Even more say it was just dumb luck.

But me, I credit Jesse Palmer (the college quarterback Jesse Palmer, not The Bachelor Jesse Palmer — that distinction needs to be made early on). He was my first crush. I was 11, he was probably twice my age, but I was infatuated. I had to go wherever he was. Nevermind the fact that he wasn’t going to be anywhere near UF by the time I would make it there, a point my father so lovingly brought to my attention. I was going to go to the University of Florida, and when I found out it consistently had one of the top 5 undergraduate journalism programs in the nation, my mind was pretty much made up for me.

I only filled out one college application, and it was a binding agreement. Going somewhere else wasn’t an option. Luckily, I got in.

I was 11 when I knew I was going to go to the University of Florida. But, I’ve always known I wanted to be a journalist.

The hours are horrendous, the deadlines are unbearable, and the industry, well, we all know how that’s going. So, I learned to adjust. I dabbled in video editing. I learned my way around Adobe InDesign and Photoshop. I took a turn at marketing and public relations. I blogged, linked, and tagged. I worked my way into social media. I’m way more than just a journalist: I’m a cross-platform, multidimensional, people-person communicator.

And yeah, the juice is totally worth the squeeze.

Want more? Take a look at my resume.