Reporting @ 2016 Iowa Caucus

Here I am on the left, deep in my work and wearing my biz-casual J. Crew button up.

My professional journalism career began in earnest between 2015 and 2016. I had just returned from studying abroad the previous spring. Now in early 2016 with the Presidential Election ramping up, I found myself packed into one of four vans with other student journalists and political science students to traverse Iowa for the next three days, chasing shots, stories, and the chance to work alongside journalists from around the globe.

Here we are above in the CNN (?) headquarters in Downtown Des Moines. Rows and rows of tables with outlets for blogging, tweeting, editing and uploading with a solid WiFi connection.

It was exciting to be in these major halls and rubbing elbows with international journalists. I ran into a radio reporter from FranceInfo, overheard a few foreign reporters gabbing about their travels at a coffee shop, and saw Lester Holt set up his famous newsdesk from a combination cafe-antique store.

My resulting byline was a round-up of the coffee shops of the caucuses, giving a peek into the mobile newsroom culture of the unique event that hits the Hawkeye State every four years.

The Bridges of Madison County

Lol this was my Facebook banner for like 12.5 years w/o changing it.

I started getting involved in the local theater scene in St. Louis when I moved back here in 2018. After a little over a year in Birmingham, Alabama at Coastal Living Magazine, I’d taken a job at a marketing agency in St. Louis and was in search of a performing outlet. I had a few standup comedy open mic nights under my belt from Birmingham, but at the end of the day, I'm a theater kid at heart (derogatory).

My and my friend Chelsie made up this roving group of musicians.

So I started auditioning around town! After a few failed attempts, I connected with a director in Florissant who asked if I could help behind the scenes with a play she was directing and I said I’d love to help. I was cast in the next show she directed: The Bridges of Madison County, as Chiara and State Fair Singer.

The movie is probably what you’re most familiar with — Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood in the sweeping romance drama set in small-town Iowa. This stage adaption came from composer Jason Robert Brown, famous for driving, emotionally complicated relationship studies like The Last Five Years (hi Anna Kendrick, hi Jeremy Jordan).

The cast was so so talented and so so fun, and in true rom-fashion, the two leads were in a league of their own. I still get chills when I think about their performances to this day!

And fun fact, two of my friends who met on set ended up dating and are now married! I see them from time to time at shows.

Detours Magazine

There was a travel magazine run by students at our small, public university in Kirksville, Missouri. Seat of Adair County in Northeast Missouri, 30 minutes south of the Iowa border.

So no, not a publishing hub! But we had a travel magazine nonetheless, called “Detours: An Explorer’s Guide to the Midwest.” We focused on places to eat, stay and explore in Missouri, Illinois and Iowa. Kind of random? Who needs this information? Those are boring questions and we all had a delightful time writing about your classic “largest ball of twine” roadside attractions alongside food truck fare popping off in St. Louis and highlighting beautiful bits of scenery tucked away in the Midwest.

I served as Editor-in-Chief of the magazine for two years, steering a staff of 20 writers, copy editors, graphic designers (all crazy talented), photographers and publicists.

It was a dream leadership role and cherished every word, every photo, every secret destination we helped to showcase.

Here’s one of the final issues I worked on: https://issuu.com/detours/docs/spring17_final

Blog Post Title Four

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.