MY JOURNEY

My journey into Journalism began one summer in high school when I got to hang out with a cousin who was a radio newsman in Kansas, my father’s home state. Watching and being part of the fast-paced action of breaking news… and I was hooked! At Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, my hometown, I studied broadcasting and worked at the college radio station - KXLU - as a DJ, news anchor and for three years, the play-by-play announcer for the Men’s Lions basketball games - (unfortunately it was before Hank Gathers, Bo Kimble and coach Paul Westhead took the Lions to the NCAA March Madness tournament! three years in a row… ’88-’89-’90!)

Internships at LA radio stations further inspired me to pursue a career in broadcasting. I wanted it so badly that before I even graduated from LMU  I took a weekend radio job in Sacramento and I would hitchhike to and from the Sacramento airport to get to the radio station. I flew roundtrip every Friday and Monday just so I would have a job once I had the diploma! 

From there it was on to radio news jobs in LA, San Francisco and Atlanta.

The eight years I spent in radio news taught me so much about deadlines, fair and factual reporting, finding ‘characters’ to interview for standout stories… AND that experience inspired me to make the transition to  television news reporting. 

I was working at the small radio newtork at CNN in Atlanta when the opportunity came to wander across the hall and put together a television anchor demo “tape” as it was called in those days. Now it’s your “reel”. But it worked and I landed my first TV job in Fort Smith, Arkansas. I had to look up the city on the the map to see exactly where it was I was moving!

I anchored weekend newscasts, reported on anything and everything I could get assigned to and I eventually became the Assistant News Director. I was living the Journalist’s dream and for five years I soaked it all in. But eventually, California called and I jumped at an opportunity to move back to my home state and I spent the next four years at the NBC station in Salinas/Monterey/Santa Cruz. Then, just after the Federal Building was bombed in Oklahoma City I was offered a main anchor job at the NBC affiliate there. This was where the big national story was taking place - so off I went. Three years later it was back to Salinas/Monterey where I spent the next six years as the assistant news director and main anchor at the CBS/FOX stations. But nothing has compared to the almost two decades I spent at KPIX, the CBS owned station in the San Francisco Bay Area. 

In those years I went from a freelance reporter, to weekend anchor to one of the main anchors in the nation’s now #8 market.

You name it, I’ve covered it:

Presidential visits, ranging wildfires, historic earthquakes, tornadoes and  devastating floods, celebrities, world leaders, homelessness, air shows, America’s Cup races, and yes - a one-on-one interview with the President of the United States in the White House… it goes on and on. And I wouldn’t trade it for anything.

I’ve been very fortunate to be recognized with eight regional Emmy Awards, along with numerous industry honors for my reporting and anchoring.

WHY I AM HERE

In addition to all the things I just mentioned, over the years, I have gotten so much satisfaction when I could use my years of experience to teach Crisis Communications techniques as well as mentor young journalists who’ve benefited from one-on-one coaching and guidance from a veteran storyteller.

Now, I want to focus full-time on coaching  journalists, government & corporate executives, and first responders to benefit from what I’ve learned as a broadcast journalist and from my extensive experience with crisis communications.