Producing Changes

I am embarking on a journey towards my dream. The funny thing is, I'm not sure exactly what that dream is. I know I love producing. I love journalism. I love my job. I believe the journey I'm on is my dream and the stops along the way are just staircases leading to the next level of my career, which is my passion.

To give a little background, it all began in High School. I started writing for my hometown newspaper giving weekly updates on the happenings of the High School. During that period I also spoke on the radio, giving the same updates. It was broadcast to the whole town. It was at this time that I knew I was called to the world of journalism. Forever becoming a slave to a world that never sleeps.

I completed by bachelors degree in Journalism at the University of Oklahoma. Loving my time there dearly. I will never lose my Sooner pride or my tie to the Gaylord College of Journalism. Wonderful people who helped me develop into a journalist. One with news sense and one with ethics. All good things must come to an end and so goes that chapter of my life.

But with every ending is a new beginning and directly after graduation I got an interview with a TV station in Tulsa, OK for an Associate Producer job. To sum things up it was a wham, bam thank you ma'am deal and I had a job within hours of my interview. No sense in wasting time, straight to work I went. Here, I really came to understand the way a newsroom functions. I read between the lines and pushed myself to never settle on mediocre work. Then came my first wall. The wall of "lack of experience", when the morning producer job came open I applied with high hopes of being hired. Instead I got a pat on the back and a look down from the glasses essentially saying "awe that's cute, you think you deserve that job". Truth of the matter is, I probably didn't deserve the job, but I knew I could learn the position and become an asset to the team. Bull headed me took this (in my mind) slap in the face and used it as my fire. I learned everything I could. Memorized the newscast. Memorized the ins and outs of the talent quirks and the behind the scenes dos and donts. I had things down pat. So when another producer job opened at the station I thought, surely they've noticed my hard work and willingness to learn. Boy was I wrong! I ran full speed into that same wall we like to call "lack of experience". After another pat on the back, back to my Associate Producer duties I went. At this point I felt like a person on the outside of an inside joke. I felt as if I was missing something and no one cared enough to fill me in. So I decided to continue doing what I did, busting my rear and wearing my smile.

Then came something I never expected, out of right field, a job offer. Wooo Hooo!!! But wait a second, the call came from a television station in a much larger city than Tulsa, with incredible talent already on staff. Not only that, they actually believed in my Producing abilities. So the story goes, I packed my bags and moved west (by about 2 hours) to the bustling metropolis of Oklahoma City! I was starstruck by the journalists I would be working alongside. So smart. So driven. My kind of people.

What would my life be without a curve ball though? After just 5 days at KOCO I was offered a promotion! Say what?? That's right a promotion! These people evidently saw that thing inside of me, the thing I was working endlessly to prove in Tulsa. They had faith in what I could do, in what I could produce. Talk about a confidence boost!

So here I am in Oklahoma City, a top 50 market. Just 21 years old. A dream path doing what I love. With a future that resembles the view of an ocean, wide open, and never ending.

This is my journey of a dream.